Standing in a wind-blown lake full of large rainbow trout, I braced myself as another set of chest-high swells rolled in, tops foaming and spray flying. The wind had revved up again, gusting conservatively into the 50s, possibly more than 60 mph. The half-dozen anglers fishing the lake that afternoon stood with their backs to the blasts as spray and coarse sand from shore pelted hooded jackets and waders. The sound came as a whooshing staccato — rat a tat tat … rat a tat tat.
We were fishing in the sparse, dry rangelands of southern Argentine Patagonia, about 400 miles north of Tierra del Fuego, the ultimate end of the road. Our group of 12 had traveled well south to tussle with the largest rainbows on Earth in Lago Strobel, better known to anglers as Jurassic Lake.
How was the fishing? Choose any effusive superlative you like. They’re all accurate. The group took about a dozen trout over 20 pounds, maybe more. And at least two anglers caught more than 65 rainbows in a day — all more than 10 pounds.
Each of us hooked good numbers of trout in the 14- to 18-pound range — strong, beautiful fish with a penchant for acrobatics. This desert sink lake sits at 3,000 feet of elevation, and the fishing made for the trip of a lifetime, wind and all. Jurassic also offered that rare and valuable commodity of consistency.
On this gusty afternoon, the long processions of trout that headed toward the spawning river actually seemed energized by the blustery conditions. We quickly discovered that the wind and waves turned
