Our typical day went like this. We would breakfast from 7 to 8 am in the hotel. We had fresh squeezed orange juice, cereals, fruit, bacon and eggs to order, and cake. Not sure why cake was on the buffet but there it was. Our guides picked us up at 8am and drove us to the cabana recently built on the river. There, we'd change into waders, have one last cup of tea, discuss pools for the day, and then off we'd go. We fished two anglers per guide. We would fish one pool in the morning and another in the afternoon. At around noon we would break and return to the cabana for an excellent lunch prepared by our Argentine chef, Alberto. Then we were on our own until around 4 pm. Some took naps, some tied flies, Bob and I played cribbage. At 4 pm, the guides would appear and we'd head out for the evening fish. The wind died at dusk nearly every day and it was a magical time to fish. At around 9pm our guide would hint it was time to go and we'd return to the cabana. We left our rods, waders, and gear at the cabana and drove the 45 minutes back to the hotel. Dinner and the local wines were four star and the only negative was we ate around 11pm. Of course, for Argentines (and much of South America), this is their usual time to eat dinner. Needless to say, we got in our share of fishing. Lesson number four: control your enthusiasm and pace yourself so you don't bonk on day three and end up not being able to fish the entire week. Note: Despedida was building a new lodge next to the cabana that will be ready by next year. This will eliminate the 45 minute drive to / from town every day.

Despedida has 14 pools within their boundaries so we never fished the same pool twice and most pools get a day of rest between days. Pools were typically over a hundred meters long so two anglers didn't often get in each others way. Regardless, it is important that both you and your angling partner discuss whether you want to fish fast or slow. To avoid combat flyfishing, develop a compromise plan if one of you likes to camp out in the head of the pool and the other likes to fish fast and work through the entire pool. We also ran into situations in which one angler caught fish in the head of the pool and the other caught diddly in the tail. Lesson number five: a little preliminary discussion about fishing styles and how and when you'll swap places helps alleviate any bad feelings when the pressure to catch that 20 pounder begins to build.

One last observation. While the fishing is all catch and release and the average fish is getting larger, there is one area anglers need to be concerned about and that is wading into the redds. Several of the pools my guide placed us in had redds. When I mentioned this to my guide he wasn't concerned in the least. The bottom of the Rio Grande is all gravel everywhere and as such is perfectly suited for the browns to make their redds. Obviously, when they're on the redds the fish are more aggressive and much easier to hook. Please be observant and if you are wading into the redds, back up, make longer casts or simply find another section of the pool in which to fish. There's plenty of fish so there's no need to destroy thousands of eggs by walking on them, even if your guide tells you it's okay.

If anyone is planning a trip to southern Argentina or Tierra del Fuego I am more than happy to provide whatever insight and guidance I can based upon this trip. My contact information is in the Ozark member phone listing or you can send me an email at drjeffs@earthlink.net.