Signature Fly Tier – Guide – Jurassic Lake
A Guide’s Life – “Argentine Style”
When we think of a real fly fishing guide, We can think of a young man in his late 20’s to late 30’s, an outdoor type, in great shape with a scruff beard, driving some type of an old 4 wheel drive vehicle with flies plastered all over the inside roof of the cab. Living in a rented room, the back of his truck or a trailer by some famous stream with a fly tying area that looks like a bomb just went off and eyes that can spot a fish in 20 feet of white water and basically not a care in the world except fishing.
Meet Mariano Peralta, or as friends say, Nano. Born in 1983 in a city called Comodoro Rivadavia, in the province of Chubut, near the Atlantic ocean. Growing up was a hunting and fishing adventure for Nano because his father was in the outdoor business. Nano would spend all his free time down on the docks or the beaches fishing for Pejerrey and Robalo. Life as a kid in the Peralta family was pretty awesome. At the age of 15 that would all change when Nano moved with his mother and sister to the mountain town of El Bolson which is surrounded by lakes, rivers and streams. It was here that Nano learned the sport of fly fishing and started to fall in love with the sport. Add in a crazy addiction for fly tying and a true fly fishing guide is in the making.
At the age of 19 Nano attended the University of Bahia Blanca to study civil engineering. During his college years, when he was not playing Volleyball for the school, Nano would spend time tying flies. He took his tying skills to the next level and started tying flies commercially for a fishing and outdoor business. It did not take long for Nano to decide that becoming a fly fishing guide was going to be a lot more fun than being an engineer. At the age of 24 Nano took his first guide job on the advice given by his best friend Karim Jodor, at a lodge in Chile called Alto Puelo Lodge. Two years in, he decided to take the fly fishing guide exam given in Argentina. Result of course – PASS. Nano spent the next three years working for the lodge as well as some independent guiding back in Argentina. Nano was already well established when the opportunity came calling for a position at Estancia Laguna Verde in 2013.
Guiding at a place like Laguna Verde is a dream for most guides. Especially when you get to be reunited with friends like guide Nicolas Gomez. Nano now worked for a well established operation with consistent work, high-end clients, food and lodging and most of all, HUGE FISH. So Nano had now made it to a guiding utopia. But Nano did not take this job for granted and he kept his focus to become an even better guide. Nano now also had somewhat of a built in off-season in which he honed his skills in fly tying and continued his career in commercial fly tying and is now one of the best fly tiers in all of Argentina.
This amazing opportunity has helped Nano to also grow outside the guide business. He now has a beautiful partner named Gaby who he met around the time he started guiding at Laguna Verde. Nano does not resemble the description of the fly fishing guide we described him to be back in his early 20’s. He has become a man with a steady job, a beautiful place to live in El Bolson, a vehicle with no hook holes in the ceiling and best of all a family that supports him every step of the way. The family is three now that Gaby and Nano added their only child Alma to their family in 2019. Now when Nano is sleeping in a “van down by the river”, it is on a camping trip with his family and friends.
Nano is a great guide for Estancia Laguna Verde, but his personality and his kind nature are why most of his clients want to fish with him again and again. We are very happy to tell part of his story and to be a part of his life. Most of all we are happy to have Nano as part of the Bucket List Family. Gracias Amigo, nos vemos pronto….
Join us for an exciting free get-together on zoom. We are going to discuss our upcoming seasons and events and recap some events and outings we have just finished. The highlight of the night will be our January 2023 season at our centerpiece fishing location in the Amazon jungle.
This August we are finally getting another opportunity to have our Care&Share program put to work. This will be our best chance since the outbreak of COVID to have the opportunity to visit several indigenous villages in the heart of the Amazon Jungle.
Terra Preta is a remote village on Xeruini River, state of Roraima, Brazil.
The 2022 Season is going to be amazing. These fish have not seen an angler in almost 3 years and we still have a ton of lagoons that have never been fished on our centerpiece program on Rio Novo