It is the first question people ask me, before flies, before rods. Here is an honest answer, built on the trips I put together in northern Neuquén year after year.
The short answer
Plan on ten days in Argentina, with seven or eight of them spent fishing. That format lets the trip breathe: time to shake off the flight, to read the rivers, to get your day of grace. Below six fishing days, the travel-to-fishing ratio turns sour. Above that, up to twelve guided days, you enter the deep version of the trip, the one where nobody counts anymore.
About the journey itself
Europe to Buenos Aires runs around fourteen hours in the air. Then comes a domestic flight to Neuquén and five hours of road towards the north of the province, where the Patagonia Trashumante team takes over. Two days of travel out, two days back. Which is exactly why a very short stay makes no sense: you do not cross the Atlantic for three days of fishing.
The right calendar
The season runs from November to late April. The heart of it is December through late March. If you are the versatile kind, streamer, spey (see the gear guide for Patagonia), the fishing stays excellent on the edges of the season, with even fewer people around. One thing European anglers tend to forget: the time difference is small, four to five hours depending on the date. You recover fast, and the first fishing day is not a write-off.
What the length changes
Six fishing days: a fine trip, focused on two or three valleys. Seven or eight: what I would call the standard formula, with true roaming between rivers, lakes and big-trout water, and enough slack to sit out a windy day. Ten to twelve: the long version, for anglers who want to see different landscapes and different rivers, including water nobody fishes. The trip is itinerant, hotels, cabañas, sometimes a night in camp on field beds, and the programme adapts to the group, three to six rods. Tailor-made stays are possible on request: length, group size, other destinations.
Frequently asked questions
- How many fishing days at a minimum?
- Six. Below that, the trip is mostly transport. Seven or eight days remain a good base.
- Can you fish on arrival?
- Yes and no. The small time difference makes it easy, and fishing usually starts the day after pick-up in Neuquén, but it depends on arrival flight times and on where we start the trip given the weather.
- When is the best time to go?
- December to late March for the heart of the season; November and April offer fine windows to versatile anglers.
To size your own trip properly, start here: the northern Neuquén trip, rates, and let’s talk it through.
Baptiste Conquet
State-certified fly fishing guide and instructor. I guide in Aveyron and Lozère, and design fishing trips to Argentine Patagonia, Jurassic Lake and the golden dorado waters.
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