Argentina: no reason to cry

 

Dear Simon, The truth is I really do not know where to start about my trip to Argentina – I went for the fishing but came back with so, so much more. I guess my knowledge of Argentina is scant at best, being part of a generation that grew up with the Falklands War, South American dictatorships and headlines of hyperinflation on a scale of the Weimar Republic. None this was helped by the more recent unpleasant, and horribly jingoistic, 2014 edition of Top Gear on tour in Argentina. So, that best forgotten, let us start with the fishing. The Tecka Lodge Estancia and river as far as the eye can see

It was amazing but not perhaps for size or quantity of the fish. Yes, we caught plenty (fifteen in a day did not buy you many bragging rights at dinner) of big, small and medium browns, brookies and rainbows, the latter as fighting strong as any I have caught anywhere on the planet. Nor was the fishing overly technical; one guide fishes almost exclusively with a Sebastian Special, a black foam beetle of his own invention. Essentially, if you managed to bang the fly in the right place as often as not you would get a rise, though missed strikes greatly exceed successful strikes. But and here is the super big but, banging that fly down in the right place is no easy task for the open plains of Patagonia are windy. Really windy. Relentlessly windy. To remake a Baldrickism, “Lord Blackadder it is more windy that the windiest place that has ever been windy.” And then some. In the six days we fished it was relentless. Occasionally the Fishing Gods would smile on you with some unexpected shelter, or halleluiah have the wind to your back, but generally you cast into or across the teeth of the wind. If you could not single haul on day one you would attain world class expertise by day six. Apparently, the fishing is better for the wind according to the guides and my experience tells me this to be true. In those few moments of calm the fish were easily spooked and very wary of the fly; the wind encourages them to be both bold and greedy.

All sorts of flies work! So, would I go back just for the fishing? No. Afterall, it is a bloody long way, something around 45 hours door to door including the overnight in Buenos Aires. But would I go back to fish on the plains of the Chubut Province? Yes, yes and a million times yes. It is hard to comprehend the scale of the Tecka Ranch we visited. It is 435,000 acres (roughly the size of Berkshire); some days it took a drive of 90 minutes across dirt roads to reach the fishing from the lodge, and we never left the confines of the ranch. A ranch so vast that it has its own ecoclimate: one half has annual rainfall 8 inches more than the other half. It has 96 miles private river including the continental divide where in the space of a few yards one river starts its 200km journey to the Pacific Ocean whilst the other heads 900km to the Atlantic Ocean The only living souls you ever see are gauchos on their horses, with a motley crew of sheepdogs, herding sheep from one grazing area to another. The ranch has 80,000 sheep reared for merino wool. Overhead, condors examine the ground hundreds of feet below for carrion, mostly dead sheep – about 15% of the herd die annually. Families of lamas (I forget the name of the Argentinian version) graze on the hillside. If you see a bush running across the tundra, it is a rhea, a sort of small ostrich. Hares graze contentedly along the riverbank just a few feet away; there is no hunting on the ranch, so they have little fear of humans. Foxes, both our European red ones and the South American grey types, insolently stare you down. Armadillos, who can run amazingly quickly for such oddly made creatures, scuttle back to their burrows. The 8,000 Hereford cattle are forever grazing, interspersed with roaming gaucho horses who do the same.

Not a bad lunch spot. Note water powered rotisserie BBQ. And all this amongst the silent vastness of the Patagonian plains defined by the snowcapped Andes to the west with no planes, trains or automobiles to hint at the existence of the 21st century. It is, as you will have gathered, a working ranch but the operation seems to touch gently on the landscape having only been what it is since 1920. Before that it lay pretty well undisturbed since the melting ice cap made it what it is, empty until populated by the native Indians who knows when back in time. The only modern history to pass its way was made by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid who had a gunfight here with the local police having bought a ranch nearby having fled North America. I could go on and on. The Argentinian hospitality. A level of service you had probably forgotten ever existed. The amazing fishing guides with special thanks to Frederico, Nacho and Mattia. The food. The local wine. The stars at night; no light pollution here. The wafting smell of barbequing lamb. The only thing I would avoid is the local matte a ceremonial tea that the guides drink morning, noon and night. It tasted to me like the essence of bonfire. They claim it is simply a super caffeinated hot drink though I suspect we were not being told the whole truth. But hey, coping with groups of less than perfect casters in Patagonian conditions probably requires some sort of special stimulant! If you want to check out the Tecka Lodge to travel independently visit their website or join an Orvis trip.

Clockwise: Drift boat day. How many guides does it take to choose a fly? Bank fishing day. Beautiful rainbow from the Monster Lake.

Tales from The Mill - third date added! You have bowled me over with your enthusiasm in anticipation of the publication of Tales from The Mill. Thank you! The first date here at The Mill sold out in a trice, with the second not far behind. So, I am delighted to be able to add a third on Monday 8th June with a special tour of The Mill and book signing. The event runs from 11 - 2pm and tickets cost £25 which includes:  A special signed copy of Tales from The Mill The rare opportunity to tour parts of the historic mill and surrounding water meadows Chance to feed the fish Book readings and Q&As A glass of English sparkling and a light lunch served by the water Whether you’ve heard about the Mill, fished its pristine waters, or are discovering it for the very first time, come and enjoy the many tales to be told! Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment. Event dates: Friday 5th June 2026 : Sold out Monday 8th June 2026: Buy your ticket here Friday 12th June 2026: Sold out Tales from The Mill is now available to pre-order at an early discounted rate via the Fishing Breaks website. Books will arrive with you 19th March. Pre-order your copy of Tales from The Mill here

Good. Better. Best  As an ex-bookie I love data, so it has been fascinating to translate your feedback into a statistical analysis that allows me, and more importantly you, to apply star ratings to our fisheries. You will know that for many years you have kindly taken the time to supply your comments on the fishing and our service to which, two years ago we added a rating question, inviting you to rate your day on a scale of 1 to 5. Some might argue this is a crude measure, but customers have a right to know the experience of others distilled into a readily understandable metric. Of course, not everyone likes it. I have lost one fishery because the owners did not like the truth and it exposed some repeated egregious behaviour by the river keeper, but such is life. Three beats achieve an overall perfect 5/5 With two seasons under our belt, I believe we now have enough data to provide star ratings for nearly everything we do. In summary, there is a rating for 2024 and 2025 with the combined rating for those two years prominently displayed by the entry for each fishery, course and cottage on the web site. If you want to do a deeper dive the results are displayed in table form here. You may sort them high to low or examine whether a fishery is improving or worsening year on year. As ever, all data comes with a health warning. Sometimes the sample is very small or skewed by exceptional events, such as the record wet April/May of 2024. But with more ratings over a longer time those jagged edges should disappear and I think we are all wise enough to recognize some of the pitfalls of being too literal.  In time I will add a more extensive data table to the web site but in the meantime I hope you find the Star Ratings a useful tool when exploring where to fish and, as ever, I will welcome any further thoughts you might have to improve the information we deliver to you. Let it rain, let it rain …. OK, stop! As you well know St Valentine’s Day is something of a watershed for chalkstream river keepers. On this day they will know, to a fraction of an inch, the state of their rivers six months hence. For it is the winter rains that are crucial for recharging the aquifers that will supply the river through the summer and autumn. That is not to say that later rains are not useful or unwelcome, but they are not pivotal as is the precipitation in the months October-February which is why last year, with one of the driest January’s on record we struggled on the headwaters and smaller chalkstreams once we hit high summer. I hardly need inform you that this January is a complete inversion of last; a look out the window tells the tale with rainfall nearly twice the January norm in the southern region and four times that of 2025 with a similar tale across all the chalkstream regions. So, if you see a river keeper with a smile of his face tomorrow it could be just be for the love of rain! Wallop Brook pretending to be a river A History of Fly Fishing in 50 Innovations. No. 4: Waders Waders? They are such a staple of fishing it is hard to imagine that they never existed but actually the first commercial production of rubber waders by the Hogson River Company of America in the 1850’s more or less coincided with the growth of recreational fishing. Nobody seems to have much of a good word for the Hodgson waders which were heavy and prone to leaking but they were, at least, an improvement on leather waders. For the most part it seems that these early iterations were thigh boots, production reaching a peak during WW1 when they were standard British army issue to the troops fighting in the trenches.

WW1 packhorse laden with rubber waders

It was between the two World Wars that chest waders, as rubber technology improved, became available with the next leap forward coming in the 1950’s as synthetic materials, neoprene in particular, revolutionized wading gear as they became lighter and more durable. However, the fundamental problem with neoprene was that, though it was a great insulator in cold water, in anything else it treated its wearer like a slowly boiling frog. But along came Simms in the 1980’s, adopting Gore-Tex, a material waterproof yet breathable, which has now become the industry standard. Since then, the greatest advances have been in boot technology. There was a time when wading boots closely resembled the footwear of Herman Munster, even the shortest walk painful and blister inducing. However, today boots are more akin to walking trainers, comfortable enough to be worn all day over many miles of varying terrain.

Your nominations so far, in no particular order. New additions in blue. Do keep them coming! simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk

People F M Halford Ernest Hemingway Lefty Kreh George Selwyn Marryat Frank Sawyer GEM Skues Izaak Walton Lee Wulff Dame Juliana Berners Literature Stillwater Fly Fishing by TC Ivens (1952) Fly Fisher's Entomology Ronalds(1836) Harfield Edmonds  Norman Lee Arthur Ransome A Summer on The Test - JW Hills Nymph Fishing in Practice - Oliver Kite Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing - Bernard Venables Flies Floating flies Wet flies & lures Saltwater flies

Gear Eyed hooks Floatant Fly lines Fly rods Forceps Greased line Nets Polarized sunglasses Reels Rods & rod rings Tippet material & X rating for diameter Tippet ring Weighing scales Waders General Stocking of fish Internet Cheap air travel

Quiz The usual random collection of questions this week inspired by the date and the Newsletter topics. 1)     Which British boy band announced their breakup on this day in 1996? 2)     When was the first Winter Olympics held? A) 1904 B) 1914  C) 1924 3)     If you suffered from chionophobia of what would you have an the intense or irrational fear? The answers are below.

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

Check & book dates here

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

1)     Take That 2)     1924 3)     Snow and ice

In search of monster trout

 

Dear Simon, Well, after 18 months in the making the government finally published its White Paper on the water industry last week, A New Vision for Water. New? It really is not in most respects. Gone is regulator Ofwat but in its place we have yet another regulator with the water functions of the Environment Agency and Natural England bolted on. Nine new reservoirs are promised by 2050, a reheat of a promise first given in May last year. There are plenty of big numbers bandied about: a £104bn here or an £11bn there but these are all numbers previously agreed in 2025. There is the usual red meat of executive bonus banning and a salve to bills payers of increased compensation when things go wrong; twice very little is still very little in my opinion. Page 4 of the document tells us that it was printed on paper containing 40% recycled fibre. I am yet to find the page that says the White Paper contains 80% recycled policies, but you get the drift. So, what of the 20%?

Read the full White Paper here

It must be pretty clear to most that this administration cares little for farming and if farmers thought the U-turn on inheritance tax was a precursor to better things I advise that no farmer reads page 35 entitled, Addressing Agricultural Pollution. It leads with a stark statement, as quoted by a Green MP at Prime Minister’s Questions, that “agriculture remains a key source of water pollution – around 40% of river and groundwater pollution is due to agricultural practices.” The proposal is that there will be a stronger and clearer regulatory framework as to how farmers manage their land, soils and crops. In addition, the use of sewage sludge and cattle farming will be bought under the current Environmental Permitting Regime. The National Farmers Union are already, predictably, enraged but this is not a localised problem. An article in The New York Times, that coincidentally came out the same day as the White Paper, says that America’s factory farms generate nearly a trillion pounds of manure every year (four times more than people) with no legal requirement for farmers to treat the waste before it is released into the environment. The situation is exacerbated by the powerful lobbying interests of agriculture, subsidies that encourage factory farming and legislation that gives farmers opt outs that allows for polluting at will. It is not so different here as anyone who has followed the growth of the chicken farms in the Wye Valley will attend. In creating a super regulator, I do sincerely feel an opportunity has been missed. Ofwat was a failure not because it lacked scope or power but because it was trying to juggle conflicting interests with its hands tied behind its back due to the terms of reference issued to it by successive governments. Essentially over four decades political parties of all hues demanded that Ofwat deliver cheap water by restricting the amount the water companies were able to spend on infrastructure whilst ignoring, until very recently, the environmental cost of doing nothing. Now I know it is not a popular view but the water companies, denied the traditional route for a return on investment i.e. improve your product and charge accordingly, resorted to ever more wacky financial shenanigans. I do not see that the new regulator will do anything to change this inherent conflict of interest. It would have been far better to create two regulators; I know it seems unlikely that two quangos might be better than one, but let me explain. The first, a Pure Water Authority (PWA) and the senior of the two, would have the sole duty to monitor and enforce water quality regardless of the vested interests of water companies or government price fixing. The other regulator would do everything else but would be answerable to the PWA for the impact its decisions have on water quality. It is regulatory conflict and competition of this nature that is required to drive up water quality for all our rivers, lakes and seas. Sadly, dumping the water functions of the Environment Agency and Natural England into the lap of a new style Ofwat will not achieve this.

In search of monster trout As you read this, I will just be touching down in Buenos Aires enroute to my first ever trip to South America in search on the fabled monster trout that are said to inhabit the rivers of Patagonia, fed by the snow melt of the Andes. It is something of a trek; there are no direct UK flights to Argentina, I guess a Falklands War byproduct, so it is a one day layover in the capital followed by an internal flight of three hours and a two hour drive to the lodge in the Chubut Province which we will arrive at late Saturday. Packing light?! I am not entirely sure what to expect – the packing list includes amongst other things 10lb tippet and a #7 rod with a sinking line. It is now summer in the southern hemisphere with Patagonia averaging in the high 60s to low 70s°F. However, it has a reputation for being persistently windy, even in summer. Judging by the fly list with patterns such as ants and beetles, plus the opportunity for drift boat fishing, suggest it will have similarities to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming but I am pleased to see the legacy of Frank Sawyer straddles the globe, with his Pheasant Tail nymph a recommended pattern for the small creeks. As for the fish it is trout of many colours, though none are truly native to these parts. Just for once it was not the British who populated the Argentinian rivers with brook, brown and rainbow trout, in addition to landlocked salmon, arriving in 1904 from North America. I will keep you posted!

Tales from The Mill coming soon It seems a lifetime ago, in the midst of the pandemic, that I published my last book but I am delighted to give you a sneak preview of the cover and an extract from my new book Tales from The Mill to be published in March. You may order a pre-publication copy here (save £5!) and also join me for the first official event to launch the book here at Nether Wallop Mill on Friday, 5 June. It will be a chance to look around The Mill in its summer pomp, listen to a brief talk from me, see the working mill wheel, the water meadows and, of course, the home of our many otters. Doubtful they will put in an appearance, but we can always hope! The event runs 11am-2pm with a glass of Black Chalk sparkling wine, light lunch and a signed copy of the book included. Tickets are limited so book now via our Eventbrite link. Closer to publication day Tales from The Mill will be available from Amazon, Waterstones and all bookshops but for now order direct. "Spring is a gathering of all that is wonderful in the English countryside. It’s the moment when, after months of the desolated, monochrome landscape, Mother Nature breaks out her colour palette to bring life, hope and joy to every living creature and thing. Suddenly trees, for so long bleak sentinels along the valley ridge, show a hint of green. Small creatures, lured out from semi-hibernation by the midday warmth, scurry heard but unseen among the stiff, dead grasses alongside the Brook. Birds start to sing long and hard, to mark territory and call out for a mate. Ducks fight. Geese honk. Kingfishers whistle in flight. At night the eeks of otters echo up the valley. The foxes occasionally scream like damaged children but mostly steal silently by at night, keeping the rabbit population forever in equilibrium. The trout, largely dormant since the exertions of spawning around Christmas, start to show themselves, venturing from the dark recesses of the stream."  Summer at The Mill A History of Fly Fishing in 50 Innovations. No. 3: The Reel I am in two minds as to whether the reel requires inclusion in 50 Innovations. Yes, we all love reels. They can be things of great beauty, tactile and make the big bucks at antique angling auctions. Indeed, there can be few sweeter sounds in the world than the seductive first click of a Hardy Marquis as a salmon applies that unseen pressure to line, rod and then reel. But and it is a big but, reels are dispensable. You cannot fly fish without a hook, line or rod but you most certainly can fish without a reel. As the modern axis of world trade turns to China, it seems almost inevitable to note that the first reel was invented by the Chinese in 300 or 400AD with reels in British fishing first becoming the commonplace in the 1600’s. It was not for a further century or more until a specific reel for fly fishing came into being, the process to what we use today arriving in two stages.

The Hardy Perfect

Firstly, there was the Birmingham style reel so called as the city was the primary place of manufacture which were made from brass and had a spool that could not be removed from the main body of the reel. These held sway until, in 1891, after three years of development Hardy launched the Perfect reel that had a detachable spool, adjustable drag and a ball race built into the mechanism to make the reel run more freely. However, it must be said that the Perfect owes much of its ‘innovation’ to the modern reel patented in America by Charles F. Orvis in 1874. I think it is fair to say if today given an Orvis and Hardy reel of the late 19th century you would be able to fish quite adequately, Yes, we have the wide arbor, drag mechanisms are more sophisticated and modern alloys allow for lighter manufacture, but essentially the utility of those innovative reels remains undimmed but whether they deserve a place in the Hall of Innovation is up for discussion. Orvis 1874 Patent Reel

Your nominations so far, in no particular order. Do keep them coming! simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk

People F M Halford Ernest Hemingway Lefty Kreh George Selwyn Marryat Frank Sawyer GEM Skues Izaak Walton Literature Stillwater Fly Fishing by TC Ivens (1952) Fly Fisher's Entomology Ronalds(1836) Flies Floating flies Wet flies & lures Saltwater flies

Gear Eyed hooks Floatant Fly lines Fly rods Nets Polarized sunglasses Reels Rods & rod rings Tippet material & X rating for diameter Tippet ring Weighing scales Waders General Stocking of fish Internet

Quiz The usual random collection of questions this week inspired by the date and the Newsletter topics. 1)     Who was ritually executed on this day in 1661 despite already being dead for two years? 2)     In what year did the Falklands War take place? 3)    Frank Sawyer, inventor of the Pheasant Tail Nymph, was a river keeper for most of his adult life on which river? The answers are below.

Have a good weekend.  Best wishes,

Check & book dates here

Simon Cooper simon@fishingbreaks.co.uk Founder & Managing Directorwww.fishingbreaks.co.uk

1)     Oliver Cromwell 2)     1982 3)     River Avon in Wiltshire