Many of you will recall we opened and operated the Alpine Angler specialist freshwater and fly fishing tackle store just outside of Cooma in NSW in 1991 and later sold the business in 2016. Mate and store manager Tom “Tommo” Baxter later married Josefina who had come to Australia to visist family and then moved to Salta in Northern Argentina. We stayed in touch with Tommo via Facebook and planned to visits them and fly fish for the beautiful Golden Dorado which Tommo now guides fly anglers from around the world for with Juramento Fly Fishing.
*We drifted the Juramento River for the first 3 days and managed two fish to hand each day along with a number of missed opportunities #troutstrike 
Founder and owner of Juramento Fly Fishing, Alejandro Haro is one of the pioneers of fly fishing for Golden Dorado in Argentina, a passion that led him to create Juramento Fly Fishing in 1994. A tireless protector of the native Golden Dorado, Alejandro was the first fly fishing guide authorized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Salta Province or Argentina. Based in the small town of El Tunal, Alejandro was the first to offer fly fishing float trips on the Rio Juramento.
With 20+ years of experience, Juramento Fly Fishing is the longest serving outfitter for Golden Dorado in Salta, Argentina, and is the exclusive operator on the Rio Dorado. And in addition to the monsters of the Rio Dorado, Juramento Fly Fishing accesses the Rio Juramento. Golden Dorado in these areas have exceeded 40 pounds on the fly.
* The Rio Dorado is truly a beautiful and special river with good numbers of large Golden Dorado in shallow water !
The Rio Dorado is completely different to the larger Juramento River and looks more like a freestone trout stream with crystal clear water running through a lush jungle. It is around a 40 minute drive to the river from the lodge each day with three separate sections being readily accessed on foot. You do need to have a reasonable fitness level for this trip as you will walk 5-15 kms a day in wading boots and with a back pack. The fishing is also quite challenging and technical – which I really enjoyed.
You will mostly cast to sighted fish and that is easier said than done as despite their bright colouration they are quite challenging to spot in the clear water. Their backs actually look more lime green in the water and you need to approach the river with care so as to not spook the sabalo – which are another local fish which look similar to a silver perch or carp that the Golden Dorado will happily swim with until they want to eat one. If the Sabalo are alerted to your presence they will nervously start swimming upstream and alert any Golden Dorado also to your position.
We saw plenty of Golden Dorado each day but getting into position to get the best shot proved challenging – but rewarding when it all came together. I managed to land two Golden Dorado again each day to 5ks on the Rio Dorado, with opportunities at fish over 8kgs on a number of occasions. Any fly angler who enjoys stalking their fish will love fishing the Rio Dorado as it is a stunning & unique bit of water where you will sight fish to Golden Dorado in pristine surroundings with fish landed in excess of 10kgs from this river!
Golden Dorado are truly a special fish – for more information and bookings go to http://english.juramentoflyfishing.com.ar/
