mtshasta.com – Outfitter & Actor – Jack Trout's Blog

                                                                                    

     * CHILE & ARGENTINA FLY FISHING TRIPS ARE UNDERWAY NOW *

                                                     STILL HAVE SPACE IN FEBRUARY  MARCH & APRIL 2015

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It’s like a dream come true every time we take clients from Chile to Argentina, or vice versa. A place that should always be on any fly fishermen’s or outdoor enthusiasts “Bucket List”. One time on this lake I was fly fishing with my Argentine guide and a client and I could hear the Red Deer called Ciervo in background mating and calling in mules as rutting season had begun and the heat was on. As the sounds of these huge “Hartford Insurance” looking elk echoed throughout the canyons of the Patagonia and all around us, a primal feeling began to set in and it was as though, nothing had changed here for thousands of years and yet just like the trout, the deer were also introduced by Europeans fleeing their countries in the mid 1800’s, bringing with them a little taste of home. But traveling around Patagonia Argentina, you get the feeling that both the trout and the ciervos are doing quite well here as if they were flourishing in a habitat and environment that suited them better than where they originally came from and yet they weren’t indigenous. How could that be? How could all the insects that feed a trout to enormous proportions exist naturally and all the awesome pampa grasses so high in minerals feed an elk that never stepped foot here until she stepped off a ship in Buenos Aires. We can thank folks like former President Ulysses S Grant and the first United States Fish Commissioner Spencer Baird (Father of Fishing Regulations In USA & First Curator Smithsonian Institute.) as well as the first Deputy Fish Commissioner Livingston Stone for sending trout to the Southern Hemisphere from 1875 to 1908 on the  British steamer Herminius, that traveled from Boston Harbor to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Of course New Zealand was first to receive the California Mountain Trout from the McCloud River in Northern California in 1875. After that Argentina and Chile received their first shipments of rainbows from about 1900 to 1908 in a time when Argentina was one of the most affluent countries in the world as they were then the crème de la crème in the world of fashion, music, art and food. The program initiated by the USA was first a salmon operation that turned into a money making trout operation by the United States federal government and a great one at that as trout were sold to these countries and 10 aqua trains were built to ship salmon and trout all over the United States then on down or over to what ever government requested. Soon after the Germans brought their deer and brown trout and the English brought their Atlantic salmon & Loch Levan brown trout with the help of the Scots. Much later in the 1990’s a great fly fishing enthusiast and instructor came on the scene from the United States named Mel Krieger, who petitioned and influenced the Argentine Government to make the rivers all catch and release fly fishing only. This was supported by many locals and advocates of fly fishing and now, Argentina is a world model for fly fishing and stream protection internationally and this factor brings in millions of dollars every year from fly fishing hobbyist. They have life size pictures of Mel Kriger in the Bariloche Airport and when he died, all the fly shops and some bars closed their doors for a few days in his honor. I have even seen a honey jar with his face on it and they call it “Miel Krieger Honey” (Miel is honey in Spanish.) Hilarious I thought! They love the man here in Argentina and rightly so, he put fly fishing on the map and that helps their struggling economy here in the land of sky blue waters. I wish Chile would follow Argentina’s lead as Chile is nothing compared to the how the Argentine’s protect their rivers, lakes and streams, in Chile laws are merely suggestions and it’s obvious, that if you make laws and don’t have wardens enforce the rules, you get poor results and unpredictability in your fisheries. Chile fishing though is the wild card, as long as they don’t dam up their rivers in Chile you can catch a whopper, that most of the time doesn’t exist in Argentina and this makes for a fly fishing dream come true with many who come here annually in the Northern Hemispheres off months. So that’s it, a place that was hand made into Disneyland, for hunters and fishers, for hikers and bikers, for explorers and food lovers, for wine connoisseurs and desserts junkies like me. Chile and Argentina has something for anyone who enjoys Mother Earth and the gifts she provides here on a daily basis. Now all you have to do is plan, dream and go, these areas are awaiting you. jt

Basalt rocks that were carved by glaciers as sharp as a ginsu knife stand witness to your every move here in Patagonia.

At the Patagonia Lake, I could hear trout rising just beyond the reeves and when I tossed a Dave Whitlock’s Hopper out there the first trout broke me off as I set the fly like a contractor with so much anticipation and excitement for my captured quarry. I don’t get to fish as much as one wants, so I was in my element as I changed my tippet from 5 X to 4 X and tied on another Dave Whitlock’s Hopper, I tossed it out there again and a this trout took it and went sailing out into the lake with backing showing within a few seconds. I couldn’t believe a trout could do this in a lake with no current? The strength, the agility and pure power of this fish was evident and he was pissed he was fooled by Dave. After a nice battle, he came in and my wife Carola took the picture you’re seeing. I am not a huge lake fan, neither are most of my clientele but these trout are feisty and fun, anyone would of loved this adventure and it was dry flies our favorite way to fish. I gave that trout a big Jack Trout kiss and he was off on his way again to spawn and reproduce and think to himself, “Why is that Gringo kissing me?” lol * jt

Carola then got in the action next and like always, she looks better than me at it. That’s a fly fisher that’s nice on the eyes as they would say.

Just out there is where the adventure first started..

Now about the same time those McCloud River Rainbows were being transported down to Argentina & Chile in thermoses and medal milk jugs on that British steamer ship called the Herminius, two men named Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, AKA, Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid, were robbing banks out west in the United States, so after robbing a bank in Winnemucca, Nevada they took a trip to the East Coast to New York, a city where all the wealthy banks owners lived that they had been robbing all along like JP Morgan Chase, Henry Lehman and the likes of a few others you probably of heard of with a long family running until a culprit named Madoff came along years later and ruined them. Must of been amazing for them as by then Etta Place from San Francisco, Sundances gal had caught up with them and was ready for the several month voyage to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Now this is not confirmed but it could be possible that those trout from California could of been on the same ship as those bandits heading down south as those trout did make multiple journey’s abroad as both Argentina and Chile were heavily stocking their streams with a new food substance and the Germans soon after brought their trout too. The three gangsters lived in a house that they bought near Esquel, Argentina in a valley called Colila and they continued to rob banks in Argentina as the money was there and rightly easy for the pickings of two experienced thieves. One of the methods that set Butch Cassidy & his partner apart was his ability to mount several horses along his getaways, so when a posse would chase them after the hold up, he would then have 3, 4 sometimes 5 different horses staged freshly awaiting down yonder for there hasty arrival and the posses could never catch up to them. Ole Butch Cassidy was brilliant at his heists and eventually this is what led to the Pinkerton Detective Agency out of Texas, the oldest detective agency in the United States (Also employed by Abe Lincoln to spy on the Confederates.) for a chance to take down the most wanted bandits dead or alive. But that winter, the Governor of Chubut Province had taken a liking to the 3 of them with an emphasis on Etta Place who he admired deeply and was a fine maiden. So when asked he lied to the authorities about the 3 of them staying in Colila and a bad winter storm after a solid tip also delayed their arrival into the south from B.A. to Bariloche, so this gave the bandits a huge lead in the spring when things thawed out. They headed up north into the areas where we fly fish around Lago Meliquina, San Martin de los Andes on up the Rio Alumine eventually into Bolivia where they were supposedly killed working as the guards at a tin plant ironically guarding the companies payroll after they had both decided to go straight and turned over a new leaf in life. They were later found being shot dead, yet their bodies were never recovered by Pinkerton Detectives and a dentist in Johnnie, Nevada swore that he treated Butch and that he died there in the 1930’s . They robbed a lot before this though around Argentina and the get away’s back into Chile were common practice as it intrigues me that these are the same places Carola and I live and guide you in. One thing I can say wholeheartedly is these men and Etta Place were tough, I mean as tough as nails to trudge those Andes Mountains running from the detectives from Pinkerton and hiding from the Argentine posses who lost more money as they carved their path north some 2000 miles or more. Holy cow what a story folks and a legend that still amazes me to this day. We found one of their areas they traveled in Argentina along the shores of Lago Meliquina near San Martin where they rode and it was incredible when I walked into this place with Carola and there was this picture of my favorite American bandits of all time on the wall, I about did a back flip folks! Some of you only know me as a fly fishing guide, but I have always loved history and I’m kind of historian fly fishing geek. I live and breath my guiding and the history of any area I am in, but I swear to you, if you read like I do on a constant basis, you will find that it will fill your souls with gratefulness of how easy we have it now. No more will you think of modern day American as we are being hosed by politicians or lobbyist, because the past was so infinitely harder and raw. Don’t go so fast forward people, especially if your younger, go backwards and embrace our historic past otherwise you’re just living in the pastures my freinds. jt

This is a place in Argentina as old as the hills, really hasn’t changed that much since those three road through here around 1902.

Absolutely gorgeous and a must visit place, they offered us a great homemade beer in a glass and told us if we wanted we could just take it to go, but bring back the glass on your drive back. We laughed and drank it there and preceded to mosey down the trail after we ate our lunch, partners.

What a beauty, they had a old National Cash Register from about 1920’s there on display, the girl said it still worked fine.

Cheers folks, we like San Martin de los Andes, as you can drink a beer out walking around town legally.

The food is so incredible here in Argentina, matched with awesome wines, you can’t go wrong if you bring Gringo dollars.

A wonderful lunch is always a high priority for us when entertaining our valued clientele here in Argentina.

Down at the beaches on a local lake, it reminds me of our own Lake Tahoe in California. A very dry Mediterranean climate with cold winters and snow. Where as the Lake’s District of Chile is a lot of rains, damp and fog and little or no snow. So Carola and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary and took a trip to our favorite places to cuddle and fish, eat well and talk about life together. This was where we had gone for our honeymoon in addition to Ecuador and Brazil for about a month in 2010.

Soon after some clients arrived from Nevada City, California who I had planned on guiding around the Rivers District and Lakes District of Chile, but the climate was so dry in Chile that the rivers up north of Puerto Montt were fishing pretty slow and I then changed my mind to devise a plan to get these two hopeful anglers a trip they would be satisfied with and hopefully be astounded by. I can’t guide in Argentina, I have to hire guides and I have some of the best working for me there, but both areas had not received rains for 2 months so I had to make a plan and I had to do it quickly. Being that I have guided and outfitted both Chile and Argentina for over 2o years, I have learned a few things or two, so I sat down and put my thoughts to paper. This is what I came up with…

So I had Bob Lowe & Scott Kellermann of Nevada City, California, who showed up at the bus terminal in Valdivia, Chile as Bob’s daughter was studying in Chillan and it would be most easiest to meet them there and the buses in Chile are new, don’t smell and are easy traveling compared to the United States. They even have buses with “Full Cama” (beds) that fold completely in half and Carola and I like traveling this way sometimes to save money. We met them at the terminal and rode the like wind across the border into Argentina first, in our very comfortable Toyota 4 runner Limited with sun roof and leather seats.

Chilean Pine In San Martin de los Andes, Argentina. Also Called A Monkey Puzzle Tree But In Chile & Argentina It Is Called An Araucaria. Right Out Of Jurassic Park If You Ask Me.

Robert Lowe Photography Photo – The lamb Asados Here in Argentina are in incredible, the wood they use gives it a unique flavor and then you add their Chimichurri sauces for a flavor that is out of this world.

Great wines here in Argentina, especially the Malbecs from Mendoza.

Our rooms at our lodge is very nice indeed and quite comfortable and we have tours to entertain non anglers as well.

Indoor pool, spa, jacuzzi are just added benefits nightly.

Breakfast in the morning is a help yourself, but you can still get an omelette with ham and cheese made.

Great wines are apart of our package as well as a lodge that bodes great art and the true feel of a 5 star fly fishing resort experience.

A very elite establishment, yet our prices are as reasonable as any lodge package anywhere in the area, so when you take into account that you’ll be fishing two countries, 3 regions and as many as 8 rivers, The Jack Trout Fly Fishing International Chile & Argentina package is the way to go. Check us out on Tripadvisor. Jack Trout Fly Fishing Tripadvisor.

Bob and Scott sure enjoyed their stayed here!

You can even get a nightly massage if you’d like.

There’s a full service bar in the evenings when you get back from fishing and remains a pretty quiet place unless my clients start laughing hard from a fun day of landing trout.

The rivers are low in Argentina but the fishing is better than the rivers I fish in the Rivers District of Chile right now, so my call was spot on. Plus there were fires in Chile, so the region was very smokey, but as soon as we headed over the Andes into Argentina the smoke was gone. Guides are like baseball managers, when we make the right call, we are like genuses, I just don’t want to be traded to another team if you get what I mean..

Our guide Esteban taking our clients across the river, I thought it was kind of funny that our client Scott, who doesn’t fancy waders gave a yelp, when he felt the water up around the jewels of the Nile. 🙂

A minute later a trout was jumping, a hooping and hollering followed by the sounds of happy people were evident, as well as another yippee as Bob up above had a trout on his line too. The bite was on people and it doesn’t get much better than this.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/121567057[/vimeo]

It reminded me of that Wrigley’s Double Mint Commercial.  They were the double mint twins that day!

I had gone and walked down below them and I got spooked by the subtle sounds right next to me and it scared me because I’m not use to any noise out in this area and I looked over and there were three beautiful turkeys just minding their own business, not worrying at all about me, so I got this shot off.

I walked up the grassy banks and was throwing a hopper along its edges when a large trout just barely sipped my offering and the trout sailed into the air 3 feet! Then up the bank like a tomahawk missile and across to the other side and  on down next to me like he was mistreated as a child. I stood there in utter joy as I fought the trout and yet honored his presence as he sacrificed himself for me, I filmed the episode with one hand and fought him with the other.

He was a mighty warrior that day and I appreciate his take on a Dave’s Hopper as I found this and released him back to his tribe.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/121594195[/vimeo]

Oxygen, not over rated if you’re a trout, a great release and revival assures many generations to come! 🙂

The man behind the mask is always on top of your fly fishing international dream adventure vacations, put your trust in Carola and I behind the scenes. We will never let you down, in our 22nd year of outfitting.

“It’s Our Experience That Makes The Difference”. Jack Trout International Fly Fishing. www.jacktrout.com

           info@jacktrout.com               *               530-918-8879 World Wide Cell                *                   530-926-4540 Home Office

Early Man Inhabited The Malleo River In Argentina, They Were Called Mapuche. Norte Chico Region Of North-Central Coastal Peru, Has Been Established As The Oldest Known Civilization In The Americas, South America Is Where The Oldest Man Is Argued To Have Come From, while other scholars say it was Africa.

 

From the rock shelter cave, I had this view of the Valley and its river that runs through it.

Robert Lowe Photography Photo – This sign really shows that Argentina is a country with respect of others and its countries, kind of hilarious.

Out with Bob & Scott with my guide Esteban and his fiance Erica for a fabulous dinner in San Martin.

This place was incredible, with the prosciutto being cut right near our table, I had never seen this done before. You could tell the owner was so proud.

Robert Lowe Photography Photo – This was a lifetime dining highlight, that night will be remember for the entire length of my life.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g312843-d2032452-Reviews-El_Meson_de_la_Patagonia-San_Martin_de_los_Andes_Province_of_Neuquen_Patagonia.html

We ordered 3 appetisers, 2 bottles of wine and we all had extraordinary dinners, the price was under $25 per person with the tip included.

This was the wine picked out by my guide and it was an excellent choice indeed, thanks to Esteban and Erica for having us come to this place.

The baby lobster appetiser was one of the best in my life with this scrumptious pepper oil sauce.

Carola and the group sure enjoyed it also.

Her Bife Chorizo sure was double sized, but tasted great as she cut me off a piece to sample. (Bife Chrizo means NY steak in Chile and Argentina. unlike Mexico where it’s a sausage only.)

This was my lamb in a mint sauce, maybe the best of my life.

Many big trout are caught all over this region of Argentina, as we know where they are.

A trophy is waiting for you on our trips from Argentina over to Chile.

Many happy clients this season as their dreams have come true with Jack Trout Fly Fishing International.

Scott Kellermann sure was happy with his trips we arranged for he and Bob Lowe.

Doubles make for great memories folks.

Last Year Clyde & Davida Robinson, loved their adventures with us on the same trip.

Argentina is waiting for you, give us a call to arrange your fly fishing holiday travel and customized itineraries for 2016.

Wonderful opportunities are just around the corner from here.  info@jacktrout.com 

In another river, I caught 5 trout on hoppers in a half hour then we had to go back to Chile. What a hoot Argentina fly fishing is great folks.

A mighty fine trout on my way back over the hill into Chile.

One night I did a BBQ Asado for Bob & Scott at our place and they loved it.

 

The next day on another river, I found this huge Pancora fresh water crab.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/121564433[/vimeo]

Caught this trout on a Ed Cutter Caddis on the surface and about 25 others in 5 hours of fishing.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/121605532[/vimeo]

Then the Villarrica Volcano in Pucon erupted, so fished a little more to wait it out.

This volcano hadn’t erupted like this since 1984 in Pucon, Chile. All I could think of saying to that volcano was, “You shine you crazy diamond”!

When we passed by it just a few weeks before, it looked like this, but now just a towering inferno. I had climbed that volcano once back in 2003 with my dear friends from Mt Shasta, Matt and Uschi Hill.

Lanin Volcano and a gorgeous site with an Araucaria tree in the forefront. We had taped that volcano venting gasses as it is only about 30 miels away from Villarrica.

Then when we passed by afterwards, you could see a real difference, especially with the snow and glaciers that had disappeared.

Now just a quiet volcano awaiting its day again for rage and torrent, this time though it plugged itself up and that means the next time could really be a volcanic event for the ages. When I was up there before you could run up to the rim and look down into the “Devils Throat” and see molten lava, but now they say that’s all plugged up….

Meanwhile, in Pucon, Chile the City Hall had their red alert light on, something I had never seen before in over 20 years of living in this area.

News stations everywhere Carola recognized a anchor news reporter who was like the David Muir of ABC in Chile. So we had to take a picture with him just for fun.

Back in Chile to finish Bob and Scott’s trip, we started hooking lunkers left and right in the Lakes District and by then all the fires and the smoke had cleared.

Bob hooked his biggest trout ever on a fly rod.

We were so happy about this and the day was incredible as we hooked into many trout over 8 lbs that day in Chile.

 

Scott hooked and landed his big fish and we celebrated with high fives across the board as their trip in Argentina & Chile was a total success. We dodge fires, smoke, volcano eruptions and the term I coined which I call the “Chile Factor”.

We went out to dinner to celebrate the day and incoming of new clients and their adventures, it was a wonderful celebration I soon won’t forget.

When we looked up “fly fishing pocket water” in the dictionary, they listed this picture.. lol 🙂 A lot of trout caves here people.

I shot this picture just holding my camera under the water, do you see any trout? Amazing this place!

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/122243916[/vimeo]

 With Kim Hamilton​ Gold Medalist Beijing Olympics & Team Captain Of The Australian Team Ladies & Gentlemen. 🙂

Kim Hamilton has been following my facebook page and commenting every so often to save him a trout! So we did.

On this day he caught his biggest two trout ever as there’s not many trout in Darwin, Australia.

He was loving it folks as he caught as many as 20 + trout that day of all different sizes.

A wonderful experience for Kim, as he mentioned to me out in the boat that day.

So we went out and celebrated with an awesome seafood spread.

This is called Paila Marina Pil Pil, filled with abalone, scallops, shrimp, crab legs, king crab, razor clams and a few things that don’t exist in the Northern Hemisphere that taste pretty great. When you come down, I’ll take you to this place.

Then off the cruise ship a past client showed up by the name of Rocky Suess and began hooking huge trout at every place I took him.

He was bummed when the weather in Punta Arenas was too windy and bad for anyone to leave the cruise ship so he lost his trip there.

But with me, things that day were golden and we had a great time with he and his wife.

Here in Chile the skies are silver, blue and gold and life is fresh and clean, the way it should be and I they got me here hook, line and sinker. I’m goofy for this place as I met my wife here and it’s all manifest destiny. The Sky Pilot had it all pre-planned that I would guide you here some day or at least tell you about it. Most 10 night packages are $4000 per person for two countries, 3 regions of Chile and Argentina, 8 rivers, 4 to 5 star lodging, best restaurants, towns and rivers in the Lakes & Rivers District Chile and Patagonia Argentina. I think it’s the best deal going in the fly fishing industry.

(Double Occupancy Required.)

Thanks for watching our adventures, Jack & Carola Trout – 530-918-8879 World Wide Cell or info@jacktrout.com 

Come with us to Belize from May 1st to May 22nd, 2015 we’ll be down there guiding and hosting group trips!