Falklands Adventure

 

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Heading out for a day of fishing

Our guide, Adrian (Adie) Lowe, picked us up at the Malvina House a little before 9:00 AM. Adie is probably the most well-known citizen of the Falkland Islands.  He was born in England, moved to Australia at the age of two where his father was a dairy farmer. After seven years, his family relocated to the Falklands where Adie eventually established a massive sheep farm of 10,000 acres (3,000 head) along the Murrell River just northwest of Stanley.

After loading all our gear into his small pickup truck, he drove us well over an hour to the San Pedro River. This is another beautiful area on the northwest coast of East Falkland Island that consists of a broad, brackish estuary, narrowing into its fresh water source just off the road.  We lucked out with another day of fair weather– partly cloudy with those ever-present Falkland winds out of the west, rising steadily throughout the day.  After throwing various flies, Henry switched over to his trusty spinner and quickly landed a brown trout.  We rotated back and forth between spin and fly-fishing and landed several fish up to 12”.

Brown trout fooled by a blue devil fly on the San Pedro River

Later in the day, Adie drove us to the Malo River, the site of a famous skirmish during the war. The river took a sharp bend, cutting a deep hole that looked promising.  The challenge here was the afternoon wind howling at 25-30 knots.  This restricted us to spin casting.  Henry climbed out on a rocky point while I waited for Adie to rig up his antique, but reliable Zebco style rod and reel for me.  Henry soon hooked into a large sea-run brown, and my first cast also connected with a fine fish – a double-header!  We each picked up few more trout before starting our return trek to the hotel, stopping at a couple of culverts to fish for mullet on the way back.

Thursday, October 25, 2023

This morning, Adie arrived in his beat-up, but sturdy Land Rover more suited for the off-road driving.  We were headed just outside of town to his sheep farm that straddles the Murrell River.  After crossing through several rough paddocks, we slowly bounced our way to Weir Creek Inlet.  He noted that we would be the first to fish it this season.  The “creek” (it didn’t look at all like a creek) was another wide body of mostly salt water with a long rocky beach studded with barnacle and mussels.  We hiked to several points, casting and casting.  I made my way about a half mile down to its mouth and launched long casts way out into the channel.  A lovely white-tufted grebe came close to Henry for a potential snack.  It is amazing how much of the wildlife seem unafraid of humans. It was a beautiful area, but I did not even see a fish follow my lure.  Henry spotted one small mullet, but after about an hour we decided that no one was home.  Perhaps the migratory sea trout have not yet reached this section.

Adie our guide and Eugene prospect some new water early morning

                                                        Beautiful Grebe on Weir Creek

Our next spot was back across the Murrell to the leeward side where we could take shelter under some small cliffs along the bank.  A large flock of Adie’s sheep bleated loudly from across the river to greet us. A large, crested caracara flew just overhead, and a pair of flightless steamer ducks paddled by to investigate.  With the wind favorably blowing at our backs, Henry and I refocused on fly-fishing.  Henry made his way down to a point upstream where he landed a smally trout.  I maintained my position on a small peninsula and eventually hooked into a nice sized mullet on a small shrimp pattern.  The fish took several long runs as I attempted to get the line on the reel, controlling drag with my palm.  Henry ran down to assist with the landing.  It was the nicest mullet we would land during our whole Falklands trip.

Eugene with a feisty mullet on the fly, Murrell River

As usual, the weather changed rapidly near the coast. After a short lunch break, the wind had somewhat abated a bit, so I decided to head out on a short hike to the east.  I tried the spinning rod, but on my first cast the tip broke clear off.  The harsh conditions of the Falklands were just too much for it (sorry, Mark). I switched to the fly rod, but the wind suddenly kicked up to over 30 knots, forcing my hasty retreat.  Within moments, I was pounded by hail and took shelter in the Land Rover, laughing at the absurdity of the weather.  Overall, the fishing was slow, but once the wind laid down, I once again attempted my eastward hike.  I walked about a mile down the beach and quickly had a hit on the fly.  Henry joined me a little while later and we both hooked up almost immediately – me on a small trout and Henry on a mullet.  He apparently stumbled upon a pod of those fish and we were able to harvest quite a few for Adie and his wife Lisa. Next to lamb, mullet is their favorite food. This provided a nice flurry of action at the end of our Falkland Islands fishing adventure.  We drove back to the capitol as it shone in the distance from the setting sun.

Thursday evening into Friday, a fierce storm system seized the island.  We woke to driving rain and screaming winds pelting our north facing window.  We were relieved not to be fishing this day, using the time to prepare for the next leg of the expedition.  I went to the gym and Henry attempted a brisk walk, but his glasses got blown off his face and over a neighbor’s fence—he was assisted by a kind old man who chuckled about the spring weather.  We regrouped and made our way to the bustling market to stockpile up our important provisions such as vodka and all the makings for proper Manhattan cocktails – hoping we had enough stores to last us through the Drake Passage! 😊

Preparing for dinner at the Waterfront Restaurant the evening before our cruise departure as the Stanley Bay roils in the background.

Today, Saturday, October 28^th, we are making final preparations to board our vessel, the M/V Spirit with great anticipation!

Eugene with a Blackburn Brown on Mark Guiliano's borrowed telescopic rod

Henry with a classic Falkland Sea Trout on the Blackburn River, West Falkland