Fishing Day

A typical day at Laguna Verde Lodge will begin with guests enjoying a lovely breakfast of multiple entrée choices, including fresh fruit and juices.

Then everyone convenes to the mudroom to “wader up”, grab their gear, and pile into their appointed vehicles. Most days, some anglers will drive to Jurassic Lake for the day (to access the lake requires about an hour of first truck shuttle, then walking, then quad-runners), and some will go to the Barrancoso (about 20-minutes of driving in a truck to access the upper reaches…if you choose to walk and fish the entire few miles of river, it will be over an hour of combined quad-runners and trucks to get back to the lodge at days end).

Those fishing the lake will first access a large protected cove which they can fish either from shore, or by boat rowed by the guide. Then, if the wind is not too severe, they can pile onto a larger lake boat, and access many other protected bays around the lake’s perimeter. Floating lines are the de rigueur choice here, allowing for quick changes between streamers, and oversized dries (yes, when the wind is down these monster trout sometimes cruise the surface, and can be sight-fished with large dry flies!); slow-sinking lines can also be effective, particularly fishing streamers or nymphs on heavy wind days. Lunches are taken in the field.

There are two basic choices for those spending the day on the stream, both beginning with a short drive to an upstream section. If when you are there the water has been low for some time, odds are good there will be few monster trout this high up, but the entire river is absolutely infested with 10-14 inch rainbows (with the occasional 20-inch “surprise”), which attack dries flies with reckless abandon; one can spend an entire day slowly plying the runs and pools of this upper valley, catching more fish than can be imagined, then walking back up to the truck for the short drive back to the lodge. If the water has been higher – meaning more large fish in the upper river - and the guides instruct it, you’ll probably tie on a streamer immediately and fish it the rest of the day, prospecting in the colored water for giants. The second option begins the exact same way, but is for physically fit anglers that don’t mind a strenuous day of hiking and clambering around big rocks. If the water is low, these anglers will fish at a faster pace in the upper river valley – with their choice of dries or streamers – then slow down and fish more deliberately as soon as they begin spotting trophies down in the canyon water. If the water is higher and colored, they will spend the day blind-casting streamers into all the deeper runs and holes, covering the water quickly and as efficiently as possible. At the end of this day, they will use quad-runners to ride out of the deep canyon to waiting trucks, which they will use to drive back to the lodge. Here, also, lunches are taken in the field.