Toon Ken Season Report 2005.

Provided by:  Germán Pacho& Marina Pueyrredón.

 Dear friends,

 Another season is now behind us and we are sad t hat it passed so quickly. We had a great time this season, our first as managers of Toon Ken Lodge.

 We think that our guests had an equally great time with us – they would look around and be stunned by the lodge and the magnificence of the Rio Grande valley. Many have become friends and have already confirmed that they will be visiting us again next year, which we are very excited about. Toon Ken has truly become a favorite on the Rio Grande – its architecture and setting is something that never seizes to amaze (you will find many pictures of the lodge on our web site).

The fishing during the 2005 season was good enough to make our guests happy, including our most fish-demanding guests. We started the season on the slow side, in regards to the water level and the number of fish entering the Toon Ken stretch (that’s because the past winter and spring was really dry), but the water arrived and the river rose. The fish arrived also, which was very good news indeed! After the rain, week after week the record catch of the season was broken! The season record was a beautiful 25 lber (please see our photo gallery for a picture!)

We want to congratulate the guides (Alex, Alejandro and Nico) for doing a great job on their first season and also for being part of the first all-Argentine Guide Team in Toon Ken and the second in Nervous Waters.

We hope to see you again next season.

Tight lines,

Germán Pacho & Marina Pueyrredón.

	Previous lodge manager Sebastian Graziosi

Usually we used to arrive late in November to set up the lodge at the little house located between the shearing shed and the main house of "San Julio Estancia", that house gave us great moments of joy and provided us shelter from those fierce winds and summer hale storms. It had a great atmosphere enhanced by gourmet dinners and fun cocktail hours with lots of fishing stories and adventure tales. That house will remain in our memories since it gave birth to a well renowned operation called "Toon Ken".

On the seventh year we faced a very different story, we drove by the little house and carried on towards the river, half an hour later we all arrived at the spot - that "spot" which made all of our dreams come true! In front of us on the north bank of the Rio Grande, with a magnificent view of the glaciers and the serpentine river, surrounded by trees which nestled it, rose our new lodge, waiting for us to open its doors and lead us to the new Toon Ken, a place full of hope which reflected our great expectations of a well deserved existence.

	Tierra del Fuego sheep herds are in the tens of thousands

It was Christmas and the Bertani family had chosen us to spend their special holidays in a remote and unique place but at the same time in a unique way! We spent long hours at the river in search of the big one! We had some tough sessions but they paid off. We caught some great fish and had beautiful weather for our Christmas lunch on the deck; it was a fantastic Patagonian lamb.

Our season had great highlights and Toon Ken lived up to the standards we all expected. Our Icelandic groups were fascinated with our spot and with our chef's commitment to excellence - his proficiency at the time of serving sushi was something difficult to forget.

Our French group showed up with a typical way of preparing a lamb, called "meshui" which is cooked on a rack spinning it over coals. The lamb is prepared with some well seasoned stuffing and it is sewn together and spun over the coals for more than four hours. This way of cooking preserves all the flavours and moisture… it is a fantastic way of having lamb!

So Toon Ken not only turned out to be a great fishing spot, but also a gourmet experience for all of our guests and ourselves.

The river behaved very well during most of the season, but some weeks were extremely slow making us all learn that a river is a river and to catch fish you should work hard and spend long hours for it to produce.

We landed lots of personal records such as the 24 pounder of our beloved Clara P. making her as happy as a little child when riding her bike for the first time!

Some of the weeks we had anglers catching over 20 fish on dries only and some other weeks we had anglers catching fish just on heavy dorado flies on T 400's; but that is the way fishing is and this produces the challenge and the beauty of it!

Toon Ken turned out to be an exciting experience - not only for the guests but also for us who have been running it from the beginning - and we keep on facing new situations every day… this keeps us motivated and looking forward to coming back over and over again!

Sebastian Graziosi
Toon Ken Lodge