For this Behind the Lens, we sit down with RA Beattie and Will Phelps to dig into Return of the Guide: Jurassic Lake. The film follows Erik Argotti back to Lago Strobel, the rugged Patagonian fishery he once helped shape. Through his return, the team uncovers the history, emotion, and mystique behind one of the world’s most prolific trout waters. Here’s how they told the story, and what it took to film in such a raw, remote place.
Flylords: To start things off, could you give me a brief overview of the film “Return of the Guide: Jurassic Lake”?
RA Beattie: Return of the Guide follows former fly-fishing guide Erik Argotti as he returns to Lago Strobel (“Jurassic Lake”) — a place he helped pioneer more than a decade ago. Through Erik’s perspective, we explore the history of this fishery, its misunderstood ecology, and what it means to revisit a place that shaped you during a defining chapter of your life.
Will Phelps: The film is about the history of the rainbow trout fishery in Lago Strobel in
Patagonia, Argentina. It encompasses how the fishery came to be and the story
of a couple of guys who crossed paths and became great friends through fly
fishing there. One of them now returns, after a decade away.
Flylords: What was the moment or idea that sparked Return of the Guide: Jurassic
Lake? Why tell this story now?
RA Beattie: Nick Reygaert from the film tour suggested the idea initially, so we looked into it. In the fly-fishing world, Jurassic Lake has become legend—reduced to size statistics and highlight-reel moments. When we learned Erik hadn’t been back since the early years of guiding there, we recognized a unique narrative: the emotional pull of return. We are not super interested in films that shamelessly promote lodges, but this felt like a great opportunity to tell a real story about a cool place.
Flylords: The core message centers on returning to a place that shaped you. What drew you to Erik’s story specifically as the lens for this return narrative?
RA Beattie: Guides carry these fisheries on their backs—long days in harsh conditions, sacrificing sleep and personal goals so clients can live out their dreams. Erik embodies that reality. He’s walked this shoreline in wind that tears you sideways and sees the fishery with a depth only earned through labor. His return lets us explore how people evolve — and how the places that once defined us evolve too.
Flylords: What surprised you most about Erik’s experience stepping back into this
landscape after years away?
RA Beattie: His calm. He wasn’t chasing the biggest rainbow or rushing to count eats. He savored it — sipping mate, laughing with old friends, choosing dries and mouse patterns even when he could have been stacking numbers. Watching him fish for joy rather than validation was incredibly moving.
Will Phelps: I was surprised by Erik’s calm demeanor. He wasn’t chomping at the bit to catch a giant rainbow. He caught a fish or two, had a mate, joked around with Martin
and Lucho, and fished the way he wanted to. It was about getting one on a dry or
on a mouse, not about catching the biggest or the most fish.
Flylords: You emphasize complete fishing sequences over highlight-reel moments. What does that add to the viewer’s experience?
RA Beattie: Authenticity. Most films show only the glory — but real fishing is a story: the setup, the adjustments, the misses, the doubt, the teamwork. Full sequences let viewers feel the decisions and witness the human side of angling — the emotions that bead up between the casts.
Will Phelps: This gives the viewer a closer look at the reality of what is happening on screen. Real emotion when Erik loses a big fish or hooks one on a mouse. We get to listen in on his deep conversations with Martin as they walk the shoreline.
Flylords: Jurassic Lake has become legendary in fly-fishing culture. From your
perspective, what do most anglers misunderstand about this fishery?
RA Beattie: The reputation is “easy giant trout,” but the reality is raw and humbling. The same violent wind that rips hats into next week is literally why the fishery exists — oxygenating the lake and driving its productivity. If you choose to challenge yourself — on top, on foot, in conditions only Patagonia can deliver — it’ll test your resilience as much as your rig.
Will Phelps: It is often misunderstood as super-easy fishing. The weather can change at any moment, and the harsh winds and conditions can make the fishing utterly
challenging. Even with good conditions, you can make the fishing quite
challenging by tying on a dry fly or a mouse.
Flylords: For anglers who only know Jurassic Lake as “where the giant rainbows live,” what ecological factors did you feel were most important to highlight?
Will Phelps: It is important to note that the lake produces giant fish for several reasons. The wind, although challenging to fish in, is important for stirring the lake’s surface
and oxygenating its waters. The lake has no outlet, so the water that enters exits
by evaporation. The river that feeds the lake, the Barrancoso, is essentially a
bottleneck for spawning fish. The high gradient limits the number of fish that
reach the upper reaches of the river, thereby limiting the fish’s spawning habitat.
Without this effect, more fish would spawn, increasing the population of fish, and
perhaps lowering the average size of each fish. There is also an insane amount
of scuds that live around the rocky shoreline. Fish gorge on these scuds.
Flylords: What conversations do you hope this film sparks within the angling
community?
RA Beattie: We hope anglers ask themselves: When opportunity is endless… why do I choose the way I fish? Is it about the biggest fish? The most likes? Or is it about connection, challenge, and story? We want people to think about motivation — to choose meaning over measurement.
Will Phelps: I hope this film sparks a conversation about fishing in a way that speaks to you as an angler. When you’re faced with hundreds of large fish willing to eat a fly, what are you going to tie on? Are you going to try and catch every single one of
them? Or the biggest for the ‘gram? Or are you just going to observe them all
and enjoy the spectacle? What truly motivates you as an angler?
Flylords: Is there anything else you would like to tell us about this film?
RA Beattie: This is a film about work, weather, resilience, and the way certain places shape who we become. Erik isn’t going back to relive the past. He’s going back to understand it. Jurassic Lake forged the guide he once was. Now he returns as a different man — ready to see what changed, and what didn’t.
