Golden Fish and Bird Filled Skies over Argentina
In March of this year, 2022, my son Mason and I made a trip to Argentina for high volume dove shooting and fishing for Golden Dorado. It was a great father son trip and a great bonding experience. We started out on an overnight flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. We were fortunate enough to fly Delta One where we were able to get a good night’s sleep on the plane and arrive in Buenos Aires around 9 am the next morning. We were greeted by our driver, Diego, who took us to our hotel where we could freshen up prior to an afternoon of sightseeing in BA. After we settled in and had showers we met back up with Diego and Martina who took us on a tour of the city. We started out at an Old Catholic Church and a graveyard that dated back to the 1700’s. It was an interesting tour; Martina took us to all the interesting places in the city and we went to a section that had cafés where we watched couples performing the Tango. We stopped along the Rio de la Plata and had a couple of beers and lunch in an open-air café. We went to an interesting tack shop where we bought some souvenirs. After our tour Mason and I had a nice diner at a fine BA restaurant where we had an excellent bottle of Malbec and a steak dinner.
Early the next morning we caught a flight to Santa Fe where a car picked us up to take us to Entre Rios where the Los Laurels Lodge is located near the Parana River. We were greeted by Aldo, the lodge manager and showed to our rooms. The lodge is very nice, with tile roof and a large, covered veranda in the back. It is a five-star facility with six bedrooms, a spacious sitting room with a fireplace, bar, dining room and an adjoining grill area with a swimming pool. There were two other groups staying at the lodge with us. One other father and son as well as a family that included son, daughter along with their spouses, the father, and a family friend. All the company got along well, and we had much laughter and fun each evening around the dining room table and on the veranda telling stories about our adventures.
The first day we arrived around 11 am and we went straight to the field to get in some shooting before lunch. We only went out for a couple of hours, and I shot 72 birds and Mason shot 90. The flights were constant. We were shooting semi-automatic Benelli shotguns in 20 gauge. Each of us had our own bird boy. Mine was Nino and Mason had Ezequel. Nino and Ezequel served as our guides the entire week for hunting and fishing and were a pleasure to be around and we all became friends throughout the course of the adventure. We went back in after a few hours to have some lunch then went back out in the afternoon. That afternoon Mason shot 276 birds and I shot 141. It is something to experience. I have never seen anything like it. The birds fly nonstop, and we shoot constantly the entire time. Our bird boys sat behind us with cases of shells and as we emptied our shell bags as they leaned forward in their chairs and filled up our bags with new shells. After we completed the shooting Nino and Ezequel policed up the spent shells and retrieved the down birds. I believe we shot more doves that first day than we have shot in the last 10 dove seasons back home. By the end of the day both Mason and I had our fill of shooting for a while, and we were ready to go fishing.
After shooting in the afternoon of the fist day we went back to the lodge and had appetizers and cocktails on the veranda while they prepared the evening meal. We had an excellent meal with superb wine then went to bed to rest up for the next day’s adventure.
The next morning, we went fishing in the Panara River. We did not have high expectations because the area had been experiencing a bad drought and the river was at record low levels which was not conducive for good fishing. We were told that only one small Golden Dorado had been caught this season. We tried a few spots on the main river, the river was very muddy, and the current was fast, the fishing was difficult. After we tried several spots we moved down river and found the mouth of a creek that fed into the main river and went up into that channel. We went a few miles up this creek to a place where it split and fished the little delta there at the split. Right away we started catching Parana and that was lot of fun. There were big Parana and many of them had a shiny, sparkly skin and yellow bellies. Mason also caught a large dog fish which is a long, skinny, silver fish with a long jaw and rows of big sharp teeth. We also had some excitement as Mason was able to hook two Dorados of nice size; however, they jumped in the air and slung the plug out of their mouths. We were to find that the Dorado is not an easy fish to catch. You must double tap them hard and set the hook because they have hard mouths and they will do quite a bit of acrobatics, jumping out of the water and shaking their heads and if you do not set the hook properly they will shake it loose. Around midday we went back to the boat landing to be picked up for lunch and a siesta. In the afternoon we went back out and went straight out to the little honey hole spot we had found in the creek. Right away we started catching Parana again. After we caught several of these we went up the creek further up the left channel. We fished up the bank for a while then we came back down toward the split. As we were nearing where the creek came back to one channel we had let our lines out to troll as the boat moved slowly back down the creek. I noticed that Mason was holding the rod loosely and at the end and was not paying it much attention. I do not think he expected anything to happen. I looked back at him and said “son, hold on to that rod, if a Dorado hits that plug it will jerk that rig right out of your hand the way you are holding it", and no sooner than I said that and he had adjusted his grip, a large Dorado hit his line and the fight was on. This time Mason was able to get a proper hook set, and he fought this fish well and was able to get it landed. That was a proud moment, and we had a good time taking pictures and high fiving with Nino and Ezequel.
We had several more days of fishing and hunting. We concentrated more on the fishing as we both enjoyed the time spent on the river, watching the bird life, and enjoying the company of Nino and Ezequel. We hooked several more Dorado that gave us some excitement, however, shook the plugs loose. Mason was able to land two more nice Dorado over the next couple of days which was a big accomplishment as it was such a difficult season. We also participated in a couple more bird shoots, between the two of us we shot a total of 1300 birds and shot 1900 shells. In summary it was a pleasant trip and I want to go back to Los Laureles again to try the duck and perdiz shooting as well as the fishing when the river is back up to normal levels. Ever since we have returned Mason tells me every week about how much he misses Argentina. We will make it back there again sometime.