With winter already underway, we went in search of another one in the surroundings that knew how to withstand the great wave of heat and drought that last summer left us. After a telephone conversation with Gustavo Gregorini, a fishing guide and connoisseur of different lagoon environments, we decided to go in search of the silver arrows to Los Claveles. After coordinating details, we left with my father, Nicolás Albanese, and our friend Jorge Olguín, to travel the 500 km that separated us from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires along routes 3, 226, 51 and 76.
The accommodation was planned in Sierra Chica, where Gustavo and his family entertained us with dinner, and where we finalized details prior to the day that awaited us the next morning. From this moment, the transfer to the lagoon and all the services would be carried out by the guide in a private vehicle.
The lagoon is located in the General Lamadrid district, close to the town of Líbano and is within privately owned ranches. The mirror has an approximate extension of 550 hectares, with an average depth of 2 m when it is at the highest level. Its coasts have a gentle slope with rough and small ravines. There are sectors of sparse reeds and submerged vegetation. It is fed by rainwater and has no tributaries or outfalls. The species that abound in Los Claveles are: silverside, catfish, toothy and tarariras. In case of rain, entering the lagoon is impossible, so it is advisable to contact the guide in advance.
We use 4.20 m telescopic rods, reels loaded with 0.26 mm nylon and 0.12 mm multifilament, rigs with three buoys in different ranges of colors and models, that is to the taste of each fisherman, the important thing is that the line dribbles to gain greater distance from the boat (the majority of the sprints are far away). The brazoladas were varying between 40 cm and 1.80 m. But there was a rig that made a difference in bites: the paternoster with three hooks and a sinker at the end of the line. In both cases we used No. 1/0 hooks and the baits were varied: live, salted and cornmeal mojarras, and toothy and silverside fillets. We can also use dyes to dye the baits (red, green and yellow).
The place does not have any type of infrastructure or pier, it is very wild, which leads us to launch the boat by our own means. Those who do not wish to embark can enjoy inshore or wading fishing. The bottom is rocky and well consolidated. From the mainland, it is advisable to carry out throwing teams with baselines to gain the greatest possible distance.
After having navigated about 600 m from the coast, we anchored in a place chosen by the guide, very close to the opposite shore from where we launched the boat. A sector that always pays very well with a backwind. We finish assembling the equipment and neatly embed the hooks with bulky bait (two mojarras topped with a toothy fillet growing from the hook). The ideal is to vary the bait and alternate the flesh with colored fillets, which works very well to give our baits more movement.
As soon as we threw our lines into the water, the action came immediately and the strikes followed: it is as if the silver arrows had been waiting for us in that little corner of the lagoon. There we achieved very even doublets that were around 40 cm and we were surprised at how active the silversides were.
The morning began with good weather, warm temperatures and some wind from the North sector. The oxygenation of the lagoon was perfect for these combative pejes. In the afloat fishing modality we constantly varied the height of the snoods between 40 and 80 cm: the testing was continuous and the surprise was that the arrows traveled at different depths and were very voracious. But it should be noted that the difference in the pikes we had with the paternoster line. This area has the particularity that if we do not get to iron due to lack of wind, the pike will not cut us flatly, that is when it gives us the option of looking for silversides with paternoster lines. Even so, this first sector of the lagoon paid off successfully: a good omen for this season.
At 2:00 p.m. we would change to another point: we would navigate to a sector of reeds with good clearings. While we advanced at low revolutions, we observed the large population of pejerreyes on the surface of the mirror, which led us to ensure that Los Claveles could become one of the lagoons with the highest performance this season. Something to highlight is that the silverside is very healthy and very well fed, which sets the tone that year after year it surprises us with some unusual matungo.
For my part, I decided to change the rig, and rotate the models and colors of the buoys in order to continue carrying out an even more in-depth survey. I took a few minutes to put on the neoprene wader and wade through the reedbeds. I got off the boat with the saws behind me, incarnated and went back into action again. The pikes were there! There was no color or model of buoy that offered resistance: the attacks did not diminish. On the other hand, the rigs of Gustavo, Jorge and Nicolás made pieces of very good size, and even doublets of silversides. Something fantastic to see was how the gear shot out on the surface to one side and the other, which gave us the pattern of the large population that the area has.
The sets in this sector were shorter, because we tried to locate the deceptive lines attached to the wall of reeds, and there were these robust matungos from Los Claveles, with sizes that exceeded 45 cm and that took the loss of our gear without any caution. To make the action even more tempting, we opted to add larger bait to the hooks, and for this we cut the tooth fillets into long, thin strips.
The idea was to find those late matungos who played on the other side of the line but we couldn’t specify them. The change of place was successful: the pieces exceeded 800 g before the day came to an end.
The afternoon was dreamy and none of us wanted to leave the cane. Everything accompanied the fishing: the native birds were present, just like the great hills of the lagoon contour. We were fishing in a calm and dreamy landscape. This area promises a lot for the season and its population of silversides resisted very well the high temperatures that left us nothing this past summer, a minor fact. Undoubtedly, Los Claveles once again sets the trend and occupies a place on the fishermen’s agenda.
THE BAIT
AREA MAP
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