Alejandro Fernandez — Rio Grande Sea Trout

About

Alejandro Fernandez is an Argentine fly fishing guide who has devoted his career to the sea-run brown trout of the Rio Grande in Tierra del Fuego, the windswept island at the southern extremity of South America. For seventeen seasons, Alejandro has guided anglers from around the world on the Rio Grande's legendary pools and runs, where migratory brown trout of a size found nowhere else on Earth enter from the South Atlantic and ascend the river in waves from January through April. These fish, averaging eight to fourteen pounds with specimens regularly exceeding twenty, have made the Rio Grande the single most important sea-trout river in the modern fly fishing world.

Alejandro is a Spey casting specialist whose fluid, powerful style has been refined by thousands of hours casting into the relentless Fuegian wind. He is patient and precise in his instruction, helping clients develop the casting mechanics needed to deliver large intruder-style flies across the Rio Grande's broad pools in conditions that would defeat a lesser teacher. His understanding of the river's holding water, combined with an intuitive sense for how sea trout respond to changing water conditions, light levels, and barometric pressure, consistently puts his clients into fish when other anglers are blanking.

Alejandro ties all of his own sea-trout flies, designing patterns that incorporate the latest materials while drawing on decades of local knowledge about what triggers strikes from these powerful migratory fish. He is a quiet, focused guide whose intensity on the water is matched by his warmth and humor at the dinner table.

Specialties