and twisted over sharp volcanic rock.
The lodge vehicles go through a set of
tyres every four months.
On the first day the guides took us
to a small set of lakes to warm up on
rainbow and brown trout, and the 10
lodge guests all caught a string of fish in
the 2-3kg range. It turns out the guides
also use the outing to gauge your casting
and fishing ability before taking you to
the main gig.
The second day it was down to
serious business, and it wasn’t long
after breakfast before Dave and I stood
on the top of Jurassic Lake crater,
marvelling at the harsh scenery and the
size of the lake. Lake Strobel is revered
as the most prolific rainbow trout
fishery on Earth. It is a crystal clear,
natural still water with a 25-kilometre
shoreline. Winds regularly hit 100 kph
that trigger ocean-sized swells.
In the past decade the introduced
rainbows have quickly reached bragging
size, gorging themselves on a staggering
population of freshwater scuds. The
Lodge says trout in the 6-12 pound
category are simply average, and fish
in excess of 20 pounds are seen on
a regular basis (seen, but only rarely
landed, as we were to find out!).
The weather was perfect, with light
winds and good sunlight to see into the
water, and Dave and I both had a superb
20-fish day. We both lost a number of
double figure rainbows to the rocky
bottom or had hooks pull out. I was
using an 8 weight Sage rod and Orvis
Mirage reel, with fish regularly taking a
serious length of backing against a firm
drag. Even my guide turned to me after
one heart-breaking hook pull to declare
I’d lost a monster. The sheer power of
the rainbows eclipsed any trout we’d
hooked before. They were so big and fat,
they struggled to carry out proper jumps
as they tried to break free.
Jurassic is fed by the Barrancoso
River, and Dave put on a clinic the next
day as he used his Czech nymphing
The author with a typical rainbow from Jurassic LakeDave Bennett took this big rainbow
from the Barrancoso RiveruoS
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