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View Full Version : Lago Strobel (Jurassic Lake) Argentina



FISHEYE
02-25-2016, 11:11 PM
I returned last week from fishing 2 weeks at the above. I hesitate to post because I don't want to sound like I am bragging but here goes.

Dennis, Paul and I returned from Argentina on Monday morning. We fished 14 days. Greg fished the first 6 days and he hit the best weather of the trip. The first week was amazing and the second week less so. We still caught fish but it was windier. We stayed at Estancia Laguna Verde and fished Lago Strobel (Jurassic Lake). I really like EVL because we had access to several miles of lake shore, including some bays where we could get out of the wind, many lagunas on the estancia, and the Barancoso River. The lodge staff and guides treated us very well and took care of pretty much every need. The food was great and the wine plentiful.

What can I say about the fishing? Week one was incredible. It was maybe one of the best fishing weeks of my life, not necessarily for numbers of fish but size and the fact that we caught huge rainbows on dry flies. My biggest fish of the week was 22#. I think Greg had 2 that big and Dennis one. Not to be left out, Paul caught a 20# fish. We also had many other fish hooked, and a few (about 20) landed in the 15-20# range and many, many fish of 10-15#. We lost count of the "dinks" (fish of 3-6#). The mornings were slower than the afternoons but we caught lots of cruising fish off the rocks and cliffs on nymphs, scuds, small leeches and woolly buggers. In the afternoons after lunch when the lake would warm up a bit (it go so warm we would fish in t-shirts) we fished large schools of fish near some of the beaches. We used large foam dry flies as indicators with a trailing nymph or scud. The fish would mostly hit the trailing fly, but we caught or missed lots on the dries. There is nothing quite as exciting as seeing a huge head come up behind the dry and see its mouth slowly open. Often times we would pull the fly out of its mouth because we could not wait, but occasionally we could wait and we hooked big fish. I think my biggest was 15#. One afternoon in about 3 hours, Dennis, Paul and I must have hooked more than 35 fish. We broke a large number off on the hook set. I even got one on a mouse.

Week two was windier and the last day was cold with light rain. Some days the winds were 35-45 mph. The good thing about EVL, is that they can take you to a few small bays where your back is the the wind and you can make a cast. We still caught fish on the windy days. Typically we would catch 3-8 fish each on the bad days. Sounds pretty sparse but when you consider the size of the fish it is amazing.

The only downside of fishing here is how long it takes to travel. Our flight times down and back from Anchorage were about 23 hours with layovers in Phoenix, Houston, and Buenos Aires. We are thinking seriously of going back and if we do we might spend a few nights in BA at the beginning of the trip and maybe a night in El Calafate at the end. We are thinking of 10 -14 days at EVL followed by a week at the Rio Grande chasing sea run browns. We were all pretty exhausted after 14 days of fishing but I think we would do it again in a heartbeat. After all, life is short.

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FISHEYE
02-25-2016, 11:16 PM
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Bill Kiene semi-retired
02-26-2016, 06:22 AM
Thanks for the incredible post and wonderful pictures.

We have a group of local old customers who went there about 4 times and they had wonderful results too.

I guess it is an amazing ecosystem.

Tony Buzolich
02-26-2016, 06:23 AM
Pretty incredible trip to say nothing of the great fishing. One thought that immediately came to mind when I saw some of your first pictures was the lake. It has the look of Pyramid Lake with the barren shoreline and what appears to be the tuffa around the rougher shore. Even a couple of vehicles parked on the beach looked like Pyramid.

I'm wondering what the main food source is here that makes these fish grow so big. Scuds? Is that red poop in your hand some of their diet?

Good story, Tony

Darian
02-26-2016, 09:30 AM
Amazing!!! Everything down there seems stark and beautiful. Like Tony says, it looks a lot like Pyramid Lake even the mountains pictured are craggy/steep. Those fish are real piggies. Retirement is treating you well.... Thanks for sharing. :cool:

SeanO
02-26-2016, 11:21 AM
Amazing!

There's some motivation.

FISHEYE
02-26-2016, 11:53 AM
Tony, yes they eat scuds and probably snails as well. The red stuff is fish poop. The water must be on the basic side and the calcium carbonate deposits on the rocks is 6 inches thick in places.

Darian, retirement is GREAT! I fished 99 days last year and the goal this year is 120. V says she will never see me. I tell her to take up fishing.

mems
02-26-2016, 12:49 PM
Hey Phil, looks like a great trip. Those are some stud bows! It looks windy as hell. Get the wind to your back and roll cast. You need your haber hat on in some of those pictures. Gland you had a good time, Don.

stanbery
02-26-2016, 02:11 PM
Thanks for sharing the pictures and post it looks to be a blast.

Jon

johnsquires
02-27-2016, 07:50 AM
That whole area is on my bucket list.
Thank you for sharing your adventure.

jbird
02-27-2016, 11:40 PM
Hey Phil! I've seen a lot of Jurassic reports but... Dayum brother! Yours wins the prize! Congrats on hitting it so good and it helps to be an accomplished angler! Well done indeed! That second fish looks like a horse with fins!

FISHEYE
02-28-2016, 11:42 AM
Jay, the 2nd fish and the 4th both weighed 22# on a digital scale.

Randy Lee
03-06-2016, 01:34 PM
Every fish is picture perfect! No fin or scale contusions of any type. Fashion models everyone. They seem to lead a charmed life at that lake. Excellent report. Maybe someday......
Thanks for sharing,
Randy

Bull_Dog
03-13-2016, 03:27 PM
Great pics,

I was there in January and it is one of my favorite fishing trips of all time. The guides in one of the last pics are Alberto and Nano. Awesome people. Laguna Verde is a top shelf quality place and the lake is amazing.

I already have a trip on the books with the lodge for next February 11-18 and I have two spots available if anyone is looking to go.

Rob Anderson
Reno Fly Fishing Outfitters
Pyramid Lake Fly Fishing
775.742.1754

FISHEYE
03-13-2016, 11:05 PM
Alfredo and Nano. They are great guides as are Nico, Christian and Martin. I love it there.

Morgan
03-29-2016, 03:14 PM
Looks like a bucket list trip for sure.

Id imagine on the shitty weather days you could treat it just like pyramid lake.
Fish big midges under a bobber. hekk I bet those days would be awesome!

FISHEYE
04-02-2016, 06:40 AM
We did a lot of that on the windy days. A nymph or small leech under a bobber, or we went deep with a short sink tip. We caught a lot of fish that way.