By Under The Influencer – Guest Writer
Under The Influencer has fished with Frontiers (67 trips) and other agencies extensively for the past 15 years including Russia, Iceland, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Venezuela, the Seychelles (multiple atolls), Norway, Guatemala, Oman, Tanzania, Costa Rica, Canada, South Africa, Colombia, Greenland amongst others.
With this being my fourth visit in the last 20 months, I arrived in Corrientes eagerly looking forward to spending time on the Parana River again. Growing up on the banks of Severn, there was something about Parana that reminds me very much of my days fishing the tidal structures of the Severn, a huge dirty brown river, somehow still full of life.
I overnighted at the El Alondra Hotel, which was perfectly adequate. The food was good, staff friendly and accommodation comfortable. I was collected on time for my transfer to Don Joaquin. I was due to fish here in September last year, but unfortunately, due to personal reasons, I was not able to travel. The lodge were kind enough to roll my week over to another week of my choice. Due to heavy storms, the journey from Corrientes to Don Joaquin took just over 3 hours. The roads are perfectly fine, so no issues with that. I had the offer of stopping on the way to the lodge, or lunch on arrival to the lodge, I had requested lunch at the lodge, but we stopped on the way anyway. Just before the town of Esquina, we turned off the main road onto a farm trail leading up to the lodge.
We were now on the 770 hectare privately owned family estancia. 2km down the track and you are greeted by the owner and all the lodge staff who were dressed in traditional gaucho style clothing. I was immediately given a tour, and I was impressed that the lodge was only built 12 years ago. There was a sense of authenticity which I rarely see in my travels. The family have run the estancia for the last 29 years, and, as well as the fishing, they offer a full gaucho riding experience. The interior decoration was suburb, with several dining areas including a grill area where you can see your food being cooked if you wish. I was shown to my bedroom which was an utter delight, the bed was enormous, the room fully air conditioned, the bathroom luxurious and a much-needed touch of luxury. When greeted by the English-speaking owner, I was immediately made to feel at home, and we sat down for lunch together.
I spent the rest of the afternoon at leisure looking out over the river. I could see dorado chasing bait as I waited for the other anglers to return. Later on that evening the co-owner returned after a day’s guiding and we talked about the fishing at great length; we looked through my selection of flies and suggested we go for a quick cast to maybe get a dorado or a wolf fish as the sun was setting over Don Joaquin. To my astonishment, as we walked to the river, we were joined by two of the waiting staff, one to carry my rod, and one to carry my drink! I took one look at them and said, “I am a fisherman not a tourist, I will carry my rod!”. An early night was had in anticipation on what lay ahead.
There is something about dorado that really intrigues me, and I have an ongoing battle with them. I was up at 6 the following morning for breakfast for a 7am departure time. Due to low water conditions, I was unable to enter the river the normal way via the lodge’s jetty, so a 20-minute drive through the town of Esquina was necessary to get to the marina. A classical Parana River marina boat launch, where my captain and boat was waiting for me. Today I was being guided by Ramon, the owner of the lodge, and the captain, Nico, who both grew up on the river. After a quick but necessary boat orientation, we set off under blue skies, Again, due to low water, the journey to the fishing spots was extended to 40 minutes, but this wasn’t an issue as the boat journey was beautiful going through narrow marsh parts of the river system to reduce as much time as possible. The boats are fast and well equipped, but take some time to get used to, they are not your traditional skiff that many may be used too. Having fished the river on three occasions before, I knew the size of the fish in this part of the river were going to be smaller than in the areas that I had previously fished, the guides are very open about this, however there are 20lbs fish to be caught if you are lucky. This is purely down to the structure of the river.
Ramon wanted to show me some of the better places on the river, where the chances of catching bigger fish are higher so we started fishing to sunken logs. This is very much a traditional way to fish for the bigger dorado. A floating line and dorado fly with a 6ft leader and a 12-inch metal trace attached to the fly, pretty solid, regular gear. There is a definite skill in getting the correct angle to pull your fly in front of the log or structure, but if there are dorado there, a savage take is the result.
We continued this a little while in the search for the big fish. We caught a few in the 13-14lbs range and while using a 7-weight rod the fights are short but epic with the fish often jumping three or more times. The opportunities through the day continued, but then we moved on to do some flats fishing, which involved getting out of the boat and walking around the flats that had been exposed by the lower water. Fish were seen in most places and opportunities were in abundance. Before we knew it the day was gone, we had lunch, and due to the increasing heat we headed back to the lodge at 4pm. I arrived back to see my favourite Argentina meal being prepared outside my room, lamb and beef on the cross, all locally sourced meat.
On the following day I just wanted to do flats fishing, so we just drove straight to the flats in the boat. What I have learned quickly is that low water is a positive not a negative. I loved this fishing before, with the flats fishing I love it even more! To my astonishment, as we approached the first sand bar there was chaos ensuing, dorado feeding everywhere. I put my fly straight into the middle, and as soon as my line hit the water, it went tight, a 12lbs dorado, quickly released. I had another shot into the group, hooked up but it came off. We then continued to walk up the sand bar, there were multiple opportunities, but I missed them all. The fishing was on fire for about 2 hours with dorado feeding on sabalo baitfish in the shallows all over the place. It had been a long time since I had seen that number of fish in a river, anywhere in the world. This was sight fishing on a new level for me. I struggled at first to see the fish, but the guides eyes will always be better than mine and we got there in the end, covering over 10,000 steps as I later found out!
The fishing did die off as the heat increased over the day. I have fished this river enough to know that heat can be a major issue, not to say the fishing is bad, but it is not as good as it is in the morning without the heat of the day. The days can be long, in the heat, but the action of the fishing makes it worthwhile, and with the level of comfort at the lodge it is easy to recover and relax on your return. I should point out that you can come back to the lodge for lunch and a nap and skip the heat of the day or you have lunch on the river and nap in the shade. If you come back to the lodge, it likely means you cannot travel as far to fish because you are going back for lunch. On my third day we only managed to fish for a few hours, before an electrical storm with huge winds, wiped out the third day. These are rare and simply just bad luck.
The fourth day continued as previous days, I had worried that the size of the fish would not have been able to hold my attention for the full-time fishing, but it did, there’s something about these dorado that make them incredibly appealing and I put them right up there on my favourite fish to catch list. The thrill of seeing a 20lbs dorado smashing bait, in waters that are no more 18 inches deep, moving more water than a small cayman 40 meters away, and having the ability to drop your fly, no more than 6 inches away from its nose, is a challenge I have yet to complete. I had that opportunity but guess what… it didn’t work…again!
What I have learned is by simply downsizing the rod a little for slightly smaller fish, you have the same fun and it is less hard work in the hot weather. This is very similar to GT fishing in the Seychelles; however they are a very different proposition, you can tease and tempt a GT, but unless you land your fly right on top of a dorado’s nose, you are not getting a response. They are lazy but violent takers. It is almost as if there is enough bait in the river and unless its right in front of their face they will not bother, especially a single fish on the flats. However, if they are in a pack, which I have experienced on many occasions, success is almost guaranteed.
On every flat I fished, there were fish present, whether that was in a pack or singular fish. I was astonished at the quality of the fishing, my mornings were spent flats fishing until I was mentally exhausted of looking at sabalo and trying to find dorado swimming amongst them. If you find them, you were pretty much guaranteed action especially at every drop off a sand bar. After a lunch on the river, and a snooze, we would fish to logs or structure with poppers and streamers. The fly was being eaten as soon as it hit the water, but these are small fish up to 8lbs, a necessity for learning how to set a hook properly as they are a difficult fish to hook.
My evenings were spent at the lodge being hosted by an amazing team that were fast becoming friends. The whole staff team had links to the estancia, and all lived on the grounds as do their families. For me, this was the key to my enjoyment at Don Joaquin, they just seem to get it right with their level of dedication and attention to detail, they were always there on hand and despite their limited English they were hugely keen to look after you. After an exhausting days fishing on the river this is most welcome.
I was asked if I wanted to see the working estancia and had the privilege of watching the gauchos herding the cows to be dipped, this was an epic experience which I can fully recommend if you are interested in the farming life and horses and appreciate horsemanship. Some of the gauchos were also the waiting staff that helped around the lodge in the evening which added to the homely family feel of the place. Will I return? Of course. The hospitality and the fishing being the main two reasons, but thirdly the price of the fishing at Don Joaquin ($4,750 for single room/shared boat) which is more than reasonable. For the rate I paid I had a boat to myself and was looked after in the most beautiful accommodations. Flats fishing for dorado is right up there with any fishing on flats that I have done, and for me, the most challenging, for an absolute fraction for what you pay elsewhere.