The 2011 season is now well underway and both the Rio Grande and Rio Gallegos have seen strong runs of fish. Pira Lodge has also enjoyed some great fishing and the Bahamas never fails and it promises to be another fantastic season. Futa Lodge has re-opened after a 2 year hiatus and our guests have loved to be back there.

The fishing at Kau Tapen… so far
Rio Grande, Argentina

We began the season with good water levels, good temperature and great clarity. Everything was set for a fantastic season and so far, we are overjoyed by the fishing.

In fact, this season could be described as a memorable one. During the best week, up to now, we caught 182 fish. The weather remained good until a heavy rain fell making the water colored and murky. However, we managed to land 49 fish and a 25 pounder, which ended up being the biggest fish of the season so far.

The following two weeks made it up for those difficult days and we went back to catching 134 and 180 fish respectively, always with some very nice fresh sea runs.

The average catch per day and average weight are already way ahead from the averages that we had last season and we have great expectations for the coming weeks. There are big chances that this season will be remembered as the one in which most records were broken in the Rio Grande . Be sure that you will hear from us if this comes true!

Jean Baptiste Vidal

Bella Vista Lodge fishing report
Rio Gallegos, Argentina

The weather and fishing conditions changed a lot along these first 5 weeks of the season at Bella Vista Lodge.

As an overall balance, the river has been low comparing to last season, being 3 to 4 inches below the normal level. As a consequence, we decided that the best would be to use mainly floating and intermediate tips with small flies

The average weight for the season is, up to now, 12,2 lbs . We caught 296 Brown Trout and 81 Sea Trout being the 20,5 lbs . Fifty percent of our Sea Trout landed were bigger than 13 lbs and 35% percent were between 15 and 18 lbs .

Right now, while I’m writing this report I’m happy to say that the river has risen 2 feet and the big run of fresh fish that we had been waiting for has arrived. We are seeing lots of big fish rolling and we have already had the pride of catching some beautiful 18 pounders and one huge 21 pounder. All of them were absolutely fresh and gave us the joy of some unforgettable fights.

Tight Lines!
Gaston Guglielminetti


Villa Maria Lodge breaks a historical record
Rio Grande, Argentina

The season started with the river in good shape and we had a great start in terms of fishing. From the beginning until around mid Jan, we caught an extraordinary number of mid size Sea Trout.

It was by mid January, that the full moon brought the big fish and we were soon landing trout over 20 lbs almost in every session. There was a week that deserves a special mention, in which we caught 92 fish: 30% were bigger than 15 lbs and 12 were above 20 lbs!! The weather is changing constantly making the fishing irregular with very good days and some others in which we need to work hard to produce fish. Either way, we can already say that it’s been an epic season, much better than the previous one. We’ve already landed some 28, 27 and 25 pounders and a lot of 21, 22 and 23 pounders.

And as if this weren’t enough, last week we had the honor of breaking a historical record with a huge cock fish of 33.5 pounds . The fight was tough and the happiness of seeing that monster is something that we will remember for a long time.

Ale Bianchetti.

Pira Lodge Fishing Report

The first week of February started with very high temperatures (between 95 & 104 F).
Then, we had a big storm. When it comes to fishing Dorado, a cold front means great fishing before the storm and a long siesta for one or two days. I tell you it didn’t happened: fishing was great before, during and after the storm. Crazy fish. We have been fishing an average of 60 fish per day.

The size of the fish ranges between 3 to 5 pounds which is not very greedy, but these baby “Gold-zilla’s” are very powerful and will give you a good fight and a lot of fun.

The water level has remained high and the Marsh is full of life. Hundreds of birds, carpinchos and caimans complete the wonderful landscape of the Marshes.

The banks are mostly flooded with hundreds of streams going in and out. And it’s there where we find our Golden Dorados in schools, getting crazy for food.

For the next couple of weeks, we are expecting bigger fish coming up from the Paraná River . Locals have been fishing 10+lbs Dorados way down the Corrientes River , so we have a lot of expectations from these peregrine yellow fellows.

Tito Saenz Rozas

February Fishing at Bair’s on South Andros

One of the great things about bone fishing at Bair’s Lodge in South Andros is that the fish are always here. The primary factors that affect the fishing are the light, the wind, and the angler’s ability to deal with each of them.

Obviously, when the light is low, the ability to see the fish is reduced. When the wind blows, and when doesn’t it in the Bahamas , it is harder to make a good presentation of the fly to the fish. And, when the angler’s casting skill is not developed, then the first two factors come into play even more.

February in South Andros can have bright sunny days with low wind and fish everywhere on the flats ready and willing to eat every fly tossed their way. It can also be cold, overcast and windy, which creates challenges even for the most experienced anglers.

We have had both conditions this year, but most anglers have caught fish each day, with plenty of quality fish over 5 lbs landed.

Every day we pray for the best condition and plenty of fish and sometimes the prayers are answered.


Abaco Lodge Fishing Report

The fishing has been epic here in the Northern Bahamas. The fall fishing had great weather with fewer than normal fronts interfering with fishing. It’s the perfect combination of warm days, comfortable evenings and perfect water temps for the bigger fish.

The Marls remains one of the greatest fisheries we have seen, consistently producing high volumes of friendly fish with the occasional beast and more tailing fish than anywhere else we have encountered. The guide team is one of the best in the islands, David Tate remains our head guide and is continuing his TV exposure from Pirates of the Flats and a recent appearance on Gary the Explorer. Marty Sawyer out of Cherokee is still with us and still chasing the man in the gray suit despite tangling with the pointy end of one last year. The father son combo of Town and Ashron Williams are still producing big numbers of fish. We are also glad to welcome long time guide Kenny Cooper to the team, he left Grand Bahama to join Abaco Lodge and is already proving to be a great asset.

We also had some celebrities come back to visit. Lefty Kreh and Val Atkinson returned for another trip to Abaco and Flip Pallot and Chico Fernandez are scheduled to come later in the year with space available.

The last few months have been spectacular. The fish seem to have grown a little this year as we are seeing many more fish in the 4-6lb range and we had quite a few fish in the 8-10lb range to make things really interesting. The juvenile tarpon have also been unusually thick this season; we have jumped more than 80 in the last few months.