Wild Trout Fishing on the Limay River, Patagonia

The Limay River is a world-class game fishery, renowned for its specimen brown trout and big, hard-fighting rainbow trout. This is not a beginner's river, but don't be daunted by its size and reputation: with the right guiding any reasonably competent flyfisher can enjoy success on this big-fish venue.

A Limay rainbow comes (far from meekly) to the net

The Limay River System
The Limay River, in the Comahue region of northwest Patagonia, flows out of Nahuel Huapi Lake and winds its 380 km course gathering water from a number of major tributaries including the Traful, Pichileufú and Collón Curá rivers before meeting the Neuquén River to create the Río Negro. There are five major dams on the Limay, used for hydroelectricity generation. (The resulting reservoirs cover a vast area and have in effect reduced by 70 km the length of the flowing river from an original 450km.)

Trout Fishing
The brown trout of the Limay are legendary, with plenty of fish in the 20 to 28 inch region. Our best brown trout, which Pat caught in March 2008, was a monster 32 inch hen fish with an estimated weight somewhere between 14 and 16 lb. (Naturally, we returned all fish without the delay and stress involved in weighing them.)

The Limay also holds good stocks of big rainbow trout averaging 18 inches in length. Fish of 20 to 22 inches are quite common, with a few specimens reaching 25 inches.

Pat with a specimen wild brown trout from the Limay River

Trout Fishing Techniques
When the hatches of mayflies or sedges bring trout to the surface it is well worth fishing a matching dry fly, especially in the shallow margins and drop offs at the heads of pools; however, the very biggest fish do not often rise to such tiny morsels. Hoppers and crickets make a tempting snack even for quite large trout, but the largest trout are invariably predators that feed on smaller fish or on crustaceans such as Pancora crabs. Pancoras look rather like crayfish but are more oval in shape.

Pancoras swim quickly using their tails and bunching their
claws and legs so that they look rather like squids

The river is best fished by floating (the guides provide stable, well-equipped boats that each carry two anglers plus the guide who mans the oars. Some of the shallower areas and margins can be easily fished by wading or even from the shore, and this is essential because on this fast-flowing river no boatman can be expected to row all day! Streamer lures representing minnows and other small fish can be quite effective, but it's certainly not necessary to cast heavy streamers to succeed on this great river. If you join a hosted/guided trip, you will learn about a range of other techniques and tactics for catching the big trout for which the rivers of Patagonia are so renowned.

Most of our fish were caught on AFTM #6 rods 9.5 ft long, but an AFTM #6 or 7 double-handed 12 ft rod is certainly not excessively heavy when using large flies.

What to expect
You need to be a fairly competent caster to get best results on this big and in places brawling river - it's typically at least 50 yards and in places up to 200 yards wide along most of its length. In two days' fishing, Pat and Sue caught 32 rainbow trout of lengths between 15 and 21 inches and 11 brown trout of lengths between 16 and 32 inches. Everyone in our party caught fish each day.

The other Big Added Value...
You may already have mastered some or even many of the fishing techniques that give best results on Patagonia rivers; if not then the guides will ensure that you do. But the real bonus of this top-class guiding is the tactical advice and practical help you get: how you need to move a surface lure differently in fast water, slow water, deep and shallow areas, for example; how to set up the nymphing gear for different locations and flow conditions; which areas are likely to hold the quality fish in particular light and water conditions through the day. This kind of expertise is not acquired easily; it's the result of detailed surveys and hundreds of days of effort on prime stretches of the river. We cannot commend it highly enough.

Join us in March 2009 or in early 2010 on a Hosted Flyfishing Trip to great rivers in Patagonia...

Can't wait? Send for details of opportunities in 2008...

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