Thursday, Lac Tromen, Lanin National Park

Thursday, November 20, 2008
Lac Tromen in Lanin National Park

Today we fished Lac Tromen, a large lake at the foot of the volcano Lanin, right on the border with Chile (67 km from Junin). Spectacular country with the +10,000 ft snowcapped peak of the volcano (long dormant) dominating most vistas. When we arrived at the foot of the volcano, we were surprised to find the road to the lake (a dirt trail really) closed as a grader was working on it. Gustavo spoke to the people in the park office and was told the grader should be finished by noon, so he and I walked in to fish from the shoreline, while his driver Jose waited for the road to reopen. It was a pleasant 3 km walk through quite dense mixed forest of native evergreen, with lots of bamboo in the undergrowth. We met the grader about 2/3 of the way along… he seemed to be doing more harm than good to the road.

Lac Tromen is known for big rainbow, browns and brookies, but also known for wind, lots of wind. Today was calm in Junin and we had high hopes for similar conditions at the lake. But even as we got out of the truck at the park headquarters, the trees began to dance. By the time we reached the lake, it was blowing pretty good, perhaps 18-20km/hr. I caught a nice rainbow right where a small stream entered the lake. But as we fished our way along the shoreline, the wind became a real headache. We were about to give in to it when we noticed that Jose had driven into the parking lot. In spite of the growing wind and waves, Gustavo was happy to launch the raft and head out to fish the shoreline in the opposite direction, where there was some protection from the blow.

We fished perhaps a km along the shoreline into the wind, using the #5 and my Teeny 300 line to get down… we were fishing right along the edge of the drop-off that varied from 10 to 50 m from the shore. We fished until we hit a point beyond which we would be completely exposed to the wind which had continued to build in strength and must have been gusting to +30 knots. In an hour and a half or so, I landed 10 – 12 rainbow, all 3+ lbs, the biggest perhaps 5.5. Nice bright fish and strong. Gustavo was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get either browns or brookies, but me not so much… The ‘bows were all quality hard-fighting fish with several great leapers.

We surfed our way back to the pullout in record time, not really fishing at all. We enjoyed a nice lunch on the beach in a sunny but sheltered area, folding camp chairs and table, empanadas, roast chicken, cheese, beer… very nice indeed. I told Gustavo I’d caught enough fish for today and given the conditions, he reluctantly agreed. So we packed up and headed home about 4:30. Siesta time for me!

Tomorrow we’re scheduled to fish the Rio Chimehuin (Chimmywin), a crystal-clear stream that passes right by the outskirts of Junin, though we will fish downstream from there. This is a smaller stream but apparently has lots of good fish. We’ll soon see.