Ralph's loops

The fishing season is well under way now, and I just had to post this picture of Ralph's loops.

Novice angler Ralph Cook wanted a casting lesson to improve his distance and presentation, and I was delighted with how quickly he made progress. In less than two hours he was regularly casting beautiful tight loops like this.

He focused really hard on the casting during the session and revealed a natural aptitude for the timing. Well done Ralph. I hope you're primed for a productive season now.

Incidentally, the water in the lakes is warming up now and I think the spring fishing will be warming up in the next few weeks too.

Unbelievable Argentina

7kg sea trout

The jet lag is still lingering, but that's a small price to pay for one of the most amazing week's fishing of my life. Our trip to the Estancia Las Buitreras on the Rio Gallegos in Patagonia, about a three-hour flight south of Buenos Aires, lived up to its billing as the most incredible sea trout fishing on the planet.

The small rubberleg flies worked brilliantly as you can see from the shot of the 15lb sea trout above, my biggest for the week, taken on my variant of a bead head yuk bug.

But even bigger fish were caught, including three 20lb+ fish, by the party of nine rods.

The fishing started well from the first morning with double figure fish being caught within the first hour. The action slowed a little midweek as cold air temperatures took the edge off the fishing, but by working our flies a little deeper, we still took fish. The wave action caused by the strong Patagonian wind also coloured the water a little, but a switch to larger, brighter flies took care of that. And by the end of the week, fresh fish were streaming into the river ahead of a big tide. I don't think any of us wanted to leave this incredible river.

During the week we were accompanied on the water by flamingos, rheas, eagles, armadillos and skunks.

The frantic pre-trip fly tying certainly paid off spectacularly - especially for fellow rods. AAPGAI instructor Brett O'Connor stole a bunch of flies and proceeded to take seven fish with them on the first day, including three over 10lb. I'll never get those G-Force nymphs back off him.

And trip host Jim Curry, relaxing on the last evening, "borrowed" my rod as we fished a gorgeous run and had the cheek to take an 18lber within a few casts. It was a spectacular fight, not least because I was trying to wrestle the rod back off him at the time.

But really it was no more than the guy deserved for organising such an awesome trip. Jim's agency, Halstead & Bolton, are already planning a return trip next year - so get onto these guys if you fancy a fish like this:

Jim Curry with his 18lber