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Fishing Tackle
Argentina golden dorado – Part 1 : Fly fishing for golden dorado at La Zona
24 April 2009
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Around the imposing Salto Grande dam on the Uruguay river there lurk the largest golden dorado in the world, and this is the one place where fly fishermen have a legitimate shot at landing one of the beasts. Arguably Argentina’s most famous freshwater fish (yes, I know all about the massive sea trout), the golden dorado is an insanely aggressive and powerful fish that usually leaps clear of the water when hooked. Here, fly fisherman Gordon Richmond is doing all he can to subdue a good fish that he hooked close to some rocks just below the dam. This hugely special place is known as La Zona.
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Don’t come near La Zona unless you have got the gear that can take the pain. This is freshwater fishing that is simply off the scale, and the fish and the conditions will use and abuse your fishing tackle for the four days you can fish the place. You’ll need at least #9 or #10 fly outfits and a variety of floating, intermediate and fast sinking lines. Wind that drag down tight and fight these mad fish as hard as you dare, for they will take everything you throw at them and often do no more than spit a mangled fly right back at your feet.
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Where you actually fish around La Zona depends very much on the water levels. Here Gordon Richmond is blind casting big flies through some inviting looking current seams, and then stripping steadily back to the boat. Just after this photo was taken we were subjected to an incredibly intense tropical rainstorm, but the fish kept on feeding. The trick is to place your casts exactly where your guide advises you – in front of the rock, and then behind it. These golden dorado like to hang very tight to structure.
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Take one look at those teeth and you will understand why a short wire biting trace to the fly is absolutely essential. I have rarely seen such outrageous levels of aggression in freshwater species, indeed I was constantly reminded of jacks and GTs when looking at these golden dorado corralling bait fish and smashing into them. Setting a fly into that mouth takes some serious strip striking, and even then these fish will often throw the hook. But when it goes home into a big fish, hold on tight, for the fight is truly explosive. Grown men are left as mere quivering wrecks, me included.
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Gordon Richmond proudly grasps nearly 20lbs of prime Argentinean gold for my camera. Note how his front hand stays well away from those jaws !! If you caught a fish this size from the famous Iberia marshlands of the Corrientes province in Argentina then you would be toasting the thing for a week, but here at La Zona this is the norm. Dorado to 55lbs have been landed on the fly, and there are bigger fish there. I put this fly fishing up there on the “must do” list, and the great thing is that sport fishing is tightly regulated around La Zona – only four fishermen are allowed in to fish the place for four days in a week. Catch and release is mandatory.
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There is nothing remotely subtle about nailing big golden dorado on the fly, but that is what makes it so special. If you put big profiled flies in the right areas, then you are in with a strong chance of hooking a good fish. Make sure to tie any fly on the strongest, sharpest 1/0 and 2/0 hooks you can find. Our guides very much likes blacks, greens and blues, either as poppers and crease flies for surface fishing on floating lines, or as weighted flies for using with fast sinking lines through the deeper water.