Trout in Tierra del Fuego are measured in kilos, not inches, and what makes the Rio Grande more exciting than all others on Earth is that every cast into its water might attract a strike from what would be the fish of a lifetime anywhere else.

Reliable scientific data has been collected from a remarkable number of fish and supports claims that don’t need exaggeration: The average size of brown trout in the Rio Grande is over nine pounds. One trout in five is over fifteen pounds and one in fifty will be a “puerco del rio” that would tip honest scales between twenty and twenty-five pounds. Those numbers are based on the first 1,574 fish caught (in January and February) at Estancia Maria Behety in the 2007 season.

Certainly, there are differences from fish to fish, but several studies have been completed by the University of Montana and Argentina Fisheries that indicate the sea trout of the Rio Grande are 14% to 21% heavier than steelhead or Atlantic salmon of the same length.

And while angling success has some correlation with skills and fishing conditions, most fly rodders on the Rio Grande land between three and six fish every day, and usually hook twice that many. Consider then, the odds are extremely high that most guests at one of our lodges will land a trophy fish over twenty pounds sometime during their stay!

Of course, even the average nine or ten pounders that fill the nets severals times a day is a trophy.

Hooking up with a big sea run brown is an emotional fishing experience that defies accurate description. Most fish grab a streamer or nymph on the swing, and your first notion is you’ve hooked a snag. But there are damn few snags in the Rio Grande. It’s about this time when the three-foot long “snag” starts violently shaking its head, and its time to plant your feet and get ready for a fight.

After weighing and measuring the length and girth of nearly 6,000 sea trout for three years in a row, University of Montana biologists have developed a very accurate formula for estimating their weight, without the use of a Boga or other accurate scale.

Weight(lbs)=64.16 x (fork length (m) x girth (m))1.4676

The problem with that formula is most of the elephant fish landed bottom out all but the largest of scales. However, using the proven UM formula, it’s safe to say that around a dozen browns over thirty pounds have been caught by anglers on the Estancia Maria Behety each season for the past eight years. Each and every season!

These big brown trout are much like Pacific salmon and steelhead, in that they’re most active in low light conditions. The scientists call them nega-phototropic, and as the sun gets higher, fish retreat to the deepest parts of the pools. Perhaps it’s because they’re used to the deeper sea, or they feel exposed to predators in bright sunlight, but it’s a fact they’re more aggressive and much more likely to strike a fly in the early morning, late evening, or when it’s overcast. In mid-day, when the sun is at its highest, they’re unlikely to respond to even the most perfectly presented fly. One of the reasons so many photos of the Rio Grande mega trout look like deer caught in the headlights is that most are caught early or late in the day.

Most anglers arrive shortly after first light and will see dozens of fish rolling on the surface of the pools in the blush of the dawn. Action is usually red hot for a couple of hours and then begins to taper off. The reverse is true at the end of the day, and it’s maddening to leave the river when the light has disappeared and the fish are still exploding all around.

The browns begin returning to the pools of the Rio Grande in significant numbers around Thanksgiving. Less than a month later the river is loaded with fish and it is estimated that by the first day of each New Year, nearly 80% of the escapement has reached their annual family reunion. The fish initially herd up in the best lower river pools, though hundreds more of the silver sea trout continue to pour into the Rio Grande on every tide until sometime in mid-April. That translates into more than a thousand monster brown trout per river mile.

The fishing schedule at all of our fine lodges on the Rio Grande is
designed around the best fishing times. Really, the Argentines have mastered the art of squeezing two fishing days into one.

Fishermen start each morning with a light breakfast of fresh fruit, cereals, yogurt, toast and coffee, as well as a full American Breakfast (if they have the room), followed by a full morning of fishing. Each two anglers share a guide and vehicle. Their beat usually consists of two to four pools, all for themselves. Fishermen typically return to the lodge by 1 o’clock in the afternoon where a delicious midday meal, perfectly complemented by local wines, is served, followed by a well-earned siesta. Anglers, well-fed and rested, fish the evening session right up to (and sometimes beyond) the brilliant Tierra del Fuego sunsets. They’ll then return to their respective lodges, in time to regale each other with tales of giant fish, then sit down to yet another meal that would put many five-star restaurants to shame.

By this time you have been ridden hard and put away wet, only to rise the next morning and start it all over again. What a wonderful way to exist...EAT, SLEEP, FISH, EAT, SLEEP, FISH, EAT, SLEEP...

	Estancia Maria Behety Lodge With more than thirty miles of river frontage available, they’ll likely have pick of the litter of the best trophy sea trout fishing pools on the planet. > read more

	La Villa de Maria Behety Lodge is the most deluxe lodge in all of Argentina. Guests share more than 102 pools with Estancia Maria Behety Lodge and enjoy old world charm in a beautifully restored mansion. Amenities beyond the fishing include a 7,000 bottle wine cellar, private rooms, Jacuzzi tubs and talented guides. > read more

	Despedida Lodge Despedida guides have a dawn to dark work ethic and are among the best in Argentina. The estancia fishing is second to none on the Rio Grande and its inviting, spacious log lodge accommodates only six anglers each week. > read more