From the banks of meandering rivers to vast open landscapes baked in sunlight and trodden by only hooves and talons, the best fisherman’s tales come from adventures had far from home. Join us as we explore the confluence of where the violence and sanctitude of nature meet to create a fishery like no other: Patagonia. On an Argentinian Estancia nestled aside the legendary Rio Pelke, The Flylords crew joins the Tres Amigos to put the new Sage R8 CORE rod to the test. Here, you’ll find that even the mundane exceeds the average trout angler’s wildest dreams with a new adventure waiting around every corner. Explore the culture, emotions, and bounty that is a place so far from home…
How This Episode Came to Be:Â
When whispers of a successor to the Sage X eventually evolved from fiction to fruition, our team’s curiosity became insatiable and immediately, we began trying to find new ways to get out into the wild with the new Sage R8 CORE. It was just around that time that Flylords was also looking to add new episodes to our original series, “Far From Home”, which focuses on fulfilling angler-fantasies about fishing far away lands and becoming immersed in new cultures.
Immediately, we hit the drawing board with the Sage team to determine which application would be best to highlight the new rod. Quickly, we arrived on trout. However, we wanted to find a way to spice up our offering. Trout are often considered the gateway drug for fly-anglers, but we thought, “how can we find a way to take this species to the next level”. The answer came in the form of “Far from Home” and a visit to our good friends at Tres Amigos Outfitters.
About Tres Amigos Outfitters:Â
Tres Amigos, as the name suggests, is an outfitter based out of Argentina, specifically Patagonia, run by three close friends; Juanma Biott, Claudio Martin, and Pollo Coscia. The operation’s HQ is settled on the Rio Pelke on a small Argentinian Estancia, which has been in Juan’s family for generations.
Estancia Rio Pelke is not your average fishing destination. Unlike many lodges, this establishment does not rely on billion-dollar accommodations to deliver the expected experience. It’s actually the opposite: and that’s where the charm lies. See, the Tres Amigos experience at Rio Pelke is more about experiencing Argentina at its core. While there, you will consume delicious portions of locally sourced food such as lamb and produce, harvested only feet from the lodge. Accommodations are quaint and cozy, delivering a personal and authentic feel. The air is crisp and refreshing and is filled with the sounds and songs of leaves dancing in the wind and exotic birds calling for one another. Throughout the day, you can catch the Estancia in full working order, as Gauchos herd sheep and gardens are tended to. It’s a place where one might actually learn the understanding of true contentment.
This all being said: this experience is as far from monotonous. For as far as the eye can see and beyond, adventure and excitement await. This is what we came here for…
The Fishing:
Now that we had a pin on the map, it was time to see what all the hype was about. As we packed our bags and hopped from flight to flight to flight over the course of several days, we hoped and prayed our expectations would be met. Fortunately, they weren’t – they were exceeded.
There’s something about watching massive brook and brown trout erupt out of the water in an attempt to destroy large foam mice and beetles that really just gets the heart racing. Forget little dries and nymphs: when you’re fishing a topwater fly the size of your palm and a trout sends itself airborne after it, you discover a new level of palpitation you didn’t know your heart could perform. Bend after bend, we successfully slammed massive, hard-fighting trout without fail as the weather turned from sun, to wind, to rain all in a matter of seconds like a record on repeat. It was exhilarating…and that’s just in the backyard.
Located in the heart of Patagonia’s famous sea-run brown trout country brings with it another unique dimension to the experience – these spring creeks hardly see any pressure. They’re mostly overlooked by locals and traveling anglers alike, and the willingness of these fish to take your fly – be it a beetle, mouse, or even a bass popper – makes something immediately apparent – they’ve hardly, if ever, seen a fly. Hundreds of miles of unpressured creeks lie right at your fingertips
 As we traveled through the country, dodging sprinting Rheas and Guanaco, we came to several different fisheries, all delivering a similar heart-pounding experience. Day after day, we pushed the R8 CORE to the limit, only to be astounded by the beating it could take as we hauled in fish after fish.
The Takeaway:Â
It’s adventures like these you never forget. Opportunities to travel to faraway lands and fish for unpressured, monstrous fish is a privilege not many anglers encounter. We acknowledge this, and carry these stories to you as a homage to the time spent in paradise. However, from an experiential perspective, the fishing was only the tip of the iceberg. To be able to immerse yourself the culture of this humble Argentinian Estancia was an experience we wish everyone in the world could possess.
The humility expressed amongst people who do so much with such thoughtful simplicity is a subtle reminder of why we fish. It’s more about having these experiences, and who you’re having them with, than anything else. That’s what “Far from Home” is truly about, and we hope it resonates in this piece.
Feel free to check out more from the “Far from Home” series HERE.
To learn more about Tres Amigos Outfitters, click HERE. Thank you to Sage for making this trip possible. To learn more about the new R8 CORE, click HERE.
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