The Malleo is the most consistent quality river I've ever fished with water types to suit anyone's tastes. 99% of the time you can fish this river with a dry and nymph dropper system and catch as many trout as your skills allow. The rainbow, browns and brook trout average between 14-20 inches with a decent number of fish in the 21-24 inch class, and a few lunkers caught every year.  The Malleo is really not a huge-trout fishery but it does offer an unbelievable number of 16-19 inch fish keyed into the river's wonderful caddis and mayfly hatches. The river contains a vast array of water types, from the upper meadow spring creek waters, to the rocky canyon fast water, down to the classic riffle, run, pool water near the lodge. The Malleo is just challenging enough to be fun to cast to the rainbows and browns rising under the willows, in the flats, and over the weed beds. The river is so filled with trout of all sizes as to guarantee lots of action, even for the neophyte.

Most moderately skilled anglers can wade out a bit and comfortably fish the far bank. The numerous willows and the allure they hold for the biggest trout can test the skills of the best anglers. This river is a must see and has brought many anglers back to Patagonia year after year.

The lower half of the Malleo is easily accessible from San Martin for day trips, with Dec/early January and April being the best timeframes for the public access water.  On the upper half of the river we use two different estancias to accommodate including this amazing fishery in as many trips as possible.  Best times for the spring fed upper reaches are from Dec through early Feb and from late March through April.