Let me tell you about the fantasy fly-fishing in Tierra del Fuego ‘the Land of Fire’. Yes, it’s got all the usual elements of big, double-figure sea trouting in the southern hemisphere – a few ‘20s’ always a possibility amongst the catch, and long fishing days interspersed with excellent food, but deviating from the normal TDF storyline is the fact that here I’m talking about fishing with a single-handed rod, the wind wasn’t permanently blasting in my face, and this was an intimate river, with ‘structure’ to cast at, and features to fish.

The most intruiging part of the story is that this wonderful fishing almost never came into being, because the land owner was offered $7 million by a logging company to come in and strip out all the native forest for timber. It would have decimated the entire region and ruined the river and its attendant sea trout population. How a couple of passionate South American fly fishers won over a powerful businessman faced with a pile of money on the table makes an amazing story. Instead of pocketing the cash, he was convinced it would be better to invest in the sea trout fishing instead. I’m glad he did.

As we arrived at Ushuaia (pronounced u’swaia), the southern most commercial airport on the planet, we were greeted by TDF’s trademark winds, the pilot battling with the side-winds and sudden updrafts as we navigated our way down through the snow-capped alpine range. I turned to my left and was met with the glance of an American in a Patagonia flats shirt. It was obvious why he was coming to Tierra del Fuego. He smiled and winked knowingly, he must have guessed it was my first time coming to TDF, and he was probably thinking, you won’t be grinning like that after standing on the tundra with 40mph winds slamming away at you for week!

The trip was an exploratory one. We were to be the very first people to experience the angling potential of the River Irigoyen, which, at 80km south of the famous Rio Grande, is the most southerly fishing river in the world. We were met at Ushuaia by one of the founding partners, Rodrigo Salles, our kit was loaded into the 4x4, and we were immediately treated to a king crab lunch!

Foreboding
We then set off on the three-hour road transfer to the lodge, the conversation totally focussed on the river and its sea trout. We were told not to expect too much, as the weather had been bad the week before and the guides had not had much success. Even so, we were all eager to get tackled up and get out there! For the final 80km we drove through the lenga beech forests. It is these trees which offer comparative shelter from the usually relentless TDF wind, and the guides informed us that, because the river meaders so much, then getting out of the wind is always an extra option. Sporadic, small farm communities dotted the forest, and nearer the lodge we stopped at the first sight of the ocean. A foreboding sight, slate-grey sand with the rusting hulk of an English shipwreck, heavy blue-grey clouds unfurling across the entire length of the sky. Obviously, no playground for fools …

As we arrived at the entrance to the lodge, the sun was fading and our first vision was of a single lenga beech on the crest of the hill, all its branches warped over to one side, a lasting reminder to us of the power of nature at work. We finally arrived at the newly built lodge. We were quickly handed a cold beer and directed to the barbeque, where a lamb was spit-roasting on open coals.

As we relaxed, we learned what a typical day would hold in store. Straight after breakfast, we would split up into two groups and race off into the lenga forests on the quad bikes to the chosen beats, fish until lunch, then have a siesta until 5pm (or fish all day, as I did sometimes) and then fish hard until darkness, around 11.30pm, then return to a warm fire in the lodge rooms and be served a high class dinner. We were advised that an 11ft #7 rod would be as heavy a set-up as we would need to go, so no need for that double-hander here! The guides, identical twins Alex and Nico Trochine, informed us that two rivers actually made up the system we were fishing: the Irigoyen flow comprises mainly snow-melt, and the Malenguena, which flows from the tundra. The significance of this means that if one river is out of condition, then the other may not be, and vice versa. This became a factor right from our first day, when the Malenguena was brown and low we headed for the alternative Irigoyen, which was running higher and clearer.

Refined tactics
The Irigoyen is a beautiful well-protected river, with high concentrations of lenga trees bordering its banks, making it a pleasure to fish as opposed to the windswept tundra of the Rio Grande! Tactics are quite refined. Find a sunken lenga in the river and eight times out of ten you’ll find a big sea trout living under it. But you’ve got to get your fly right under the dead tree in order to catch it. Don’t risk it, and you won’t catch the big one! You have to work the lie quite hard to be sure you’ve presented the fly and covered any resident fish correctly before moving on. We found the versi-tip fly lines were essential in getting the best sunk-fly presentation, depending on the pool configuration. We also realised that stretchy monofilament – rather than brittle fluorocarbon – was king in the land of the snaggy lenga branch. It helped us extricate our flies from many lenga branches, but we still lost lots of flies. This is skilful, exciting and rewarding fishing.

My first sea trout came within 15 minutes of starting on the first day. At over 20lb, it was one of a few monsters we caught over the week, along with a heart-breaking few leviathans hooked and lost. The biggest ever sea trout to come from the system is a 26lb fish. I landed over 20 sea trout for the week, finishing with a magnificent 21lb hen fish from the sea pool. Our exploratory party of four ended up with four ‘twenties’ and eleven double-figure trout. Why are the sea trout so big? The secret lies in the rich coastline off Tierra del Fuego. There’s a profusion of kelp which holds plenty of life, and the ocean there is rich in krill on which the trout feed avidly and pack on the weight – three kilogrammes of growth in a season, so it is believed.

In addition, we caught some 60 or so robelo (Falklands mullet) up to 19lb. These extremely aggressive and hard-fighting fish are great fun to catch, and great eating, too. Collie Dogs and Olive Woolly Buggers were the best flies for these worm feeders of the estuary. The lodge owner gave us the honour of naming any pool that we landed a sea trout of over 20lb, we named four pools that week, “Ten Fingers” pool, “Third Cast Pool”, “Smuggler’s Run” and finally the sea pool was named the “Hooley”. Amongst other fish present are resident browns and rainbows. And, apparently, there is a lake near to the camp containing some huge rainbows and browns.

Quad-biking through the lenga forests to the beats was exhilarating, filling you with a true sense of adventure, the atmosphere was one of relaxation and if the beat was not producing fish, you just jumped on the quad bike and scrambled off into the Lenga forest and went to another pool. For the less adventurous, I hear there is now an Argos amphibious vehicle newly arrived.

Harsh and wild
One day we travelled further upstream into the higher ground. This harsh, wild environment is the territory of condors, wild horses, beavers and wild – very wild! – bulls. Here, the river is ever more intimate. We scaled down our gear to six-weights, and we were treated to some amazing fights from big sea trout.

Flies varied depending on which beat one was fishing and the time of day. Big flies with plenty of movement were favoured – Collie Dog, Girdle Bug, Yuk Bug, Woolly Buggers and the appropriately named Wonderbug - and we caught sea trout all through the day, with a ‘magic hour’ of activity just before sun-down. At last light, everyone turned to big Black Leeches for a final fling in the darkness.

There is an emphasis of conservation with the people who have set up this operation; they really care about the environment and the impact that anglers have, so there is a strict limit of six rods per week for 50km of water. Also, they want the clients to have exclusivity, this comes with little difficulty, as the only access road is nearly 100km from the nearest main road, and the river flows in its entirety through a private estancia.

Most of the Irigoyen fishing involves casts of 25 to 30 yards at maximum, it’s generally wadeable, and most of the fishable water can be covered by a gentle roll-cast. Easy to access and cover, but technically hard fishing, as your presentation has to be of high standard because a lot of the time you present the fly between complicated structure of fallen logs and undercuts in the banks. Often, sea trout were lying in shallow and sometimes surprising places! My colleague Sebastian Hope, proved this very point by casting into a small pool, using a Hardy Smuggler 5-weight and got the shock of his life when he had a take from a 22lb sea trout. How he managed to land it also using a dragless reel, was quite astonishing!

This beautiful river far exceeded all of our expectations. A resounding victory for all who love fly-fishing and the natural environment at its rawest fringes. The lenga forest of the Irigoyen lives on and, more importantly for sea trout fishers of the world, this exquisite jewel of a river will shine for years to come.

Factfile

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• The sea trout seaon runs season from December to April with January to March being the best times. The later the season, the more fish in the river, but the more likely the weather is to deteriorate.
• This exploratory trip was hosted by Latin American Fishing Co. Tel. 0208 202 2390. www.latinamericanfishing.com