run brown trout of 22lbs. Yes twenty

About a month ago I received an email from trout guide Nick Hart. He was quite excited about a new job that he had just secured. Only this week I spoke to him at length about his job. Boy, what an opportunity he has awaiting him!On Thursday this week he sets out to fly to South America – to Argentina, eventually to head to Patagonia! Am I jealous? If you were close by you would be able to see the green colour of my cheeks! Nick is to work from the Bella Vista Lodge, where most of his time will be spent guiding on the Rio Gallegos River. If you are one of those anglers who has ever tuned in to watch any of the angling programmes on television, you may well have seen some shots of the Gallegos. The fishing there can be outrageous! I watched one afternoon when I was ill (I was even more ill after I had watched the programme), and saw a Scot catching a sea-run brown trout of 22lbs. Yes twenty-two pounds! Nick has to put up with that sort of fishing until April next year. You see why I am feeling rather envious.Of course it won’t all be fun. He is booked to work seven days a week, and there is 50 Km of the main river to get to learn about, never mind the 25 Km of the smaller Chico. However, what an opportunity it presents to a young man at the setting out stage of his career.When I chatted to him he gave me some pretty interesting facts. The rivers of South America contained no trout until the Brits moved in. The original stocking of brown trout came from two sources – Loch Leven (those trout get everywhere don’t they?) and the river Thames. They didn’t immediately appear to like the rivers as the Englishman responsible for the stocking couldn’t catch anything for quite some time. The fish had reverted to their inherent desire to run to sea, but when they returned to the rivers, they were considerably larger than the trout that our friend was expecting to catch!Nick tells me that the authorities in Patagonia have really settled onto a good thing with their trout fishing. Not for them the mass fish kill that we see in these islands. Oh no! Everything goes back, and barbless hooks are compulsory. Farsighted people the authorities over there. A natural resource is one to be cherished and nurtured, not run down and destroyed.Nick is out there for the duration of their trout season. I will keep in touch and maybe even include some articles on how he is getting on. He is working for “Frontiers” the travel company that does exciting trips – not just fishing – all over the world. You can check out their web-site on www.frontierstrvl.co.uk and see for yourself the amazing holidays on offer. Do make sure that you are sitting down when you look at the prices though!Tight lines,

Martin Cottis