Jurassic Lake Lodge is without a doubt the best trophy rainbow trout fishery on earth! In Lago Strobel, aka Jurassic Lake, the rainbows gorge themselves on skuds and grow to enormous size. There are no predators in the lake other than giant rainbows. On September 23, I along with 10 friends, were picked up in El Calafate by a lodge van. We drove to the end of the highway then drove the rest of the 6-hour drive by the guides 4 x 4 trucks. Recent snow had made the road very slippery. Guide, Brian, and the three other guides drove like we were on a paved highway. Along the way we drove through a few inches of snow and mud. We motored through ice covered rivers but finally reached Jurassic Lake Lodge. We observed numerous herds of guanaco and some rhea. I have fished at Jurassic Lake Lodge numerous times. The end of September and end of April/ beginning of May are the best times in my opinion. In September, thousands of rainbows enter the Barrancoso river to spawn. At the end of April/ beginning of May, the river does not nearly have the number of rainbows in September, but huge "chromers" can be caught outside the
mouth of the Barrancoso. After getting our beats assigned, we are told the Argentina Department of Fisheries no longer allows fishing in Rios in Patagonia during September. This is added protection to spawning trout. So, our beats which are about a 10-minute walk from the lodge were far right of the mouth, right of the mouth, left of the mouth, and the Bay of Pigs.
I was teamed with Duffy and Glenn who never fished Jurassic before. Duffy and I started casting Red bloody glow nose moonshine spoons, while Glenn fly fished. The results were outstanding as action was non-stop. Duffy landed a 21 lbs, Glenn also landed a 21 lbs trophy, and I landed a 21.6 lbs trophy. The largest rainbow for the week was a trophy pushing the scales to 22 lbs. The average size rainbow in my opinion was 12 to 13 lbs. There has been lots of need snow in the area this spring. The river mouth was extremely narrow during our stay. This should increase during snowmelt and the fishing throughout the season should be outstanding.
The winds are temperature were favorable during the week. Jurassic Lake is known for high winds pushing up to 80 mph! The trout just love the wind and can be seen close to shore in the waves. Duffy and I switched over to fly fishing and had nonstop action. My white mop flies were the ticket to hundreds of big rainbows! One does not have to be a master fly caster to constantly hook up. The guides at Jurassic Lake Lodge are pros when fly fishing and can provide lessons to the novice fly caster like me! The accommodations, meals, and guides could not be improved upon.
For the week, my estimation for the group of 11 was we landed and released 3500+ rainbows with 5 exceeding the magical 20+ lbs mark. The far-right beat was outstanding and should not be forgotten once the Barrancosco can be fished.
I am heading back to Lago Stroble, Jurassic Lake Lodge beginning of May 2024 and mid-September 2024. A few rods are still available so join us for the best rainbow trout fishery on earth. You can contact me at doradokiller@hotmail.com or on facebook.
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