Rio Meliquina & Esma's first (9) fly-caught trout

We took a weekend trip north of Bariloche to a small river called Rio Meliquina, which is in a beautiful valley just a few kilometers southeast of the town of San Martin de Los Andes. We had the river and small campground to ourselves the entire weekend, and this (below) was the view that greeted us when we arrived late Friday evening.

The fishing was excellent in terms of quantity of fish. Most of the fish in Rio Meliquina this time of year are not big by Patagonian standards, although we did come across a few large fish. But what this river lacks in big fish, it more than makes up for in quantity, and unlike in many Patagonia rivers, the fish respond very well to dry flies.

Esma practiced her fly cast and fished some yesterday but didn't catch anything. This morning, however, she caught her first fly-caught trout, and then proceeded to catch 8 more in the same spot! We were both very excited. We combined to catch 62 trout (35 rainbow and 27 brown) between 7am yesterday and 10:30 am today.

A stone fly molt. The insect hatches on this river are incredible. Yesterday just before sunset, the sky was full of mayflies, and we caught plenty of trout using mayfly imitations.

A Rio Meliquina rainbow.

A beautiful Rio Meliquina brown.

Reason #234 why we enjoy fly fishing. Fish, and especially trout, usually don't live in ugly places.

Esma with her 2nd fly-caught trout (better shot of the fish below). Her first one slipped out of the net before we could get a photo.

Esma's 2nd fly-caught trout.

Another rainbow in the net for Esma. This fish was very pretty.

Esma's 9th fish while standing in the same place - a fat rainbow that gave her a nice battle.

Esma with another trout on the line - another feisty rainbow that gave her a good fight.

Esma standing in her fishing hole, where she caught 8 rainbow and 1 brown trout in 30 minutes. Notice that our tent is in the background. We had not fished this hole until just before we broke camp. We assumed it had received some fishing pressure (and thus held fewer fish) because it's directly adjacent to a dirt road and small campground. Good thing Esma tried!