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THE PARANÁ RIVER
2018
- The Paraná River, Argentina 2018 -
April 2018
Golden lodge in Corrientes is owned and operated by brothers Vicente and Vittorio Botta. Both grew up in the area around Corrientes and have been fishing in the Paraná River since they were little boys. Today they run the aforementioned lodge with the greatest of ease in an extremely great way. Every detail has been carried out and their knowledge and familiarity with the river and the fly fishing here is completely unique and the best on the market. It was therefore with great excitement that I arrived at Golden lodge to try out their fishing program for Golden Dorado, Pira Pytà and Pacù. Read more about these fish in our presentation of Golden Lodge and their Grand Slam program.
The first fishing day of a total of 3 starts with us trying to fish for Pacù. A very strong and special fish that is only available from December to April. Pacù is hard to find and can be very difficult to hook and is therefore one of the fish in the river that many anglers from large parts of the world want to have on their Bucket list! When fishing for Pacù, imitations of fruit that falls from the trees are often used and which is a juicy and welcome delicacy for these fish. Our imitation was almost like a round plastic ball the size of an adult pea. This was presented as close to shore as possible from our position about 15 meters from shore, from our boat. The ball or fruit if you will, should land nicely and sink towards the fish. It was both exciting and a little difficult to know when the fish took it so you had to follow the line tip closely as the ball sank. Suddenly you see a change and feel a weak bite, then you just have to give a real counter-strike with the hand that you are holding the line with and hope that the hook hooks the fish enough that it holds all the way in. My first two fish that took my ball were not hooked enough when I lifted the rod when I felt the fish and that movement makes the counter-strike too bad. On fish number three it came loose and I was able to land my first Pacù. The fight was unforgettable and a lot of fun. Fantastically active fish that means that you as an angler have to be really on the hook the whole time. You don't have time to reel in the line on the reel unless the fish races away. You have to hold and strip the line in directly and just hope that there is no slack in the line during the fight. If there is slack, the fish is mostly gone within a few seconds. With
In other words, a completely different way to both fish and hook fish, but oh my, so much fun. I have to admit it was a good laugh when the first fish caught on a ball threaded onto a hook was a fact. This only makes fly fishing even better as there are always new challenges out there.
I fished with Brad from the USA. Brad also arranges fishing trips around the world. He has fished the area downstream of Golden lodge before and has fished for Dorado as his favorite along with Tarpon. These two fish can be compared as they are both brutal in their bites and give the fisherman an unforgettable experience. That is why Golden is often
Dorado also called the river tiger.
Our next fish to try to land was Pira Pytà. Pira Pytà is called the salmon of the river because of its silvery color and its playful jumps. It is also often compared to Permit as it is just as shy and can be a challenge to catch on a fly. Both Brad and I were lucky and landed each Pira Pytà on the first day and thus our guide was very clear that we should now try to catch each Golden Dorado as well. Then we are lucky and are included in the list of those who have received a diploma and who have landed Golden Dorado, Pira Pytâ and Pacù in the same week and can call themselves Grand Slam fishermen.
After a fantastic lunch we set off to new areas of the river. Now it's Dorado that matters. Upon arrival at our first spot we see many large Dorado rolling on the surface. Fishing between 5 and 12 kg according to our guide. He is almost ecstatic and imagines a fantastic evening with many beautiful Dorado on the hook. It would turn out to be more challenging than expected. The fish were not active towards our flies and we did not get a single bite from the Dorado. One of the reasons was that the moon came out and made the light and conditions very demanding. This is something that our guide has noticed in previous evenings that when there is clear weather and a moon it is difficult to fish Dorado. Ok then we know that and not entirely surprising as many other domestic fish species are also difficult to get under such conditions. Fishing day one is over and it has been very exciting and
fun. Actually much better than expected. Incredibly exciting and standing barefoot in shorts/shirt throwing towards the shore from a boat and at the same time hearing monkey screams from the lush trees along the river. It was intense.
Counterattack / strike. Being able to be ready to make a clear counterattack when the Dorado takes was and is an extra challenge the first few rounds down here. According to the guides, this is a completely normal thing for anyone who has fished for trout and salmon. You are used to lifting the rod when you know the fish. It doesn't work well here. But after missing a couple, it sticks. This is what happened to me when I eventually hooked my first Golden Dorado, after two misses where big fish were on in some
seconds and then twisted off in the air because the strike was too bad, it sat on the third sale. And my god what a fish this is. The bite was brutally hard, the speed before, during and after all the jumps was unreal and there were several burning marks on my fingers directly. No time to drill the line into the reel. Just have to keep the line loose and push the fish as hard as you can without the equipment breaking. It was really intense stuff and fantastic fun. Much better than expected. Both Brad and I got to experience these intense fish and were both lucky to land several on this trip which was a test trip for both of us to this unique part of the upper Pranà together with Golden Lodge.
By presenting the fly as close to shore as possible without getting it stuck in bushes or branches, we let it sink for a few seconds before we started stripping/retracting. Then these fish came and attacked the fly at the most brutal speed I have ever experienced. Absolutely crazy.
It is very nice to announce that 2instincts has entered into a partnership with Golden Lodge and will be their partner for Scandinavia. We will in the future offer good
package deals for anyone who wants to experience the upper reaches of the Pranà through Golden Lodge. We thank Vicente and Vittorio for a wonderful stay and welcome them to the 2instincts family. We are already looking forward to the next trip and then we will try to land the biggest fish that this unique river holds. Did we not mention that there are over 100 different fish species in the river, of which about 10 are great fun to fly fish. Welcome.
Greetings from a very satisfied fly fisherman who has 3 new fish species noted on his list of fish caught on fly in Argentina and now also Paraguay which forms part of the fishing grounds we visited on our test trip to Golden lodge. Read more under our presentation and program for Pranà in Argentina.
Helge Vetås 2instincts
