Fly Fishing Esquel , by Jorge Trucco

The province of Chubut has a very important meaning to me as a fly-fisherman. As a kid I was introduced to fly-fishing in Los Alerces National Park near Esquel. I caught my first trout ever in Lago Verde, it was a big rainbow and I released it.

As a kid I used to read every book on fly-fishing I could get my hands on: Joe Brooks, Roderick Haig-Brown, Ernie Schwibert, later Swisher & Richards.

Back then my problem was that fly fishing was almost unknown in Argentina and at my young age I found it difficult to find the means to access fly fishing equipment as well as fly fishing situations.

The late Raúl Firpo (better known as "Rula") was a well-known rancher and cattle breeder in Argentina, however he claimed ranching was his hobby and fly-fishing his profession. He was a truly dedicated fly-fisherman and a real fly-fishing pioneer in Argentina. He had 8 children, none of which cared much about fly-fishing. One of them, Francisco, was my classmate all throughout primary and high school. Francisco and I have always been close friends and he was my link to his father. As Rula Firpo couldn't get any of his children to go fishing with him, he took me as his adopted fishing son. He taught me hundreds of fishing tricks and he shared his knowledge with me. That's how I was introduced to real-life-fly-fishing (I had already read all the books), and all of this came about in the province of Chubut in central Patagonia.

Over the years I kept going back to Chubut and I got to fish most of what that area has to offer. The Frey, Rivadavia, Arrayanes and Menéndez rivers in Los Alerces National Park, the Krüger, Menéndez and Rivadavia lakes. The old "Uno", "Dos" and "Tres" lakes and rivers, together with lake "Situación," all of which, unfortunately -after the completion of the Futaleufú dam- disappeared under a huge reservoir now called "Amutui-Quimei". The wonderful Arroyo Pescado, the Futaleufú (Indian word for Río Grande) river as well as a stretch of the Corcovado river.

That's why Chubut has a special meaning to me, it brings back memories of my youth as also unforgettable episodes of big fighting trout and landlocked salmon, back when anywhere you went you'd be the only one. Solitude was part of the magic, and there was solitude, no matter where you were.

Over my career as a guide and an outfitter there were some quite unexpected situations I must admit. I remember coming back from guiding during the 1992 season, I got a phone-call from John Barrett proposing to do a new TV fishing show. "Do you know actor Martin Milner?" He asked me. Did I know Martin Milner…?
During the early 60s Route 66 was my favorite TV show. Every Thursday evening I would sit in front of the TV and watch Martin Milner and George Maharis, playing Todd Styles and Buzz Murdoch, the college boy and the street boy, on their adventurous cruises along Route 66 in their model 59 Corvette convertible.

How could I know then that 30 years later I would be sharing an adventure with Todd Styles, I mean Martin Milner?
Marty hadn't changed much; he looked almost the same as during the years of Route 66 only that in my mind the images I kept of him were all in black and white. It's funny but it was sort of strange to see him in full color.

We spent the following days fishing Lago Bueno and Arroyo Pescado. Back then Lago Bueno had a great rainbow trout population that would surface-feed consistently, however our main course was going to be Arroyo Pescado. Marty was a bit intimidated by Arroyo Pescado, he had never fished a spring creek before. It was an overcast day with a smooth breeze and the fish were rising.

John Barrett broke the ice very early as he caught a beautiful 4 lb. rainbow. Marty broke-off three good fish and the intimidation grew. On his fourth hook-up Marty decided to be extra careful and after a spectacular fight he was able to land his first rainbow in Arroyo Pescado, a 20 incher. From then on Marty acted as calm as an expert which enabled him to land more nice fish. By then we knew that the mission had been accomplished, we had the show "in the can".
After he left, Martin Milner carefully selected and sent me 8 of the best original episodes of Route 66, one of them featured a young Martin Sheen, and another one featured a young Robert Duvall, and this was sort of a premonition. I could remember having seen both on TV some 30 years before, but what I didn't even imagine was my next unexpected situation: a year later I would be sharing a new TV fishing show with Robert Duvall.