Although you may not require the likes of heavy duty D10 bull dozers and huge monstrous wash plants to get access to the gold on offer in South America, you will need some heavy machinery of a different kind. To get your greedy mits on these bars of gold, you will need some heavy nine- and ten-weight fly lines, loaded up on powerful nine-weight rods with monstrous six- and seven-inch flies adorned with heavy lead eyes. The gold you will be chasing in South America won’t just sit in the one spot waiting for you to come and collect it, it will be on the move and will take some serious convincing if it is to give up its riches. I am of course, as you may have suspected, not referring to boring actual real gold that could make you a millionaire. No, I am referring to another more valuable natural source of Gold that will deliver a lifetime of riches, in the shape of incredible memories and fly fishing experience‌ the Golden Dorado. The Golden Dorado has long been a
species which I have been fascinated by owing to the fact that it is not only a fish with breathtaking beauty, but it is an apex predator with an infamous reputation for savage takes, incredible fighting strength and impressive acrobatic leaps out of the water when hooked. It is native to warm freshwater systems throughout regions such as Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Northern Argentina so to fish for them involves adventure. The Corrientes River When the opportunity to visit the Don Joaquin River Lodge based on the Corrientes River system in Argentina presented itself, I jumped at the chance to broaden my horizons and target these incredible fish on the fly. The Corrientes river is a vast water system which begins in the Ibera wetlands, which is the largest source of groundwater on the planet. It flows through wetlands and marshes and as such, harbours what seems like endless amounts of islands and fresh water vegetation.
