Santa Cruz / "Jurassic Lake"

Combi Program

This program must be one of the hottest in Patagonia or even in the whole world! Here is the chance to catch wild steelheads from Mc Cleoud river strain that was implanted some hundred years ago in river Santa Cruz, and the only strain that feeds in Atlantic Ocean, at the same time fishing in the worlds most hot spot today – "Jurassic Lake", the craziest fishing ever heard of!

Weeks San Ramon – "Jurassic Lake" 2009

Santa Cruz ½ week
2,5 hrs drive from Buitreras is the mighty Rio Santa Cruz. A glacier fed river with a tremendous run of hard fighting and acrobatic steelhead up to 10 kilos. This is really a challenging fishing for experienced anglers.
Season 2008 we will base our steelhead program in private estancia San Ramon, which is situated appr 70 kms up river from Pedra Buena. This is the section with some of the best water, pools, in the whole river. It is here we have found most of the spawning places and our guides knows this beats very good today after 3-4 years test fishing.
The transport to the pools will be by zodiac rubber boats powered with approx 40-50 hp engines. Fast and safe.
Fishing is by easy wading from the banks and even if the river looks big the steelheads comes quite close to the bank.

Santa Cruz Flies, Tackle and Fishing technique
Colour of water is milky from the glacier. So big visible and noisy flies works good. Traditional steelhead flies, black, big, heavy, fished slow with a fast sinking line. Two-handed rods 13-15’ # 9-11, or single-handed # 8-9 with fast sinking lines.

The living
Small houses near the river with 2 beds in each room. Clean and ok, not luxury. Warm showers, water toilet. Food will be Argentine style with Asado lunch served at the beach and breakfast and dinner in the lodge. Good Argentine wine, beer etc included.

"Jurassic Lake" ½ week
50 minutes with our safe helicopter from San Ramon we will enter some of the most amazing places in the world, "Jurassic Lake". The wildlife is worth an own chapter. Do not be surprised if you see eagles land in front of you catching Jurassic rats, or if you are lucky to see the Puma on the beach in the morning. Here are lizards, condors, wild horses, and tons of huge wild fat rainbows jumping in the big lake, or small sea. The "Jurassic Lake" is a biological sensation, everyone that has been there are amazed – how is it possible?The fish spawn in groups year around, eat year around, the food is only small shrimps/scuds and they are the most fat and strong fish we have ever seen.

The fishing is:
-    in the big lake where the fish really wants to go to the other side of the lake, most of the time running on the tails emptying the reels too fast.
-    In the small stream where fish goes in and out all the time
-    New from 2008, when weather permits, expeditions from boat to try to catch world record fish

Sizes, the biggest so far is weighted 12 kilo, bigger fish has been seen outside casting range, average size has been approx 4-5 kilo
Numbers, seriously, we are not sure if we can say this, no one will believe, lets say – enough! More than enough!

Preparation: gym is recommended!

Jurassic Flies, Tackle and Fishing technique
Streamers, zonkers etc – dry flies, so far they have been taking everything, more or less, we have tried. Floating to sinking lines, its new and unexplored, so try whatever new techniques you want. We recommend rods 9’ to 9’6’’ # 7-8, strong rods that can handle the wind and bigger flies. Loop Opti Coast or Loop Opti Power works perfect. Best line in the wind is Loop Multi Clear head, with a hardcore that transports the energy to the fly. Strip the fly gentle and quite slow, hold on to the rod. 

The living
Safari style tented camps, so called domes. Same style as used on South Pole expeditions. Not luxury, rough and tough but cosy and comfortable with the right company. Wooden beds with sleeping mattresses and fresh linens. 3 beds per tent. One dome for warm water showers with shower pumps, works real nice. Wilderness water toilet, but you have to bring a bucket with water from the small water supply stream 15 meters away. Food and relax tent with wilderness Jurassic bar where we serve beer and vine only, other drinks like whisky etc has to be brought yourselves.