Like the last days of the previous week, this fishing week started with some rain in the lower stretch but there were serious cells of rain and snow in the headwaters and the Andes. Its is quite impressive to drive to the river and see all the mountains dressed in white in the middle of the summer! All that rain bumped up the level of the river around 8 inches which turned the river murky. For a couple of days the underwater visibility was quite compromised (around 8 inches) making the fishing a bit more difficult and we had to work harder to get the fish to take the flies.
During those days of low water clarity, we had to fish with heavier than usual sinking tips and big, bushy, colorful flies.
Along the week the water was dropping and cleaning letting us use a wide variety of techniques ranging from from deep, heavy fly/lines combinations to intermediate lines swinging collie dog tube flies. But also, part of the snow reached the river and even when it didn’t change its level at all, we noticed a significative drop in the temperature of the water making the fish to react slower to flies, specially during the earlier morning hours. But around noon, as the sun was heating up the water, the fish started to roll on the surface and react more energetically to the flies.
Most of the fisherman had several seasons fishing Rio Grande, as Gilbert who is fishing his 16th time here, and their patience helped in the tough and we were successful when the fish gave us the chance.
The Lucky Guy of the Week Award was for Bob S, who in his two sessions to our lowest beat he managed to beat the tough fishing conditions and managed to land 8 fish, from 15 to 23lbs!! congratulations Bob!
A variety of flies were successful according to the light, temperature and time of the day but most of them were big in size, usually with some added weight and with a good silhouette.
Regarding lines, skaggit lines with heavy sink tips were the best options, all finishing in tippets around 10/12 lbs.
Largest fish of the week, 23 lbs.
Fish over 20 lbs: 4
Fish over 15 lbs: 17
Alejandro Martello
Villa Maria Lodge Fishing Manager
