Money Can't Buy Me Fish

 Bariloche, Argentina

They say money can buy you anything you want...I have single-handedly proven them wrong

After completing some world class hiking it was time to take it easy and do some world class fishing.  Some of the best fly fishing in the world was just a stone's throw's away from our current location in El Chalten...and when i say a stone's throw, the thrower of said stone is either Superman or the Thing.  It was a freaking 30 hour bus ride to get to Bariloche. I was not looking forward to this. Suprisingly, it turned out to be a pretty painless trip (thanks wine!)

Our home for 30 hours

The seats were wide and comfy

We arrive...

Bariloche - the land of lakes and supposedly fish

P and I have fished about 80 times in our lives.  Between the two of us, we have never caught a REAL fish.  We have caught roughly 50 baby blue gill, weighing approximately 8 grams combined (yes I have converted to the metric system).

I wanted this streak to end so we hired a guide named Juan.  Juan has been fishing since he was a zygote.  Juan knows all the best fishing spots in northern Patagonia.  Juan is a native to this great land of fishing.  Juan told stories of the tours that he had run in the past; a 10 year old boys catching 15 pound fish within minutes, skillless fishermen like Pauline and I catching 20, even 30 fish in a day.  He further explained that on average, one will catch about ten fish.  He was very nice, professional, and patient, even though I lost about 2 flys per hour.  He taught us all the tricks that the great fisherman of Bariloche have passed down throught the generations. 

We had a guide, a boat, the gear, even the clothes...now it was time to get the fish!

Putting on my waders

Our fishing outfits

Juan, our guide

We used various flys and a multitude of techniques.

Learning to cast

Casting in the Limay River

Eight hours, and many kilometers of river later, I had caught zero fish.  Juan looked truly sad and disheartend for me, as I handed him a large sum of money.

This story does have a happy ending however.  Although I have now been on planet earth for over 30 years and never caught a proper fish, P, in her 30 years, did manage to catch a beauty!!!  The fish was way bigger than this.  I had to demagnify it in photo shop so it would show up nicely.  It was no less than 35 kilograms.

At least the view was nice...