RIO PICO / RIO LAS PAMPAS

Total Length: 37 miles

We Fish: apx.2-3 miles

Dec/Jan Flow: 1500 CFS

Name: named after Octavio Pico (1836-92), an engineer who helped with the collaboration of the Argentina and Chilean limits.

The Rio Pico is one of those places you'll dream about long after you've returned home. You'll definitely want to bring a camera along on this photogenic outing. It is a perfect river for wading and the tributaries that feed into the Rio Pico will knock your socks off. A beautiful 20 minute walk is required to access these waters, with nobody else but a gaucho passing by.

The Rio Pico (and the spring creek that feeds it) are great streams to wrap up a week of fishing. The spring creeks present some challenging opportunities to catch big trout, both browns and rainbows. You'll enjoy fishing for some of the most beautiful browns in the world, not to mention the view, which undoubtedly belongs to Patagonia. You'll appreciate the fact that the spring creek is out of the wind and you'll love the added challenge of keeping your hooked monster out of the willows. Don't even think about using less than 2X tippet, (that is unless you don't mind crying in front your guide).

The countryside is especially striking with the backbone of the Andes right in front of you, rising up five to six thousand feet from the high hills of Rio Pico. The Rio Pico river meanders through a forest here and access is via a large Estancia where the sheep keep the grass trimmed to no more than a couple of inches. The first of the tributaries is a full-blown spring creek with double the water volume than the famous Arroyo Pescado and some truly huge trout!

This stream, which remains nameless, will cap your trip if you enjoy challenging fly fishing scenarios. The spring creek flows through the willows, with limbs extending right to the water, then fifty yards farther, it emerges into an open space with many deep weed-lined channels where the fish will just sink out of sight once they spot you. Combine the nasty wind with overgrown willows and cane patches that resembled miniture bamboo overhanging the water and you have some challenging fly fishing for sure.