Trip Summary

Jurassic Lake and Rio Santa Cruz by Ken Morrish
Fly Fishing Argentina

JURASSIC LAKE SLIDE SHOW
RIO SANTA CRUZ SLIDE SHOW

For several years I have been haunted by photos and stories from anglers who had fished a place called Jurassic Lake. Located in the desolate heart of Argentina’s Patagonian steppe, the lake was reportedly loaded with football shaped wild rainbows that averaged 10-15lbs and were thought to top 30lbs. If this was true, I needed to know. Being an avid steelheader (i.e. a masochist), I also needed to know the truth about the Rio Santa Cruz and the world’s only established race of Atlantic Steelhead.

I knew full well that both of these trips worked well as a combined week, but to be honest, I was not brave enough to initiate this trip myself. That changed though when friend and client Ken Dayton committed to making the journey. I knew that hooking an Atlantic Steelhead on Southern Patagonia’s second largest river was going to be tough. As I reached out to Dave Mitchell and Dale Jessup to join in on our adventure, all I could promise them was massive glacial water, high winds and possibly an Atlantic Steelhead merit badge. And after three days of steelhead fishing I promised them a grueling drive into a barren lake that would forever change what they knew about fishing for trophy trout.

As for the Rio Santa Cruz and the sprawling no-frills Estancia San Ramon, it was much as we had expected. The water was massive, semi featureless and an intriguing milky blue. The landscape was harsh, the winds strong and the steelhead were harder to come by than in previous seasons. During our three days my crew of four landed three, lost three and had roughly six other “pulls”. From the tentative elastic nature of the takes, the fish were clearly on the move and there just seemed to be very few of them around. Typically anglers catch 1-2 fish a day on the river with additional takes but for us that was not the case. Does that sound strangely familiar?

As for the fish that we caught, they ran from 8-14 pounds, and they were bright, handsome and hard-fighting. While many of the guides encouraged that we retrieve or strip the fly during the swing, we chose not to and are happy to report that fishing the way we enjoy at home also works in Argentina. Lastly, while a massive river, the Rio Santa Cruz is an interesting place and there were several key runs that were laid out in such a way that you could really recognize and feel the potential. Is a week there too much? For most anglers I would say yes, but three days in March or April is just right especially when coupled with a sure thing like Jurassic Lake.

So, what is Jurassic Lake? In simple terms, it is the most prolific trophy rainbow fishery in the world and a tough place to get in and out of. The infamous and aptly named “Drive from Hell” takes 10.5 hours from the Rio Santa Cruz and 8.5 hours from Calafate. The last four hours of the drive are very intense 4x4 travel and provide a core workout that you will never forget. Measuring 20km by 20km the lake itself is like a massive inland ocean complete with a rocky shoreline, deep blue cuts, high winds and white caps. The lake has no outlet and a very small but important inlet where our camp is located. Fish spawn in this inlet throughout much of the year and great numbers of fish tend to congregate in an area about twice the size of a football field where the little inlet enters the lake. The last note of significance is that this lake has an overabundance of scuds and was first planted with rainbows less than 15 years ago. As a result, the growth curve has been exceedingly steep and the lake has not yet reached its carrying capacity. In simple terms what this means is that these are the good old days of Jurassic Lake and that things will in all likelihood, continue to improve (if that is possible) for an unknown number of years to come.

So how good is it? Let me start by saying that we hit it under poor conditions, meaning that there was a brutal cold snap, complete with ice in the guides, multiple inches of snow, and temperatures so cold that the diesel jellified in the truck engines. Yet with that being the case what we experienced blew our minds and exceeded our expectations. We hammered fish that averaged 11-12 pounds and the vast majority of them were HOT! All of us landed at least 12-15 big fish a day and our top rod landed closer to 30 a day. In two days of fishing I was personally broken off twice on 15 pound Maxima (which I would have previously thought impossible), I snapped a #4 heavy wire hook in half, witnessed countless blistering runs, spectacular aerial displays, as well as a number of fish landed by our group that were in the 20 pound class. There were larger fish lost (some which I would bet beat 30 pounds), there were fish hooked while the spey casters swept into their D-loops, and throughout the days, sometimes as far as the eye could see, there were massive trout free jumping in the middle of the lake like sailfish. Everyone caught more than their fair share and for a driven angler, landing 300-500 pounds of truly wild rainbow trout a day would not be a problem. What made the trip for me were a few sessions where I was able to stand on the bank and sight cast to dark forms and nervous water and hook monstrous fish on a super short line in shallow water. I can still hear the mono snapping as those fish cart-wheeled away!