Kau Tapen was the first fishing lodge on the Río Grande, opened in 1984. Kau Tapen means “House of Fishing” in the Ona Language and here, at the heart of the Río Grande, live the best pools of the river. You’ll fish most days with the wind at your back and over your shoulder for prime casting angles, while short walks and shallow wading are the norm. Single or two handed rods are both effective. Skate a bomber over a resting lie, or float a nymth next to a cut back for Sea- Run Trout you’ve only see in your dreams.
Why Choose Kau Tapen Lodge?
- Located in the heart of the Rio Grande – the best trophy Sea Run Brown Trout river in the world.
- The first lodge on the Rio Grande, over 32 years ago, and the standard of excellence by which all other lodges, worldwide, are measured.
- Five world records have been set at Kau Tapen. 27-35 pound trout are caught each season. 20 pounders are caught every week.
- The most pools per angler per day- only two anglers and their guide per beat and four to eight pools per beat- different beats every morning and evening–that’s a lot of water to cover each day!
- The best lodge services and hospitality—over 80% of our anglers are repeat guests.
- The easiest river you’ll ever wade, with a gravel boeom and an even flow.
- Easy to read pool and riffle sequences on each beat.
- Kau Tapen can easily be fished with a 7 or 8 weight rod or with a two hander.
- Fish are generally easy to reach, holding on current lines or against cut banks within casting range.
- It’s not just the Rio Grande that Kau Tapen overlooks, but also the Menendez River, which hosts its own run of Sea Trout with over 22 river miles.. This river offers some of the best floating line fishing for sea runs, many of them over 20 lbs. Here, technical fishing is the norm.
- Extensive beats make it possible to find a pool where wind is a help -not a hindrance.
- Each week starts with an evening warm up session -most anglers will catch a trout or two the first night they arrive
- A mix of the world’s best guides, both local and international, to make sure we combine local knowledge with world class technique. Guides rotate each day-you learn more and enjoy more.
- A la carte menu, true five star accommodations and excellent equipment means you will be fishing in both style and comfort.
- It is not all sinking line dredging many trout are caught on floating line and even floating flies each season.
Location
Coordinates: 53° 53´ 57.82” S 68° 22´ 7.42” W
The lodge is located on the banks of the Rio Grande, in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The success of the fishery on the Rio Grande is a modern-day fisherman’s Cinderella story. In just a decade, through access control and catchand-release regulations, average catch rates have risen from less than a fish a day in the early ‘80s to multiple fish per day, per person, today. In the modern era, starting with the opening of Kau Tapen Lodge in the early ‘80s, the Rio Grande has become the most productive sea-run brown trout fishery in the world. However, trout numbers fluctuate with ocean variables, tides, water levels, and a host of other natural factors. The Rio Grande flows from west to east, from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean, through approximately 60 miles of Argentine territory. The landscape of Tierra del Fuego is reminiscent of Wyoming or the Scottish low country. It includes sparsely populated wilderness, large sheep farming estancias, and wild herds of llama-like Guanacos, as well as plentiful red fox populations and condors.
Getting There
Guests fly into Buenos Aires, Argentina, and typically overnight there, with a day to spend touring this wonderful city. Arrival day at Kau Tapen is set for Saturday, so the following morning guests depart Buenos Aires for the flight south. Commercial airlines fly from Buenos Aires to the airport of Rio Grande (3-hour flight), where a lodge representative will meet you. The transfer from Rio Grande airport to the lodge takes 50-60 minutes. On arrival at the lodge, guests are welcomed with cocktails by the entire Kau Tapen staff.