fishing Rio Rivadavia

We fished the Rio Rivadavia with guide Marcelo Coronado. We were impressed with the beauty of the scenery and number of trout we spotted. We were disappointed that our trend of hiring guides on bad weather days continued. We did catch some nice fish, but overall it was a slow day, especially considering the potential. The river was swollen with chilly water. A furious current ran through the river and from bank to bank in the turns. Marcelo lives at the downstream end of this short, several mile long river that drains from Lago Rivadavia into Lago Verde. Marcelo was knowledgable, skilled and friendly. We tried a variety of techniques: fishing while floating and anchored and wading the banks, sand bars and shallow parts of the river. We fished under trees and under banks overhanging the river. Marcelo said it wasn´t the fisherman and it wasn´t the guide. The weather had driven the fish deep underwater and they weren't feeding. For lunch, he set up a table and chairs on the side of the river. While we ate we talked about fishing, Argentina and the U.S. He couldn't understand why we didn't take siestas. After lunch, while Dawn and I fished, he took a nap. The river was a turquoise color.

Dawn caught more fish than I. She was using a Type IV sinking tip. I used a Cabela's rig which had kind of a shooting taper with various 12-foot tips that could be exchanged without changing the line. It was my first time using it. I found it awkward. The tip at 12-foot is accompanied by a 9-foot weighted leader with a 4-5-foot tippet. This 25-foot end sunk rapidly. The problem was I could not lift the full 25-feet from the river with a roll cast or a back cast because it was heavy and sunken into the water. This meant, I needed to strip the line in to a shorter length and the knot-to-knot junction slid through the forward rod guides, hanging up on the way in and out. Also, although the tip went down quickly, the line was very buoyant and tended to offset the value of the sinking line in the fast-flowing water. For these conditions, I think a full sinking Type IV is the ticket. I will try the sinking tip again. It worked well in the side tributary creeks where I could cast to the far side of the water and allow the tip to sink while buoyant floating section floated across the current. I will try it again and experiment with using just the sinking tip without the sinking leader