Aluminé river, by Jorge Trucco

The Aluminé is not just a river, it is also a symbol and a legend, all kinds of native Indian myths have been conceived around the Aluminé, and even a town is named after it. As it is a very long river it has both character and structure and the fishing possibilities are countless.

As I've fished the Aluminé many times, some of these have acquired special meaning to me. The first image that comes to my mind is that of that day back in the mid 80s when I fished one of the most striking stretches of the Aluminé with my old time friend Bud Hodson.

It is funny how things sometimes happen but each time I remember that stretch of the Aluminé I'm reminded of my first encounter with the Alaskan experience that was precisely with Bud Hodson back in '86. Bud was the one to first enlighten me on the different ways to look for Pacific salmon and Alaskan rainbows, as well as grayling, char and dolly-vardens. On his first trip to Patagonia Bud spent quite a few days fishing the Aluminé with me. It was his first encounter with the real Patagonian experience. His first day on the Aluminé was like taken from a dream. One of those cool-morning-sunny-days when everything comes to life at around 11:00 am (meaning hatches and fishing action) and remains that way until sunset. That day we caught more than 100 fish and most catches were on big "attractor" dry flies.

Then came fly-fishing writer Art Lee. Good old "Arturo". Art plays an important part in my story with the Aluminé. He was part of one of the most remembered episodes in my career, my first ESPN's "Fly Fishing The World" show with who's presently an old friend: John M. Barrett.

Art was our "celebrity" on that first show, and it was on the Aluminé. The fishing started slow on that overcast morning. The river seemed sort of "off" and the camera crew, as they were pointing their cameras at us non-stop from the other two boats upstream, weren't really easing the tension. I was rowing the boat and Art and John were my fishermen for that show. They were "sweeping" the banks and covering all likely looking spots with impeccable casts. All we needed were 2 or 3 very nice fish for the show. Just that. Not more.

As the morning evolved several flies were tried, until I reached in my vest's pocket, pulled out one of my fly boxes, and found 5 exact flies tied by Lee Wulff, that he personally gave me on my last visit to him and his wife Joan at their place in Roscoe, N.Y., explaining that this fly was his latest development. These were big green stonefly type dry flies and I showed one to Art.

"Ah…" he said, "the new Lee Wulff's 'surface-stonefly', not a bad idea at all…" As the day went on both Art and John caught many big and healthy rainbows and browns on Lee Wulff's surface-stonefly, some of them really fought like crazy and ended up giving us one hell of a great fishing show. Whether it was Lee Wulff's fly or whether the fish had all of a sudden just decided to become active is anybody's guess. I still watch that video every once in a while, and I never get tired.

But there was more to come, and big. A year later I was able to share the "Fly Fishing The World" show again in the Aluminé with actor Michael Keaton. Among all the actors we got for our many Fly Fishing The World shows Michael was the most experienced fisherman hands down. He was a true fly fishing lover of refined style, however with strong and persistent determination.
His brother George who was as crazy about fly-fishing as Michael was came with him.

Michael's experience on the Aluminé was intense, back then we were staying at estancia San Ignacio right on a great pool in the Aluminé. Both Michael and George would get up early every day and fish the hell out of the Aluminé, but it was just for them, not for the cameras. Those were their most enjoyable moments; they were fishing truly for the pleasure, for their hearts. And the fishing was rewarding, browns and rainbows of great sizes and condition were once again eager to take Lee Wulff's 'surface-stoneflies'. Then came the hours of work but the fun didn't stop.

Though they fell in love with the Aluminé we needed footage on the Collón Cura and the Traful as well. Both Michael and George fished these rivers with identical enthusiasm; I truly feel it must have been one of their most memorable experiences as it has been treasured in my memory for so many years.

Pulmarí river, by Jorge Trucco

Back around the early 80s when I decided to thoroughly scout the Pulmarí I had limited knowledge about fishing conditions or even the topography of the area. I had heard there was a waterfall called "el Saltillo" somewhere and the Indians had taken it upon themselves to warn me about the fact that the fall had swallowed some "Christians" (as they call white people). Being unable to understand exactly where that fall was, my guides and I took the chance of floating it blind. It was a gamble and the feeling of high risk was there.

The Pulmarí river flows from lake Ñorquinco and runs through a series of plains in a valley that more likely belongs to a prehistoric landscape; so much so that when documentary producers need to re-create the times of the dinosaurs, they are placed exactly there (by means of computer technology). Araucaria-tree forests (monkey-puzzle trees) are abundant and as the Indian name for araucaria is "Pehuen" the whole area is called Pehuenia. I had never experienced such unusually overwhelming scenery.

We were lucky as we finally spotted where the Saltillo waterfall was and were able to go around it through the slower meandering stretch of the Pulmarí. The river winds so much that sometimes you feel you are floating up-valley. The vegetation is phenomenal and extremely abundant, there are wet marshes that surround the Pulmarí everywhere. Sloughs and lagoons off the Pulmarí are home to a diverse waterfowl and bird life, hundreds and thousands of ducks and ashy-headed geese.
The rest of the wetland bird life is there too. And the fishing was great. Big browns in the 24" range, not numerous but big .

The river took us into another unusual environment: lake Pulmarí, a lake of volcanic formation with rocky islands and granite rock walls. Not a deep lake, not a big lake. It spills off the river to the North and is shaped like a kidney. Its shallowness makes for a great habitat for trout, maximized by some beautiful reed covered banks. Rainbows and big browns dwell in the Pulmarí lake and as we rowed our boats slowly we fished the abundant structure. Needless to say we were pleased with our catches and swore we would be back. However, our mission was to explore the entire system, and as we went down into the outlet of the lake and into the lower Pulmarí river, we immediately noticed a dramatic change in the river's character. Now it was time to leave our boats behind and just wade. The river ahead of us was big boulders, rocks, runs and pools, and more runs and more pools. All definitely wading waters.

Hard wading as it is, this is the richest section in the Pulmarí river. We found fishing demanding, yet rewarding. After a day of hard work, we swore we would improve access to the river if we ever decided to turn this expedition into the first one of many more to come with demanding clients.

All in all, the results were highly satisfactory and we foresaw a future combo program fishing the varied Pulmarí area together with floating the Aluminé, enhanced by multiple possible activities such as: fabulous horseback rides, incredible bird watching, interesting nature tours, and many more. We all had the strong feeling that we had a great opportunity in our hands, yet there was still a problem left to solve: the lack of proper accommodations in the whole valley.

Finally, over two decades later, Piedra Pintada Resort (the only 5 star lodge in the province of Neuquén) and Patagonia Outfitters have finally teamed up to start a new era and put all of this potential resource on the map, where it should have always been.