Pira Lodge end of season report

The season before this one at Pira Lodge, was probably the best ever in terms of quantity of fish. Rainfalls came in perfect timing inviting huge schools of Dorado of 2 to 4 pounds to come into the Ibera and upper Corrientes river system. Then more rains came during the weeks in which fishing is not allowed in most parts of the basin, bringing more Dorado all the way upstream from the Paraná to stay in our area. 

By the end of that season, 6 to 8 pounders were quite common and, as we had expected and predicted most of those fish remained in the area until the season that has just past, only that obviously they had grown up. That explained the reason why the numbers of fish in the 7 to 10 pound range that we saw this past season 08-09 was incredible. There were many in the 11 to 14 pounds range too with the biggest of the season weighting 19 lbs!!! 

We saw bigger Dorado too. Some of them for sure weighted more than 25 pounds and all of us saw them, but we would have needed higher water level to go for them as low water makes them smart and spooky. However, the low water had its good points too. For one thing, it gave us the possibility to catch Dorado with delicate techniques and smaller flies, many times even surface flies. On the other hand, it also gave us good chances to see the fish moving before casting, which made the experience more exciting. In other words, the close to prefect fishing conditions, together with the fact that each season helps our guides develope a deeper knowledge of the fishery, turned season 08-09 into a big success both in number of catches and in sizes. 

By now, mid April, the water level has reached the lowest level in 9 years and surprisingly the fishing is still good, even if it’s not easy to access the beats. Fall always brings some rains, and if through the year we have enough water falling, next year should be as good as or even better in quality of fishing than this year. In fact, if this fish have enough water during the winter and decide to stay, next year we should have a very good population of Dorado in the 14 to 20 pounds range and some bigger ones too. Despite the low waters, it was a great season from the fishing point of view and, actually, in every way that concerns Pira Lodge as an operation. This was reflected in the great feedback we got from our guests and endless emails from them expressing their satisfaction. 

Last, but not least, this year was extremely interesting in terms of Bird watching too. Birding is very impressive in general in the Ibera system, but the abundance of different kinds of birds this year was so amazing that even guests that usually do not pay much attention to it were expressing how incredible this was. We highly recommend to our new guests and repeaters to bring a good pair of binoculars for the coming season. 

All the best, 
Noel Pollak 
Pira Lodge Manager