I don’t enjoy golfing. I’ll do it, if I’m with people I want to be with, but the thrill is lost on me. Last fall when my father booked a golfing trip to Scotland with my brother and brother-in-law he didn’t invite me. At first my feelings were a little hurt. Then I realized that he had paid me an enormous compliment. I don’t get to spend as much time with Dad as I would like, but we have a good relationship. We know each other, as adults and friends. He knew that if he had invited me I would have gone, just to be around him and my brothers, but that I would not have enjoyed the 36 holes a day that they were going to play, or the fact that that was all that they would be doing, that they would be hanging on a bus with a dozen or so other guys from his neighborhood that travel to golf together, eating in groups, staying in groups and skipping just about everything other than golf. They are hardcore that way and that’s cool. He just knew that the trip would be lost on me, so he left me out.
Then he told me he wanted me to pick a trip, for just us two, to do something that I love. I picked Patagonia and fly-fishing. It was on.
What followed was something that I will cherish until I die. Two weeks alone with my Dad, at a time when our ages paired perfectly. I’m a little older, he’s still young. For a little window in time we are the same age, traveling together in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language, doing it our way.
There would be no lodges, no luxury hotels. Just me, the old man, a crummy rental car loaded with gear and Patagonia.
The trip had two parts.
The first was a 4 day camping float down the Collon Cura river. Dad and I in a raft with a guide and another raft with the guide’s brother and the baggage. 4 days without encountering another human being. Without encountering even a trace of another human being. One night we heard a truck straining up a distant hill, one day at lunch I saw an old tractor tire half buried in the sediment of an old flood. That was it. W
Man, that was awesome. One of the best thread reports that I’ve ever read on any fishing forum from any website. Great story and pictures, thanks for sharing with us! Glad you and father got to know each other better. One day he will be gone but those memories will be with you forever.
Wow. Great pics and story. I saw your pics and post on another fly fishing forum and thought it was amazing the first time. Didnt see you were from SC.
That’s pretty awesome. Beautiful scenery and beautiful fish! I bet that wasone of the funnest thing you’ve ever done! What size fly rod were you throwing normally?
You are a (**() good photographer. Excellent story and photos. I particularly enjoyed the pics of the Pancoras. Did you tie any flies to replicate them? Reminded me of my trip down to Chilean Patagonia 8 months ago. One river was full of them and we saw a big brown chomp one in very shallow water.
Calling my dad tomorrow and suggesting we go on a fishing trip.
Wow bro those pictures are amazing. Looks like you had a great time. Fly fishin Patagonia is on my bucket list. I already have the Yellowstone crossed off but I also wanna hit the Snake River as well.
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. -Wayne Gretsky
You are a (**() good photographer. Excellent story and photos. I particularly enjoyed the pics of the Pancoras. Did you tie any flies to replicate them? Reminded me of my trip down to Chilean Patagonia 8 months ago. One river was full of them and we saw a big brown chomp one in very shallow water.
Calling my dad tomorrow and suggesting we go on a fishing trip.
There is no normal life, there’s just life.
Tarpon 140
Knot the Reel World Fly Fishing LLC
I think I used some of your photos to tie up a few pancora flies. I did pretty well with them in the Collon Cura. On the Malleo I had a big rainbow follow one in but no eat. I posted the pattern on here somewhere
That’s pretty awesome. Beautiful scenery and beautiful fish! I bet that wasone of the funnest thing you’ve ever done! What size fly rod were you throwing normally?
On the Collon Cura it was mostly 8wts with 300 grain full sink likes and big streamers. It was very windy. When it wasn't blowing I used a 5wt with floating line for the dries and fished nymphs with a 6wt
