It’s Official

It's Official

After two years of severe drought and unprecedented conditions across northeastern Argentina, which created some challenges and puzzles to find the best Golden Dorado fishing, water conditions have now recovered. Since October of 2022 the entire Parana River system has returned to normal levels and forecasts indicate that it will have abundant water for the next couple of years.

Our gem of pristine and untouched dorado habitat, the Ibera Wetlands, could not be fished during the hot summer months but is finally being refreshed with generous rainfall, and the winter months will hopefully bring the wetlands back to normality as well.

In order to offer another alternative for our guests, we accelerated the launch of our third Golden Dorado destination, Jetu’u Cabaña de Esteros. This allowed the flexibility to continue fishing two distinct destinations during our weekly combo trips, and do it from the same lodge. Going forward, we will have three destinations within easy reach to ensure the finest fishing possible.

From the Isoro Wetlands we can access a variety of intimate fishing locations: countless creeks, lagoons, and spillways that have been filtered to clear water by the vast marshlands. This system is formed from spill-over water from the middle Parana River that regularly floods over 350 square miles of interconnected channels and creeks. These smaller waters offer fishermen an opportunity to connect with higher numbers of small to medium-size dorado, as well as other species like palometas, lachas, dientudos reales, chafalotes (vampire fish). It’s an ideal environment to use a #6 weight fly rod and lighter flies to introduce first-time dorado anglers to the species … the ultimate Golden Dorado Fly Fishing School.

The middle section of the Parana River has a very dense population of medium-size dorado, ranging from 10 to 18 pounds, and is renowned as the place to target a much larger trophy. Fly fishermen can count on a wide array of fish-holding structure from the edge of the jungle with fallen trees, cut banks, islands, points, and natural sandbars. And from our lodge we can navigate far upstream to Goya or downstream to Esquina to ensure tranquility and reduced boat traffic.

As we look to the future, our Golden Dorado combo trip will be able to adapt to different fishing desires with a unique combination of two destinations from three distinct watersheds. Those who prefer smaller intimate water can enjoy a combination of the Ibera and Isoro Wetlands, and those who want a shot at a trophy dorado may combine our Itati Lodge on the banks of the Parana with either of the wetlands locations. We are happy to provide you with multiple options, and look forward to introducing you to our newest destination at Jetu’u.

Please take a look at our programs and call to lock in your preferred dates. We look forward to making your Golden Dorado dreams come true in the coming season!

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I’ve enjoyed watching these incredible fish as they live, feed, and survive, in various types of fisheries and waterways. But only a few times in all of these years, and only in the farthest reaches of the Upper Parana River, was I lucky enough to witness the unparalleled drama of the Dorado spawning.

The primary prey fish of the Golden Dorado is the Sabalo, a medium sized schooling fish that often weighs between 3 and 5 pounds, which requires a bit of strategy along with opportunity.

These adventures are commonly reviewed as the highlight of the trip and more often we have requests from repeat anglers to do more adventure venues, which has been the motor for us to constantly seek for the next one to find.