The reason I brought the Moleskins

The hotel was having a problem with the internet connection which was a pain as i had several things to do; try to get a guide for fishing, book myself a room further down route, keep an eye on the weather and check ferry bookings for a few weeks hence.
I used the local pizza parlour and coffee shop to access their wifi. Nearly drowned myself in coffee. I was getting no luck with a fishing guide so tried a local fishing shop & the tourist office, a lovely old wooden horsedrawn carriage parked in the middle of town. I dont think it was wheel chair friendly as it was a step ladder to get up in to it. sorry forgot to take a picture.

The lady did a great job and found me a chap who would collect me at 3:00. Which was a relief as it didnt look like Rio Gallegos would have held a days entertainment on its own. He told me to wear whatever i had that was warmest & get some sandwiches made by the kitchen. We were to be fishing until sundown. I scampered back up to my room and doned my thermal underwear & moleskin trousers. Rodrigo is Chilean and construction worker but most of all he loves to fish and has been guiding for 11 years. As soon as he got the call he asked his boss for the afternoon off and that was that. We actually drove past his colleagues, mending a road, to lots of jeers etc.

We drove out of town for about 20 kms and then down a private gravel road and then across the open plain. The river we would fish was on a private Estancia with whom he has the right to use the river. It was a long old drive across a barren area that harboured a few sheep, ostriches (which is what the locals call them) and lots of carrion hawks (a dead sheep kep them amused for ages).

Rodrigo lent me some waders and yes, for the first time on the trip, the Rod was given the green light! My reel didn't get to play as we needed sinking line. No matter the rod was in the game & it was for big game fish - Seatrout!.Rodrigo had a two handed moster of a rod and in the wind, he would soon demonstrate why.

. The rivers are fast flowing and we waded up to our arses into them. It was then i discovered one foot was not watertight. No matter, the water was actually a lot warmer than i would have imagined.We were after big stuff and with the wind blowing hard and my lack of skill, I couldnt shoot the line far enough.

Rodrigo gve me some tips and i got better but still not much in the way of bites. He lent me his rod and it made a big difference in the distance i could cast but to no purpose. he caught a nice brown trout but that was it for the day.

 As you can see we fished until it was time to call it a day. It was me that called time but Rodrigo was desperate for me to catch something before we left. I have no problem not catching a fish but it is clear their clients travel miles and pay a fortune for the Big Seatrout and are grumpy when they dont catch them. He reckons to catch 4 good sized fish per week at this time of the season

We went back to the Aldridge Mobile (Pick up truck) and i had my first taste of mate (pronounced matae). It is a bit of a ceremony with the Argentinians; a funny little cup, "metal straw", some dried "grass" of some sort and a dribble of hot - but not boiling water. It is all very deferential & you continue to take turns in a few slups until the guest (me in this case) says "thank you". Then it all get put away. It is quite pleasant and has the taste of subtle tobacco, you don't take more than a few mouthfuls at a sitting.

We then had a beer.

Have you noticed there are more scenic shots when i don't catch fish?

On the drive back to town we passed one of his friends house, Martin. He pulled in as Martin was outside cooking Asado. Basically a sheep strung out on a metal crucifix and leant over a fire. They kindly asked me to stay but i was knackered.

We had a beer, watched the fire for a while which was a nice end to a nice day. It would have been fantastic to catch a big Seatrout but next time eh?