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Eight rooms above the Paraná
Duck, dove and perdiz in the morning, golden dorado in the same water in the afternoon. An hour's flight from Buenos Aires, in the province of Santa Fe.
Santa Fe · Argentina
A lodge built where the river does the work
Rio Bravo sits on the Paraná, the river that runs down the middle of the country. It is wide, warm and full, and the reason the lodge is there is that everything worth pursuing in this part of Argentina is drawn to it — duck to the marsh, dove and perdiz to the ground around it, and golden dorado to the current itself.
That is what makes a week here different from a week in Córdoba. In Córdoba you shoot doves, and you shoot a great many of them. Here you can be in a blind at dawn, at a table by one o'clock, and in a boat by three.
- Rooms
- 8Doubles with private bathrooms
- From Buenos Aires
- 1 hrFlight to Santa Fe / Paraná (SFN)
- From the airport
- 2 hrsBy road, transfer included
- Duck
- May–AugThe four months the flighting is on
When to come
Two kinds of week, and August belongs to both
This is the one decision that shapes the whole trip. Duck runs May to August; the cast & blast weeks run August to April — so if August is the month you have, you can have either.
| Season | Duck weeks · May to August | Cast & blast · August to April |
|---|---|---|
| What's on | Duck, dove and perdiz, with dorado alongside | Dove and golden dorado — the cast & blast weeks |
| A typical day | Flighting at first light, back for lunch, the river in the afternoon | Dove through the morning, dorado after |
| Comes as | Four full days, five nights | Four full days, five nights |
| Perdiz | Added to any day, at extra cost | Not part of these weeks |
Swipe the table sideways to compare
The dorado
They call it the river tiger, and not for the colour
Golden dorado is a hard-mouthed, heavy-headed fish that jumps the moment it feels the hook, and it is the reason a good many anglers come to this stretch of the Paraná at all. You can take it on bait or on the fly; both are guided, and the ghillies here spend the whole season on this water.
If you have never fished for it, say so when you book. It is not a difficult fish to hook. It is a difficult fish to keep on.
The lodge
Eight rooms, one table, and a dock at the end of the garden
Small enough that a party of eight has the run of it. There is a mezzanine over the river with a card table and a reading corner, which is where most evenings end up.
- On the water
- DockFishing dock at the foot of the garden
- For the guns
- Two roomsGun cleaning room and a waders room
- Afterwards
- PoolSwimming pool, jacuzzi, fire pit and massage room
- At the table
- Open barDining room, wine cellar, all beverages included
Before you book
What people ask about Rio Bravo
May to August. Those are the four months the flighting is on, and nothing moves them. From August to April the lodge runs cast and blast weeks instead, pairing dove shooting with golden dorado — so August is the one month you could book either.
They are two different lodges about 800 miles apart. Rio Bravo is in Santa Fe on the Paraná, for duck, dove, perdiz and golden dorado. Bravo Sur is in Neuquén at the foot of the Andes, for trout on the fly, and there is no shooting there.
An hour's flight from Buenos Aires to Santa Fe / Paraná (SFN), then two hours by road. You are met at the airport and the transfer is included.
Rio Bravo
The lodge, and the river it sits on
Next
Tell us the month and we will tell you what is flying
Duck runs May to August and nothing moves that. Everything else can be arranged around the week you have.