La Zona January 6 to 9, 2017

Had the opportunity to fish for golden dorado on the Uruguay River in the section known as La Zona during January 6 to 9, 2017.  This was my 10th trip to his fishing fantasy!  There was much uncertainty entering this trip as a few months prior, the Argentina government placed restrictions on the "zone" due to protection against terrorist activity near the dam.  So, a new boundary of 500 meters from the dam wall was put into place.  The "zone" is an area where government permits are required for entry.  Originally, the "zone" was 1000 meters and after the new set of rules it was reduced into half.  The water levels were ideal with 4 to 5 meters being the norm.  Fishing was absolutely on fire!  Our group of 4 fishermen who previously fished La Zona landed and released 17 dorado at 40 lbs or better.  I got lucky as was able to land the 2 largest golden dorado of the trip both weighing in at 50 lbs.

 We also landed 1 at 49 lbs, 1 at 48 lbs, 5 at 46 lbs. 4 at 44 lbs, 1 at 43 lbs, 2 at 42 lbs and 1 at 40 lbs plus numerous between 15 to 40 pounds.  The top lure by far were the Clark doradokiller spinnerbait and the Sparky doradokiller spinnerbait.  Guides Elbio and Alejandro did a tremendous job putting us on top of trophy dorado each session.  Hostess, Giuliana Bradanini, received 5-stars from all in the group as she made sure every detail in our trip was too perfection.  Also all of us put a few pounds on with chef, Marcello's wonderful meals.
In my opinion, there are too many smaller dorado near the dam, so the odds of catching a monster over 40 lbs are not good.  When you hook into the battling 20 to 30 lbs dorado, your drift takes you out of productive areas since the boat is rapidly moving through the zone.  So, I truely believe the odds are increased to catching trophies by starting the drift slightly away from the dam.  Cannot wait until my 11th trip to golden dorado heaven comes about next season at La Zona!