Strobel Lake Fly Fishing Report – October, 2022

Fly fishing in the wind is difficult

FISHING REPORT

Angler: Jerry
Date: October 8-15, 2022
Trip Taken: Strobel Lake, Argentina Fly Fishing Trip
Consultant: Fly Water Travel

I fish three or four major fishing trips a year in Alaska (my son lives there), Argentina (my wife is Argentinian and we have a home there), Costa Rica, Wyoming/Montana and I fish two to three times a week in Colorado and Florida. I consider my fly-fishing ability to be intermediate. I use these big trips to try to improve my skills.

This Strobel Lake Fly Fishing Report is for 8-15 October 2022.

This is the best rainbow trout fishing I have ever experienced. Fifteen to twenty fish a day averaging 7 to 8 pounds. I caught 55 fish over ten pounds including two 19 pounders.

I really believe other trip reports that say this is the best in the world.

I rate the fishing 5+ stars on a 5-point scale. That said, they are many areas for improving the experience as everything else is 1 to 3 stars on a 5-point scale.

NETS

There were only four usable nets for 11 people. On three days, we had 13 people. Even one of the usable nets had a broken handle and was very short for landing big fish. Having a guide come and take my net when they return from siesta really pissed me off as I broke off some big fish trying shore land them. For what the price is, there should be one net for each person.

GUIDES

I rely on guides to improve my fishing. No advice was offered and I didn’t learn anything new. I netted nearly a third of the fish I caught myself, as my guide was not even nearby. Two of the 4 guides did not understand English that well.

It snowed one morning and the pipes froze, but thawed by 7pm that evening. Fishing in 100 KPH winds in freezing conditions was challenging, especially when casting into the wind. I have never fished in such strong winds and would have appreciated some suggestions/help from the guides to improve my technique.

There was only six hours of guided fishing a day from about 9:30 to 12:30 and 3:30 to 6:30 pm. Guides take a siesta after lunch. Guides rush you away 30 minutes early to walk to lodge and take off waders. I have never fished less than eight hours on a guided trip, and usually would fish 10 hours.

There might be two people per guide in slow season, but we had three people per guide, and fish broke off on shore waiting for a net or trying to land 12-pound trout by beaching it. It was very crowded to fish three people at the pool.

Everyone was supposed to fish each beat three times. Lodge manager had us fishing one beat five times, and other beats only two times. It really pissed me off that I only fished the best beat twice.

Bay of Pigs is NOT a beat to fish. The grass beds full of scuds no longer exist and it is rare to see a fish cruise by now. It is very dangerous to fish the Bay of Pigs on slippery sharp rocks in 40 MPH winds.

TRAVEL LOGISTICS

The 4:00 am departure from the lodge on Saturday, (no plane) with a 3:00 am wake-up was the beginning of a horrible 6.5-hour drive from hell. This was in addition to a 5:00 am departure from El Calafate (4:00 am wake-up) to get to the lodge.

Half of those on the trip received no communication from Fly Water Travel on logistics about pick-up times. Fly Water Travel or Jurassic Lake Lodge staff must send a group WhatsApp text one week before trip to be certain they are able to contact us when traveling.

WHATS APP works on free airport or hotel WIFI. I learned about my Saturday pick-up time by contacting Jake and Noel at Fly Water Travel on Friday from my El Calafate hotel. Jake was out of office and Noel doesn’t work Fridays.

To make matters worse, the communication about no plane came a week before departure. If I had known that earlier, I would have rebooked. The drive would be tolerable if they used regular pick-ups or SUVs. The mini-van tour bus seats third grade school children comfortably not adults. Had we used pick-up trucks or SUVs it would have been tolerable. We only received a $220 refund for not flying – that can’t be right.

FOOD

The food was good but if you are trying to eat healthy there is very little fruit or vegetables.

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