For nearly two decades, a fly fishing show out of Argentina has been building something most of the mainstream hasn’t fully seen, largely because it’s existed outside the channels that define modern fly fishing media.
Aguas Arriba now available on Waypoint TV and YouTube, first aired in the late 2000s on ESPN, before social media, before algorithms, before fly fishing became content. Co-founders Fran Mariani and Pablo Rodrigo Perez weren’t chasing distribution or audience growth. They were trying to share something they already loved.
“We loved what we were doing, and we wanted to promote it,” Fran said. “At that time there was no YouTube, nothing. The best way was a TV show.”
So they made one. At the time, it wasn’t just early, it was essentially the only show of its kind in the region, and it still is.
Built to be Understood
That origin still shapes everything about the show today. Each episode runs roughly 24 minutes, a format that now feels almost out of place. It moves at a slower pace because it was never designed to be consumed and forgotten; it was built to be understood.
The intention was always to teach, to document, and to give people time to take in what they were seeing. In contrast to the fast, short-form content that dominates media today, Aguas Arriba creates space. You settle into it, learn something, and stay with it longer than you expected to. That pace is intentional because the stories come from places they’ve known their whole lives.
“We show places we’ve fished since we were kids,” Fran said. “We know them. We really know what we are talking about.”
And when they step into new water, that approach doesn’t change. They don’t arrive with answers. They listen, rely on local knowledge, and let the place shape how it’s fished. That humility carries through everything they produce.
Pablo Rodrigo Pérez and the Recognition Gap
At the center of it all is Pablo Rodrigo Pérez, a name that, for most U.S. anglers, doesn’t carry much recognition. But it probably should.
Pérez is a second-generation angler, taught by his father Benito Pérez, one of the early pioneers of fly fishing in Argentina. He has spent decades guiding, teaching, and shaping the sport across the region. He is a certified instructor through Fly Fishers International, a master instructor, a longtime shop owner, and a mentor to hundreds of anglers entering the sport each year. But credentials alone don’t fully capture it.
“He knows more than anyone,” Fran said. “And he’s a super humble guy.”
Part of that depth comes from the environment he was raised in. For a long time, much of the technical knowledge available to anglers came from the Northern Hemisphere, often applied to very different ecosystems. Pablo’s father helped shift that, developing one of the first bodies of work focused on Southern Hemisphere entomology and building a more accurate understanding of the insects, conditions, and behaviors anglers were actually encountering.
That foundation shaped how Pablo approaches the water today. His knowledge is built from the ground up, specific to the places he fishes and teaches. It’s also part of why his influence hasn’t translated cleanly to a global audience. Much of that work has remained local, embedded in the development of the sport rather than broadcast through the channels that typically define recognition.
Fran put it plainly, “He would be like a legend if he was born in the U.S.”
Instead, his impact has taken shape on the ground, helping build fly fishing across Latin America, even if much of that work hasn’t yet reached a broader audience.
Building the Sport From the Ground Up
In much of the west, fly fishing is mature. It has infrastructure, access, and a deeply established culture. In much of Latin America, that foundation is still being built.
“All Latin America, except Chile and Argentina, is underdeveloped in terms of fly fishing,” Fran said.
Rather than seeing that as a limitation, they’ve treated it as a responsibility. Through their academy, clinics, and partnerships, they are actively introducing new anglers to the sport and shaping how it evolves. Education is central to that effort. They produce structured courses, teach casting and entomology, and train instructors who eventually go on to teach others.
At the same time, they’ve started to rethink how the industry connects with anglers. Fran described it as a “cardumen,” a school of fish moving together, an idea that reflects how they’ve built everything around community rather than individual recognition.
“It’s like Montana 100 years ago,” Fran said, describing low-pressure water, vast open landscapes, and fisheries that haven’t been heavily trafficked. “You fish alone. Amazing people. Amazing food. Amazing places.”
The goal is not just growth, it’s transformation. “If we can evolve traditional fishing into a more conscious way of fishing, that’s better for the resource,” he said.
Coming Into View
For Fran, this isn’t just about expanding into the U.S. market. It’s about closing a gap that has existed for years.
“We’ve been doing this for ages,” he said. “Building from the foundations of the sport. And it’s not being seen in the U.S.”
That gap creates opportunity in both directions. There is value in bringing more visibility to what’s happening across Latin America, while also reaching growing audiences in the U.S. that remain underrepresented in fly fishing media.
What Aguas Arriba offers is not a new version of the sport, but a different perspective on it, one that has been developing in parallel, shaped by different conditions and histories. It comes from time on the water, not just filming it, but understanding it, refining it, and passing it on. Knowledge built over decades, rooted in place, and shared in a way that still feels true to where it came from.
Underneath all of it is something Fran describes simply as “Fish Simply,” a way of approaching the sport that prioritizes doing things the right way, choosing people carefully, and building something that lasts. That idea runs through everything they’ve built, from the show to the way they teach and approach the water.
Aguas Arriba offers a chance to expand how we think about the sport, to look beyond what’s familiar, and to become more connected, more aware, and more global anglers.
Check out Aguas Arriba and see it for yourself.
