Part 1: The Place

Located in the far southern reaches of Patagonia Argentina lies a 65 sq km lake called Jurassic (also known as Lago Strobel) which offers the world�s best wild rainbow trout fishing. The lake is all natural with no outflows and only the Barrancoso River as inflow (while we were there I�d describe it more as a creek and not a river).

Several friends and I went together to fish this stunning place in the recently opened first week of the season. The results were pretty much incredible. The reality far exceeds any description.

The fishing is set up in sessions with each session lasting about 3 hours per team of anglers (generally a morning or afternoon) at a given station. The anglers in teams (three guys per team) rotate through each station (4 different stations one of which was almost impossible to fish when the wind was over 50 mph which was often) with a different guide each time. To sum up the results, I was able to fish 7 sessions total during the trip and averaged about 38 stunning rainbows per session with the fish averaging about 10 pounds with a best fish of 18 pounds and 33 inches. Personally, I caught only one small rainbow below about 8 pounds�. all the rest were huge specimens.

This place is incredibly difficult in almost all respects�. extremely difficult to get there from Houston (well over 10,000 miles of air travel across two days) with one overland leg requiring an arduous although scenic 6 hour ride in 4 wheel drive over the worst ranch roads I�ve ever seen; extremely difficult weather conditions with unrelenting, unending winds at a minimum of about 30 mph ranging up to sustained 60 mph; extremely cold water 37 deg and air temps in the 40s and 50s; extremely remote with no, none inhabitants or improvements for miles and miles; extremely stark environment with no trees, little vegetation and limited wildlife�pretty much the end of the continent.

A short report can�t possibly do justice to this incredible fishing�so I�ll just summarize the fish by station rotation (all fish shown over 30 inches)
1) Dalys Pool station
2) River mouth right station
3) Little pool station (just above river mouth)
4) River mouth left station
5) Largest trout for me 33 inches and 18 pounds
6) Illustration of wind effects on standing

I used only an 8wt fly rod (took a 7 and 10 also just in case) �and caught all fish on balanced leeches, hoppers, various dry flies, and large ants. One incredible morning session, I caught 64 trout over 10 pounds on one balanced leech pictured below at the �Dalys pool� station. First cast at the next station I lost that fly sadly to a fish.





Pictured below is typical fish caught on balanced leech





Pictured below is typical fish caught on extra-large Chernobyl ant




Pictured below typical fish caught on big hopper

[url=https://postimg.cc/JD3LX59y]

The river aka creek was stacked wall to wall with huge rainbows on both sides of the river mouth and extending up the river as far as you could walk�some were resting and some were chrome bright hard charging hard fighting up the river to spawn. It was what I called �bitters� and � zombies�. The trick was avoiding snagging a �zombie� and nailing a �bitter� with a great presentation.


Pictured where the river meets the lake



Those are NOT rocks you see in river below�those are fish, huge rainbows that few will ever see the likes of which in their lifetime.





We ate well (lamb shown below on the BBQ and mostly Argentine beef which is absolutely to die for), drank a lot of Argentine wine, and had a grand time with wonderful friends.






The southern reaches of Patagonia are wild and wonderful�very sparse but Butch and Sundance supposedly died near here in this remote spot in Patagonia�and one can�t blame them for seeking out this wild place.

THANK YOU!! This is absolutely the best trip report ever. I honestly have had dreams about this place. Those pictures don�t do this post justice. This place was publicized shortly after I visited Patagonia years ago. That place is truly magical. The inclement weather and rough terrain make this place truly one of the last wild places on earth. Thank you again!

A good warm up trip. Now you are ready for the monster rainbow stockers that TPWD will gift to us in a couple months!

Awesome, amazing report! I have had this place on my bucket list for years! Your report just moved it up a couple of notches!

JR

lol that will help with fly patterns for that place( meaning the trout they stock)

Thank you for your much appreciated comments. Yes, I dream about it also...but let me say the reality of being there is actually better than dreams or any description anyone can create. It is truly incredible and as you say magical.

If I had a bucket list, which I don't, Jurassic would absolutely top my list.

and a SOLID post! Nicely done.

Great post, looks like you guys had a blast, thx for sharing!!!

Its all good! I thank God every day for TPWD efforts to help us all enjoy the great outdoors.

Thanks for your comments.

We had a great group, Hunter498. One guy from Brazil, one grandfather and grandson pair(grandson recently returned from service in Afghanistan ) that was absolutely delightful and will be friends for life, one guy that travels all over the World fishing who has a reputation for being a super angler (but I consistently outfished him, LOL) much to his chagrin.

That my friend is what dreams are made out of. When I die, I hope heaven looks just like that!

Phenomenal post! I saw some footage from Jacko Lukas who took a recent trip there, and your post really reinforces how special a place this is. Did you self-coordinate the logistics or use a booking service? I know there are companies like Yellow Dog which help with that but I wonder if the convenience means extra $$ when booking through them.

There are three species on my bucket list - a golden dorado, a GT, and a taimen. If a golden dorado trip takes me to argentia, I may well stay an extra week to check out this magical place! Thanks for sharing this!