La Zona News

Being a United States representative for La Zona Lodge, I get numerous phone calls weekly regarding the fishery.  The main question I still get asked is that they have heard the fishing is poor since fisherman are no longer allowed to fish next to the El Salto Grande Dam.  This statement is far from the TRUTH!  Catches of trophy golden dorado exceeding 50 lbs have seen a drastic increase since fisherman have not spent wasted time near the dam.  Yes, numbers caught will be down, but who wants to catch 30 lbs dorado all day long?  Everyone spends hard earned money to catch a 50+ lbs monster of which La Zona is famous for.  30lbs dorado are trophies elsewhere but are on the lower end size at La Zona.  A few years ago, Joe "Sparky" Bullock and Dr. Gary Clark developed super strong spinnerbaits to fool the giants.  These hyped up spinnerbaits are dragged across the boulders AWAY from the dam where the giants swim.  They have most likely accounted for more 50lbs+ dorado than all other lures combined in the last 2 seasons.
Lodge manager, Giuliana Bradanini, reports that new for the 2019 season, clients will be housed in a newly constructed hotel.  Fishing hours will be 8am to noon then 3pm to dark.  Lunch time fishing is available at a nominal fee.  The fishing days inside the zone remain the same, Friday through Monday.  As of last week 1 boat opened up for the first week in January and 2 boats are open for the week of March 28.

New for 2019 there will be a low budget option which is different than the regular booking mentioned above.  Clients will arrive on Tuesday and stay in the new hotel.  They will fish outside the zone on Wednesday and Thursday.  On Friday they will have breakfast early and fish inside the zone from 6am to 8am and from noon to 3pm while fishing outside the zone during the other hours.  This will be repeated on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
This combined with the regular option will allow only 2 boats to be inside the zone!

As I am writing this, lodge owner, Hector Bradanini, is in the final stages of renewing permits for fishing inside the zone which are granted by the Government of Argentina.  This would be in effect for April 2019 when the current contract expires.
So, get into this magical fishery as soon as possible to catch the golden dorado of your dreams!