The Malleo River is by far one of the most diverse little rivers I have ever fished, from its head waters at Lago Tromen all the way down to the its confluence with the Alumine River it managed to surprise me with its features, structure and fish and fences.
THE UPPER MALLEO:
The Upper Malleo is cute, I mean really cute!
In most spots I could spit across it!
As small as it is, it contains some truly inspiring water. Riffles, buckets, cut banks and over hanging willows all begging to be tickled with a fly! One could spend hours tucking into little features, pondering over fly boxes and trying to weasel a trout out and all the while the perfect symmetry of the Lanin Volcano looms somewhere off in the distance.
I chose a 4 weight rod the day that we fished it just because it is a pleasure to cast.
I may have been a all little under gunned.
The first fish that I duped on the Upper was a 16 inch kelted Rainbow that ran and doubled my medium action rod over to the cork while landing it. Curt chose to fish with a 5 or a 6, I can't remember which but he was better equipped to deal with the Patagonian wind and larger fish than I was.
I recall being down stream of Curt, quietly enjoying a really nice drift when a resounding "FUCK ME!" echoed down stream. I looked up to see an Curtis fumbling with a fly box and yelling something about a monster Bow that had just slashed at his fly! "Biggest Fish I have seen all trip!" he yelled down to me, and even though I think he is full of shit most of the time I believed him.
I wish I could give you a better idea of what flies to use on the Upper Malleo but we really didn't get a great hatch while we were there, there were some small Mayflies and terestrials along with good numbers of our friend the midge. We used everything in our boxes nymps and streamers included and it seemed that just about everything worked and we managed to massage out most of the fish we happened upon.
THE UPPER MIDDLE MALLEO:
We fished at the Yellow Bridge a total of three times, and I remember looking at Curt after our first attempt at solo Patagonian fly fishing and remarking that the water "ain't that shit hot". The truth is that the water is like any other piece of water that you will experience on any trout bearing continent. So bring your game and wreck trout, cuz the trout ain't gonna just give it to you.
The Malleo in its Upper Middle section is a much larger piece of water when compared to the Upper. There are spots where you cannot cross, there are largish round submerged rocks that are slippery and there are willows that will break at the most inopportune time but there are fish, so none of that matters.
There are Rainbows and Browns of all sizes and there are bugs for them to eat, so with a little bit of investigation and perseverance you will catch fish in the Yellow Bridge section of the Malleo. Again there is some of the most inspiring water that I have ever fished. From perfect seams to brilliant overhanging willows there is almost always something to throw at and quite often there is a trout where there is suppose to be one.
The second day that we fished this section I think both Curt and I decided to fish with purpose. That meant taking time to catch picky trout, allowing ourselves to leave rising fish in search of others and giving ourselves and each other time to explore. It was on this day that we found the little black mayfly and it was on this day that we realized how good the Argentine people have it.
Both Curtis and I fished with 5 weights on the upper middle, its windy and there are big trout and sometimes big trout eat big flies. Fish with a 5, trust me on this one. If your unsteady on your feet or tend to drink too much, bring a wading staff, I swam twice in Argentina and the Malleo made my undies wet. As far as flies are concern, with a little studious observation and your North American Fly box you will do just fine.
LOWER MALLEO: DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE PARROTS IN ARGENTINA
There are Parrots in Argentina and the best part of that is that you get to fish the Lower Malleo while Parrots roost in the sandstone bank across from you!
There is a marked differnce in the topography of the river as you head down stream. The Malleo carves it way from the vast flat valley bottom and then curls into the rolling foothils. Large cut banks emerge from the rivers edge and the soft conglomerate head walls makes a perfect place for a Parrots to rear there young. Again, I have to say that the Malleo hold some of the prettiest water I have ever fished, man is it sexy, and there are some monstrous fish in the Lower Malleo
Things you need to know about the Lower Malleo:
- You gots to pay to play, 30 pesos should do it
- Argentinians like fishing especially on weekends (who doesn't)
- The water is sick
- 5 wieght and no less
- Open your fly box and have fun
MALLEO BREAK DOWN:
I didn't get to fish the Malleo in its entirety and I missed out on the true Middle section of the river. As with most Argentinian rivers there is a lot of private land along the Malleo, law in Argentina states that you can fish any river and tread up to the high water mark and no further. In most cases the Malleo is private and if you want to fish its Middle Section then you will have to hop a fence and trespass. Or you pay a lot more than 30 Pesos to one of the large estancias that own the land along the Malleo.
Thanks for reading and look for more Patagonian stories and local fishing reports coming soon.
Peace and Love,
Spence
