Steelhead on the Santa Cruz - Los Plateados Season Report 2024

Tres Amigos Outfitters - Los Plateados Lodge, ARGENTINA

The Santa Cruz River was running high when we arrived at the beginning of the season, within an inch or two of flooding the driveway in front of the lodge. However, it dropped slowly but steadily every day. Last year Tomas and I started sticking a marker into the ground at the water’s edge in Guanacos to track the recession, and overall,I think the river dropped well over a meter to a meter-and-a-half over the six-week season. The clarity can vary from day-to-day due to rain events or warm weather, but it usually recovers within a day or two. Generally, the overall color and clarity improves over the course of the season. As fall progresses, glacial runoff decreases and with it there’s a corresponding decrease in the amount of glacial till in the water, thus contributing to increased visibility. Overall, we had some beautiful water conditions, especially in the last few weeks. This river is a stunning blue/green color due to its glacial origins, and it only gets better as the temperatures start to drop.

My biggest fear at Los Plateados is to experience a rainy year! The dirt around this area turns into sticky, slippery mud that when dried hardens into concrete. In doing so it makes an absolute mess of everything. Fortunately, I think this is quite uncommon. We only had two rain events; the first one right after we arrived, and the last one just a few days before the last guests left. Though obnoxious, neither event impeded our operations in the slightest. Wind is the biggest nemesis here, and it’s more a matter of the direction than the speed. Most of the time we have runs that are oriented so as to remain fishable in the prevailing west-northwest wind directions. Southwest winds tend to blow directly downstream which is challenging, but anything out of the east is straight in your face.

March was unseasonably cold and there were a few mornings with frozen boots left outside. To contrast that, the last week was unseasonably warm, and guests enjoyed temperatures in the 60’s all week, with hardly a breath of wind most days! Everyone cherished that week, and we couldn’t help but remark all day long just how pleasant it was. Otherwise, the climate was typical for late summer/early fall. Most days the temperatures were in the 50’s or low 60’s, and most of the time the wind blew out of the west/northwest at 15-25 mph. Mornings tend to start most settled, then as the sun heats the land the wind will pick up by either mid-morning or mid-afternoon. Some days it was calmer, and some days it was sustained 30 mph with gusts to over 50. This is Patagonia, after all, and the wind is just an everyday fact of life.

The first round of guests arrived earlier in March than usual, and we didn’t know how the fishing would be. While we were preparing the lodge for their arrival we managed to hook a decent number of fish, and it gave us confidence going into that first week. Anadromous fish are still anadromous fish though, and they’re either there or they’re not. The steelhead were not around much during the first week. A few were hooked, but it was the sea trout (sea-run brown trout) that were the unexpected savior for everyone. A good number were landed, all chrome-bright and solid fish, with a few tipping the scales into the mid-teens. Steelhead fishing improved steadily every week after that and peaked during the last week. The most consistent anglers caught 1-2 fish a day, and we even had one day during the last week where 10 fish were hooked. The biggest key to success is to keep your fly in the water and cover the runs thoroughly!

It’s not an easy fishery though, and skill definitely plays into one’s success. It seems to me that these fish sit out farther and deeper than your average steelhead, so strong casting abilities help one to cover the water better. If the fish are sitting 40-60’ off the bank, then you need to be able to cast another 20’ beyond that, and well upstream to get your fly down in front of them in time. Our formula for fishing is: 1) Cast perpendicular to the flow, straight out at 90°, if not upstream, 2) throw a big mend, 3) take 2 steps downstream, and 4) keep the tension off to let the fly sink (usually about 10-12 seconds) before it comes tight, and swing. This place is well-suited to strong casters as the bigger the cast you can make, the deeper your fly will fish and the wider swath it will cover as it swings.

By Lucas Young
Tres Amigos Outfitters