Hooked on Patagonia.

• Author: Buck, Daniel
• Position: Tourism and fishing in Patagonia

JORGE GRAZIOSI can't contain his enthusiasm. He's just kicked off his thirtieth year as a fly-fishing guide. Thirty years in paradise, Argentine Patagonia, where myriad glacial streams tumble down the Andes and curl through the windy foothills. And fishing is better than ever.

In the late 1960s, Graziosi, the Bariloche-based operator of Safaris Acuaticos, prowled the waters of northern Patagonia, working such hallowed trout streams as the Chimehuin and the Caleuffi. Just over a decade ago, he began taking his clients further south, to the area around Cholila and Esquel in Chubut's Andean foothills. More recently, he expanded to the remote, scattered streams and lakes in the Pico River area up along the Chilean border, and then even further south to Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego.

The Rivadavia River, near Cholila in western Chubut, is "the jewel river in Argentina," Graziosi says, where you can "dry fly, nymph, and streamer fish all in the same day." A second of his favorites is the glassy Arroyo Pescado, outside of Esquel. He guarantees that "the scenery will remind you of Silver Creek in Idaho, but the fish are not so intelligent: they will take dry flies tied by humans."

Another outfitter with many years experience shepherding anglers to Argentine Patagonia is Frontiers, headquartered in Wexford, Pennsylvania. Frontiers' Doug Larsen says that "we've seen a steady growth, maybe 5 percent a year over the past five years." Most of Frontiers' clients are from the United States, while some come from Europe. He attributes increased foreign anglers' enthusiasm for Patagonia's waters to several factors. First, international air service to Argentina and national service within the country have expanded dramatically, making Patagonia much more accessible to sportfishers from abroad...