Villa María Lodge – Week 2: January 6th to 13th, 2023

This week the weather took a 180-turn compared to last, going from rough and cruel, to almost too warm and mellow. But, that shouldn’t be a bad thing, right? However,  when you are trying to catch sub-polar fish, 23-25 Celsius air temperatures, high shiny sun, and little wind are not the best ingredients to keep the water temperature at the ideal threshold. In fact, we had a couple of days where it reached 16-18 Celsius, far too warm for a sea trout’s ideal comfort zone. 

So, we needed to focus our efforts when the temperatures (air & water) were closer to fish preferences. This called for a sharp mind on the water, staying focused and making the right choices were very important early in the morning and late in the evening when the fish were most active. 

A clear example is what did happen to Demian & Niels, brothers-in-law, good friends, and visiting us for the first time. One windy and overcast evening they were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right moment and they managed to land, back-to-back, 2 superb fresh fish. After celebrations and before the mandatory photos, the scale pointed out that each fish weighed 22 and 23 pounds. 

Congratulation guys!!

As the conditions were less than ideal and the river keeps dropping steadily, we needed to adjust the fishing tackle accordingly. We ditched the heavier rods and longer, denser sinking tips in favor of lighter setups. Short T11 tips were the heaviest used going all the way up to intermediate tips for smoother presentation just under the surface. little tubes, light nymphs, slim streamers, medium-sized leeches, and the all-mighty green machine were the most reliable flies along the week

We expect next week the weather become more stable so probably we will need to re-adjust every setup to match the week’s conditions. 

Fish over 20lbs.: 3