At the start of 2008 I found myself guiding at Kau Tapen Lodge on the Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego. It was a privilege to be guiding on what is undoubtedly the world’s best sea-run brown trout river and also one of the nicest lodges anywhere.

First 20+ lb fish of the season. January 2008

Head Guide and all around bad-ass, Matt Breuer

Photo by Pancho Panzer, owner/operator of Patagonia Fishing Hosts

After a long but successful season at KT, I took the bus north across the Straight of Magellan to meet up with our good friend Rodrigo Amadeo on the Santa Cruz to fish for the elusive Atlantic Steelhead. We spent a total of 10 days on the river, eating asados and fishing hard when the conditions permitted. There’s very few places left in the world where you can spend several days fishing and floating some 200km of river and only see one other fisherman. Although the fishing pressure is light almost to the point of non-existent, like steelhead fishing everywhere you still have to put your time in. Luckily we hooked up a few times:

Rodrigo Amadeo with Atlantic Steelhead

steelhead fishing the middle reaches of the Santa Cruz

Rodrigo with hot santa cruz fish

Los dos Boludos

After 10 days on the river, it was back north to Buenos Aires for a few months.  Coming from a region of Patagonia with a population density comparable to the Sahara Desert to a city of 13 million inhabitants was an enjoyable, yet drastic change. I rented an apartment and starting teaching English.  Although it was an incredible experience, I gradually realized that a fishing bum such as myself doesn’t fair all that well for extended periods of time in a noisy, congested metropolitan.

My apartment on Avenida Santa Fe

Nonetheless, I was able to squeeze in a few days a fly fishing for golden dorado with our friend/guide Peto in an incredible region of Argentina near the Paraguayan border.

Peto w/ big golden dorado

After 7 1/2 months in Argentina, it was time to return stateside for while. My first stop was the Deschutes River in Oregon, and then I rushed up to Southeast Alaska to catch the tail end of the fishing season up there. It had been two summers since I had been to AK, so I was excited to get up there again:

Then I hitched a ride with my friends Mit, Laurie and Curtis on a halibut schooner from Ketchikan to Seattle. Cruising the inside passage is an experience that everyone should do at least once in their lives.

That put me back in the lower 48 just in time for the October steelhead season. My favorite time of year in the Northwest!

Calvin Fuller of Sandpoint outfitters with very small fish

Nico Trochine w/ Northwest steelhead

Nico and I were then graciously invited by Tom McMurray and Brandon White of Marine Ventures Foundation to fly to Jackson, WY and try our hands at some western trout fishing. Nico had never trout fished in the U.S. before, and although it’s not Patagonia, I think he was still impressed:

The Tetons. Photo: Brandon White

Native Cutt

Que Cara de Culo!

dos marrones, dos boludos

For Thanksgiving I headed to the east coast to visit family and was able to meet up with Brandon of Lateral Line for a day of Chesapeake Bay striper fishing. I’d never fished for stripers before and although we didn’t find any big fish that day, it’s always cool to add another fish to species list.

first striper

As if Jackson Hole and stiper fishing on the Chesapeake weren’t enough, Tom and Brandon invited me on yet another incredible trip, this time to Bair’s lodge in South Andros in the Bahamas. It had been a couple years since I’d been flats fishing, so needless to say I was very excited.  Renowned fisheries biologists Jack & Bonnie Stanford where also there, and it was a real honor for a layman like myself to pick their brains about fishing related topics.  Professor Stanford is a wealth of information and also the impetus behind the highly successful study on sea run brown trout in the Rio Grande. Having tagged and measured lots of fish for the study, I really enjoyed coming full circle by meeting the man behind the madness. We also had some great fishing, catching bonefish, barricuda and even a few sharks. The enormous 10lb + bonefish that I farmed still haunts me, even several weeks after the fact.

Photo: Tom McMurray

Photo: Tom McMurray

reef shark, caught on a "flesh fly"

Captain Billy. Equally skilled at catching things out of the water as in the water

Guide Extaordinaire, Tee

Lemon shark

Tom w/ nice bone

Well, that pretty much sums up the best trips of 2008. Can’t wait to see what ’09 brings. Stay Tuned

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