Sea trout fishing in Patagonia

Jim Curry in action

Clear water flows over the fish’s thick shoulders, illuminating its glittering, spotted flanks. After the fight of my fishing life, I have landed a monster sea trout.

Cradling it in the current, I try to take in detail from every scale. But in an instant it is gone, back into the Rio Gallegos, showering me in spray from the thrust of its spade-like tail. At over 15lb, this would be the fish of a lifetime in the UK. But here, in the vast wilderness of Patagonia, it is hardly unusual.

As my heart rate slowly returns to normal in the period of reflection that inevitably follows the capture of a big fish, I see flamingos wading in the calmer water downstream, rheas flocking in the scrubby grassland and eagles gliding overhead. An armadillo trots along the waterline.

A three-hour flight south of Buenos Aires, on the same latitude as the Falkland Islands, accessible only by dirt roads across miles of treeless plains and a world away from mobile phone coverage, this is fishing at the ends of the earth.

Jim Curry, founder of the sporting agency Halstead & Bolton and my host for the week-long expedition, says anglers are increasingly eager to explore far-flung destinations. “These are special trips because fishing can take you to beautiful, remote places where you would never have dreamt of going.”

In the growing market for destination angling, Halstead & Bolton has scouted spots for bonefish in the Bahamas, steelhead in Canada, trout in New Zealand and salmon in Iceland, among other places. But Curry has been drawn back to Patagonia every year since he first came in 2002.

“Nothing prepares you for the quality of the fish,” he says. “They are stunning and what is so amazing is that the river is getting better every year and producing bigger fish. But it’s not just the fishing that brings you all this way. The scenery and the wildlife are breathtaking. It really is one of my favourite places on earth.”

Sea trout are not native to Patagonia. Stocking of British brown trout early last century appeared to have been a failure until years later a large migratory influx revealed that a healthy population of sea-run fish had been established. Now this region of southern Argentina claims the best sea trout fishing on the planet.

While so many populations of migratory fish are in decline from rising sea temperatures, diminishing habitat and commercial fishing pressure, the fishery on the Rio Gallegos is improving each year. Strict no-kill rules and the banning of netting are having a beneficial effect, and in the weeks before our visit fish up to 28lb had been landed.

As we talk about the river, Curry and I watch my fishing companion Brett O’Connor speycasting along the home pool of the estancia Las Buitreras, while the rest of the party enjoy a doze back at the lodge. O’Connor, an advertising executive and fly-fishing instructor, is not one to follow the local custom of an afternoon break and we are unable to prise him from the river. His determination is rewarded as his rod hoops over and another sparkling sea trout cartwheels across the surface.

The stock of flies I had tied for this trip is already running low as O’Connor raids another handful. He goes on to catch seven sea trout, including three over 10lb, all on our first day. A spectacular feat – even for this river. “I don’t think I have had any salmon of the same size fight as hard as these fish,” he says before plunging back into the water.

Las Buitreras is also an expansive sheep estancia, worked by mysterious-looking gauchos who appear occasionally along the river on horseback. But the daily routine is geared around the prime fishing times. Guides appear at the lodge in their 4x4s at 8.30am and accompany rods on their allocated zone of the river until lunchtime. They reappear after siesta at 5pm and fishing lasts until darkness.

Rods rotate between fishing zones each session, so that they fish all parts of the river on the estancia. The guides, however, stay on their allocated zone so that they get to know the stretch intimately.

Loop, the tackle company which owns Las Buitreras and invited me here to fish, noticed that local fly-fishing addicts were sneaking in to fish the river when it bought the estancia. Instead of banishing them, it decided to hire them as guides, and it is clear they love their work.

Hernan unhooks an 18lb sea trout, caught by Jim Curry

As I fish down a run with one of these experts, Hernan, he tells me where the fish lie in the deeper channel, how to cast against cut banks gouged out by the current, and when to twitch the fly as it enters a particular hot spot.

It is a complex river, where every pool poses different challenges. Local knowledge is critical. When I drop a cast, as directed, right between two large boulders, Hernan is almost bursting with excitement. I think he wants me to catch a fish even more than I do myself. “I will fish this river until I die,” he tells me.

For a couple of days we fish in glorious calm conditions and broken sunshine and I gradually acclimatise to the sense of space around me. And then the Patagonian wind arrives, tearing across the open plains at speeds of up to 100km an hour.

The guides are pleased as the wind apparently improves the fishing. It almost always blows downstream, and does not hinder casting as much as I had expected.

The river has one final surprise. At the end of the last day, O’Connor’s cast into the gathering blackness results in the solid take of a fish that stays deep. For once he is quiet as he plays the fish, so I know it must be serious. Every time he gains line, the fish takes more back. Dusk has turned into night during the battle and we can only hear the swirls and splashes as the fish nears the bank.

Finally it emerges in the shallows and only in the torchlight do we comprehend the achievement. It is a monstrous cock fish, weighing a mighty 21lb. That is why you journey to fish at the ends of the earth.

pursuits@ft.com

For an audio slideshow of Bob Sherwood’s trip, go to www.ft.com/patagonia

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The details

Halstead & Bolton, which arranges luxury fishing and shooting trips worldwide, will be hosting two trips to Las Buitreras in early 2011. Details at www.halsteadandbolton.com or email jim@halsteadandbolton.com. Bob Sherwood was a guest of Loop Adventures; www.loopadventures.com