Syracuse.com - Manlius man enjoys Argentina trout fishing get-away

[HuntingNY-News]

The fishing was as advertised,he said. Every day he and his friends landed about 25-30 brown and rainbow trout, averaging 14 to 20 inches.His biggest was a 26-inch brown.

Submitted photoWeiter ishows his 26-inch brown that he caught on the Colon Cura River. For nearly 15 years, fly fisherman Steve Weiter has been a frequent visitor to such local trout waters as Limestone and West Canada Creek, and has occasionally wet his line in the Adirondacks and on the Delaware River.

Less than a month ago, he got to experience a different trout fishing venue – Argentina.

“I had two friends who asked me to come along,” the 50-year-old Manlius resident said. “I’m glad I did.”

Weiter, who is library director at SUNY ESF and secretary of the local Iroquois Trout Unlimited chapter, traveled to Argentina Feb. 24 to March 4. He and his buddies, Mike Ray, a retired attorney from Atlanta, Ga. and Geoff Murphy, a doctor in Virginia fished several rivers near St. Martin de Los Andes, which is located in the southeast foothills of the Andes Mountains.

The anglers stayed at a lodge. They’d get up by 8:30 a.m., have breakfast and the guides would come by and pick them up, trying out different rivers each day.

“We’d be on the water by 10 a.m. and would fish until about 2 p.m., when we’d have lunch on the river,” he said. “We’d then fish until 8:30 to 9 p.m. each night, depending on the weather and how they were biting.

“We’d then go back to the lodge, get cleaned up, have a glass of wine and have dinner at about 10:30 or 11 p.m. each night,” he said.

Submitted photoA nice rainbow trout caught by Weiter on the Malleo River.

The fishing was “as advertised,” Weiter said.

Every day he and his friends landed about 25-30 brown and rainbow trout, averaging 14 to 20 inches.

“My biggest was a 26-inch brown, which I caught on a minnow imitation,” he said.

Weiter said his choice of flies were similar in many respects to what anglers use on Central New York streams.

“We fished with a lot of standard caddis, Copper John nymphs – and minnow imitations,” he said. “We used inch worms, which feed on the willow trees that hang on the banks of the rivers.

“We also got a lot of them on Chenobyl ants, which are big foam things that look a little messed up.”

Prior to the this trip, Weiter, said the biggest fish he caught locally on a fly was a 15-inch brown he caught on Limestone Creek a few years back.

“My biggest trout ever (prior to this trip) was a 22-inch brown on the Davidson River in North Carolina,” he said. “I’ve also broken off a number of big ones that I never saw.”

Weiter said the trout in Argentina were “wild and healthy,” and none were stocked. “You get one 14 to 15 inches and it fights like a 19-inch fish here.”

He said he brought his 5- and 6- weight rods on the trip. He said most of fishing took place from drift boats, with the guides paddling. He said they often drifted 10-12 miles without seeing another person.

Submitted photoMost the fishing was done from drift boats.

Weiter said there were no poisonous snakes or mosquitoes, but he did see an interesting mix of wildlife on shore including a European red stag, foxes and hares, sheep, goats — and a guanaco, an animal related to camels and llamas.

“There were also condors flying overhead. That was interesting,” he said.

He said the weather was similar to the Adirondacks in mid-August – sunny, then overcast, then sunny, with a lot of wind. It could get as high as 80 degrees during the day, and drop to the 40s at night.

One night, the guides set up tents on the river and the three anglers camped overnight, an experience that Weiter listed as his most memorable, apart from the 26-inch brown.

“We came back from fishing and they had everything set up. It was an asado, an Argentinian barbecue,” Weiter said. “We had half a lamb on an open spit. The night sky was beautiful. We could see the Southern Cross and the Milky Way.”

Weiter said the guide costs were similar to what one might pay for a trout fishing trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, or some of the prime streams in Montana. The extra travel costs, though, bumped up the price tag.

“It cost me about $7,000 with travel, tips and everything,” he said.

Weiter said the biggest thing he brought back from Argentina was a better ability to cast into the wind.

Submitted photoA 22-inch-plus brown trout caught by Weiter on the Chimehuin River.

“At times it got brutal,” he said. “ I was forced to improve or sit down.”

He said he won’t be out today during the trout season opener, noting he prefers to avoid the crowds.

“I’m going to Hamilton, Canada for a fly fishing forum being put on there by the Izaak Walton Fly Fishing Club,” he said. “I’ll probably be out on Limestone or Butternut (creeks) within a week or so.”

For more: See the Web site of the Andes Drifters, the outfitters used by Weiter and his friends.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog