Patagonian Steel

In 1834 the naturalist Charles Darwin explored the Santa Cruz river in Southern Patagonia, working upstream from the coast. He wasn’t much taken with what he found. About the river he wrote:

The curse of sterility is on the land, and the water flowing over a bed of pebbles partakes of the same curse. Hence the number of waterfowl is very scanty; for there is nothing to support life in the stream of this barren river.

And with this in mind we went to Patagonia. It’s an incredible place to explore and luckily (and surprisingly) there’s a very healthy run of steelhead in this arid place. We were happy to partner with Sage Fly Fishing to tell a story for their Swing Season 2020.

From Sage Fly Fishing:

While there are a great many appealing and productive steelhead rivers in the world, the argument for Argentina’s mighty Rio Santa Cruz being far and away the most unique is near bulletproof. The reasons are many; its massive size, the harsh and surreal Dali-esque landscape through which it flows, the subtlety of its lies and structure, and the trump card that it is the only true Atlantic steelhead return in the world.Join Claudio, Juan Manuel and Pollo at Tres Amigos Outfitters as they swing flies for these unique fish.

• Director: RC Cone
• Writer: Callan Wink
• Cinematography: RC Cone + Zane Clampett
• Producer: RC Cone, Fly Water Travel
• Editor: RC Cone
• Assistant Editor: Zane Clampett
• Sound Design + Mix: Colter Olmstead
• Color: Dadi Jonsson