Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Anglers Journal

    OVER THE RAINBOW

    Oct 20, 2020 8 minutes
    STORY AND PHOTOS BY PAT FORD

    I had just stepped off the de Havilland Twin Otter that brought us from Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina, to Jurassic Lake Lodge’s private landing strip when my hat blew off. It landed about 30 feet away, and a guest who was leaving the lodge snatched it up and returned it with a smile.

    The smile was a premonition of the week to come. I was about to experience an otherworldly rainbow trout fishery, but I first had to make friends with the wind.

    I’d known of Jurassic Lake for many years. Its actual name is Lago (Lake) Strobel, and it’s in southern Argentina, about a six-hour drive from El Calafate, the nearest point of civilization. The landscape surrounding the lake is pretty much what one would expect to see on Mars: rough, dry and lifeless. Occasionally, we saw a rabbit or fox or guanaco, but there was very little life except for birds. Lago Strobel is fed by the Río Barrancoso, and there is no outflow. It’s in the middle of nowhere.

    In the early ’90s, the land owner decided that the ponds around the lake would be a great place to raise and harvest rainbow trout. Steelhead from the Santa Cruz River and McCloud River rainbow eggs were dumped into the ponds and river, and

    You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

    More from Anglers Journal

    Anglers Journal3 min read
    Fishing for All
    “YOU SHOULD’VE SEEN YOUR FACE when Cooper was reeling in that grouper,” said my longtime friend Tony DiGiulian. “You were so happy. That smile was priceless.” My son Cooper, who is 9, was diagnosed with Trisomy 21, or Down syndrome, while my wife was
    Anglers Journal2 min read
    End Of An Era
    The timeworn fish weir on the East Branch of the Delaware River may have trapped its last eel. The stone-and-wood structure in Hancock, New York, has been operated for decades by Ray Turner, whom locals refer to as “The Eel Man.” Turner also runs Del
    Anglers Journal8 min read
    Deep Into the Night
    I’M EARLY, AND THE RAMP IS PACKED with trucks, trailers and boats — a buzzing hive of activity. And like a nest of wasps, there is a hostility to it. Honking, yelling, profanity. Anglers jump the line, cause traffic jams and incite “ramp rage,” a clo

    Related Books & Audiobooks