Our Fly-Fishing Story in Bariloche
In a national park and a world-renowned fishery, Trout Bariloche was born from one family’s passion for Bariloche and fly fishing.
Emanuel Medina, known around town as the best fisherman in the city, his mother Sandra, a dedicated and passionate chef, and his father Hugo, “the boss,” are the heart and soul of this team. This is the story behind Trout Bariloche fishing, and the people who will be waiting for you on the river.
Emanuel was born in El Bolsón, a small mountain town in Argentine Patagonia. By the age of two he was already on the riverbank, chasing his parents along the shore with a baby bottle in his hand while his father cast into the current.
They fished on foot, always wading. There were no tackle shops in that corner of Patagonia, so their gear arrived from Buenos Aires, carried south by relatives. Each of them had one rod and a silver ball-bearing reel that never failed them. They fished Meps spinners and simple black flies, tied with a nylon leader behind a clear bubble float that they filled with river water to give it weight.
When the fishing slowed, Hugo and Sandra shared mate from a small metal kettle warmed beside the fire. Emanuel watched the water. He was learning to read it long before he could read a book.
The family’s favorite place was the Rivadavia River. They camped for two or three days on the shores of Lake Rivadavia, and every morning Emanuel and Hugo walked 45 minutes to the river mouth to fish. Sandra stayed at camp, and when they came back, tired and wet, there was always a fire going and a hot meal waiting.
When Emanuel was ten, Hugo bought his first fly rod. Two years later he gave one to his son. For years they fished the same few flies, until father and son enrolled together in a three-year fly tying course. Everything changed. Suddenly they could tie exactly what the trout were eating, and the river began to reveal its secrets.
Emanuel fished in shorts until he was nineteen. Waders were expensive and almost impossible to find in Patagonia.
At the age of 19, a new chapter began. Emanuel passed the official fishing guide course of Nahuel Huapi National Park and, with his first cataraft, set out on a career that took him on expeditions all over Argentina. He traveled across South America and trained in rafting to master rowing and river safety, because for a guide, every client’s safety comes first.
He had one goal: to guide people in fly fishing, the art he loves most, and share everything nature had taught him. With the support of his mother and father, he started as a fly fishing guide in Bariloche with a humble attitude and a simple promise: treat every angler like family.
Word spread. More and more anglers wanted to fish with him, and the small business began to grow. Emanuel began training other locals to work as guides, passing on the same techniques his father and colleagues had taught him. That is how today’s team was born: Patagonian guides who grew up on these rivers. As the team grew, so did the trips, from Bariloche fishing day trips on the Limay and Manso rivers to multi-day fly fishing trips in Bariloche camping deep in the Andes.
After countless fishing trips across Patagonia, Emanuel founded Trout Bariloche with his father and mother at his side. His degree in tourism gave him the patience and the tools to build something unique in northern Argentine Patagonia: a logistics network that connects remote rivers, wild campsites, and a lodge on the water.
Today the family’s base camp, a true fly fishing lodge in Bariloche, sits on the banks of the Manso River, facing Nahuel Huapi National Park. It covers many hectares of land and a long stretch of private riverbank, where wild browns, rainbows, and brook trout rise to dry flies on summer afternoons.
Emanuel is deeply committed to this place. He teaches local people how to care for the trout and their environment, because the river that raised his family must stay wild for the next generation. At the same time, he welcomes anglers from the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Australia who come looking for authentic fly fishing in Bariloche, Argentina, the kind that cannot be faked.
Choosing Trout Bariloche for your fishing trip is more than booking with a travel agency. It is trusting Emanuel Medina: a fly fishing guide in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina, who will listen to what you need, plan every detail of your trip personally, and make sure you go home with a story of your own.
The fire is ready. The mate is warm. The river is waiting.
