Patagonia Argentina 2009

 IAFFV- Patagonia Winter Meeting - Trip Report
 Estancia Quillen, Rahue, Argentina
January 30 – February 7, 2009

Small Animal Dermatology

Bob Kennis, DVM, MS, DACVD
Auburn University

         This was an incredible adventure and a wonderful trip for most everyone. Ten were registered but unfortunately, only 9 made the trip. One had to cancel for medical reasons 12 days before departure day and fortunately was covered by trip insurance. Doug Chilcoat was able to rearrange his busy schedule in the snows of Talkeetna, Alaska to fill the slot but could only get as far as Seattle. Mechanical problems for the flight to Atlanta prevented him from leaving in time to make connection to Buenos Aires and Bariloche. So Doug, stranded at 3:00 AM in Seattle and irritated enough to chew a box of nails in one bite, flew back to Anchorage even without his luggage and fishing gear. On the good side, he eventually received his stuff from the airline and has volunteered his time on the Iditarod. Everyone else arrived on time in Bariloche with luggage and fishing gear tired but ready for the trip north. After a welcome lunch, we departed for the 6 hour van ride to northern Patagonia along with our guides from Fly Maniacs. The last 2 hours were on dirt roads so we really felt isolated in the foot hills of Andes.  
           The roster included Bob Kennis, Dermatologist from Auburn, myself and Jack Quick from Tucson, AZ, John Welser flying from Ft. Myers, Fl; Scott and Janis Mays from Plano, TX, Herb Brown from Kentucky, Allan Carb from Long Island, NY and Mark Winning flying out of Sacramento, CA. The hotel built 25 years ago is part of a large cattle ranch (Estancia)that has been in the same family for over 100 years. It is located at the confluence of the Alumine (pronounced A lum in ãe) and Quillen (Ka shin) rivers. After check-in, cocktails, dinner and a long day, we were all ready for bed by 11:00. Our days began with the CE session starting at 7:00, and breakfast at 8:00. Sessions ended by 10:00 and then we progressed to the fishing sites. We were back to the hotel by 7:30 with time to commiserate, tell stories, clean up, relax, dinner at 9:30 (not before dark) and in the sack by midnight. Bob Kennis did a fantastic job with his approach to understanding issues about skin diseases and he even convinced John Welser, past Dean at MSU and former VP Research at Upjohn, into appreciating the good, bad and ugly of Depo-Medrol!
      There were 5 very experienced guides from Fly Maniacs headed by outfitter, Esteban Etchepare: Emanuel, Federico, Guillermo, Julio and Pedro. They had 5 sites for us to fish rainbows and browns with 2 walk-ins on the Rio Quillen and 3 beats on the Rio Alumine. The upper stretch of the Alumine was also used for white water rafting (see below). Each guide fished essentially the same beat each of 6 days but we switched around a little. These sites were spectacular and I have never seen such incredible fish hotels in my life. We caught a good number of trout over 20 inches but there are some really big fish that live there. Argentineans don’t eat fish so the fishing pressure is very low and not much catch and keep. Most all of the sport fishing is from outside the country and I only saw one other boat in 6 days of fishing.  
       This was the first trip for 3 IAFFV members, Janis, John and Mark. Without question, Mark gets the most improved if we had such an award. He had not fly fished before but came with the right gear and an incredible desire to absorb everything that the guides had to offer. Catching a few trout over 20 inches on your first trip and in good numbers for the week isn’t too shabby. Janis gets the good sport award as she really hung in there with her husband who wasn’t feeling too well for the first few days and besides, she caught fish. Herb tried to keep his partner under control but John still found a way to fill his waders searching for fish on the Rio Quillen. Herb also made the Brown Trout Club trying to retrieve a tree fly as did one other. Water temperature was only 62 so they warmed up and dried off pretty fast. We had incredible fishing and the weather was fantastic. With so many things going right, the staff of outstanding guides dealing with a foreign language, group interaction and we all laughed a lot, I have to put this trip in my top 5 category. There were so many unknowns with the people, hotel accommodations and location in Patagonia where I had not been before, and with the exception of Doug and Tom not getting there, this was quite the experience. I didn’t keep close track of fish numbers but we had to have hooked, landed and released more than 500 fish with most being over 17 inches. With the best CE possible and cost being very reasonable, what is not to like. 
           According to the guides and Esteban, the better fishing in Patagonia is December so that’s what we are doing next year. We will be fishing rivers in and around Bariloche so no need for a long car ride. Dates will be December 10 – 18, 2010.