Argentina
Lago Strobel
A plateau lake where rainbow trout grew to record sizes, its existence a secret for decades.
Lago Strobel in Santa Cruz Province sits on a basalt plateau at 1,000 metres in the middle of the Patagonian steppe, and the rainbow trout it contains have grown to sizes that are not supposed to occur in nature — fish exceeding 15 kilograms have been caught in its waters, fish whose existence in this lake has no fully accepted scientific explanation. Fly-fishing guides who have worked Patagonia's premier rivers — the Futaleufú, the Limay, the Chimehuin — describe Strobel as unlike any other water they have fished. The lake is 70 kilometres from the nearest settlement.
Lago Strobel, accessible from the Bajo Caracoles area of Santa Cruz Province, is a closed-basin lake on the basalt plateau at approximately 1,000 metres altitude, fed by groundwater percolating through the basalt rather than by river inflow — a hydrology that produces exceptional water clarity and a consistent alkaline pH that supports the explosive trout growth documented since the lake's fishery was established in the 1990s. The lake's rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) reach sizes uncommonly large for the species — individuals over 15kg are regularly caught, and the lake average is several times the equivalent for the Patagonian rivers below. Access is via the Ruta 40 to a signed turn-off followed by an unsealed road, and lodges operate on the lake shore from November to April. The lake has been recognised by Fly Fisherman magazine and Field & Stream as among the world's top five trout fishing destinations.
Solo
Lago Strobel's reputation is specific enough to attract solo anglers from Iceland, New Zealand, and Montana who arrive with a single purpose and leave having caught something that no other fishery in the world reliably produces. The lake's remoteness and the basalt plateau setting are incidental to the fish, but not to the experience of fishing for them.
Friends
A group of fly fishers spending three or four days at Lago Strobel — the wind, the altitude, the size of the fish, and the complete absence of any other reason to be on this plateau — is the kind of trip that the fishing press covers and that participants recount for the rest of their angling lives.
- Rainbow trout here average 6–8kg — the world fly-fishing record for rainbow trout (16.3kg) was set here in 2009.
- Access requires a 4-hour 4WD drive from Gobernador Gregores on seasonal dirt roads — no public transport exists.
- Three lodges operate with strict catch-and-release policy and a maximum of 12 rods on the water at once.
- The plateau wind is constant — weighted fly lines and two-handed casting are required for every session.
Freshly caught rainbow trout cooked streamside, the fish fat and firm from the cold plateau water.
Simple lodge meals of lamb stew and homemade bread between fishing sessions.
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