A First Person View (FPV) of casting on the Rio Grande watching the Sea Trout lunging and taking the fly near the surface. Fabulous action from right on the river. I go through the gear set up and describe my tactics for getting into some bright silver fish.
I’m going to demonstrate the effectiveness of two famous Rio Grande flies, the classic EMB and Girdle Bug flies. These have been tied by Rio Grande guide Miguel Zangla. These flies are used extensively on the Rio Grande and have proven over the years to be very effective patterns despite their apparent simple design.
Today, I am heading out from the Estancia Maria Behety lodge, to fish the Zeta Pool on the famous Rio Grande river. The terrain here on Tierra Del Fuego is just breathtaking, nowhere else on this earth presents such iconic views - it is just stunning.
The Zeta Pool is located in the lower section of the river and is a great holding pool for sea trout in the early part of the season. Conditions should be good as we are expecting low water today, but the wind will most likely be quite severe. As anyone who has fished the Rio Grande will know, this is not particularly unusual. On the positive side, the guides here know exactly how to fish the pools in these conditions, so the wind should be manageable.
I’m starting the pool fishing with an 8# rod, this is a Mackenzie Atlas 6-piece rod. The line is a Rio Skagit 550gr floating short head with a 15ft Rio clear versa tip. The fly is the classic EMB nymph; a deadly pattern born on this river!
The wind is pushing downstream and from the right, I’m going to use the snake roll cast in these conditions. This means that at no time will the line or fly be above me. In this wind I don’t want to take any chance of the fly being blown towards me.
I change over to a 9# with a long fast sinking tip and a Girdle Bug fly. I’ve had a few casts and I don’t think I’m engaging in the zone the fish are lying in. I can see them moving on the surface and I think I’m too deep and my fly is swinging underneath them. Federico agrees and we decide to change over to the 8# floating/intermediate set up but I stick with the Girdle Bug fly. The water is a bit darker than I’d like for the EMB and this Girdle Bug fly will stand out better.
I continue to cast using the snake roll, keeping the line downstream of me and keep the fly moving. It is definitely in the area where I think the fish are resting. They are going to be closer to the far bank, sitting high in the deeper water. I’m going to cast the fly close to the far bank, mend the line and let it swing to where the fish are showing. Hopefully they won’t be able to resist this very visual fly.
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