Recent Trip to the Patagonia Region of Chile

[Byron haugh]

First, let me be clear. I am not a wealthy fellow. Quite the contrary. But, I am wealthy in other ways. One of my two sons is an avid fly fisherman like myself. He and his wife teach at an International School in Santiago, Chile. They travel to the US to visit us and have donated their miles to have my wife and I visit them in Chile. In addition, on three trips, they have arranged for my son and I to go on guided trips to the Patagonia Region of Chile to fly fish.

I provide this information in case someone else might consider going some day.

Santiago is a 9 1/2 hour flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Once in Santiago, we fly LAN airlines in this plane for the 2 1/2 hour flight to Coyhaique, Chile which is considered by many to be the "heart of fly fishing" country on the Chilean side of Patagonia.......





The Regional Airport near Coyhaique is in Balcemeda, Chile which is approx. 20 miles north of Coyhaique. The in-flight video monitor indicates how far South in Chile we were going.





The flight takes you along the Andes Mountains toward Balcemeda and Coyhaique........





Our guide, Claudio Ramos was waiting for us at the airport. He is in the green shirt next to my son.
My son has used Claudio on about 6 trips since being in Chile and has developed a great friendship with him. I have been with Claudio all three of my trips.
Claudio is an independent guide. He is much more economical than the 4 Star Lodge options available. But, he is quite well known and has guided both Gary Borger and Dave Whitlock.
If you go with Claudio, you stay in his home in Coyhaique unless you are camping somewhere relatively remote from his home in which case, he sets up tents, etc.

If interested, at the end of this thread, I will supply more info about Claudio and how you could contact him.






We arrived at noon at the Balmaceda airport and Claudio took us directly to the Upper Simpson River for a shore lunch and an afternoon of fishing.




After lunch, we began fishing.
Not every fish in the Patagonia Region is a big fish. There are many different rivers of different sizes and different sizes of fish.

Claudio discusses the possibilities, based on weather, distance (which equates to fishing time), etc. As this was our first afternoon, we fished close to his home in order to get a full afternoon of fishing in before going to his home for dinner and our first night sleep.

This was a typical fish from that afternoon. The river held tremendous populations of both browns and rainbows. Some were larger than this one. This was a typical one. We did not see another fisherman all day. In fact, during the 6 days of fishing there, we only saw 2 other fishers and they were nearly out of sight.........

The rigging was a hopper/dropper until the fish seemed to hit just the hopper and then I switched to a hopper alone.

In the short afternoon, I know I caught over 20 fish and could have caught many more had I not taken time to enjoy the scenery and watch my son catch loads of fish too.








Day 2, we fished the Lower Simpson which was not very productive......although we caught fish. So, after our lunch, Claudio took us to the Manueles River which, in the section we fished, was faster water and better catching.

This was a "typical sized" Rainbow from that stream. There were also some nice, big browns and I lost a couple big ones..........

[krauseb]

I made the same trip. but fished small streams only. I won't mention his name but the jerk who set up the trip charged us to drive us to the streams so he could fish.
No breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. The fish were smaller then the stocked fish here at home.

[Uncle Jesse]

Great report Byron, I made two trip to Santiago while working for Holiday Inn Worldwide. One of my regrets when I left was the General Manager of the Crowne Plaza in Santiago had promised to take me fishing the next year if I came down. Now I have an idea of what I really missed out on. I need the jealous green emoticon here.

[Byron haugh]

Our guide with one of my rainbows from the Manueles





Days 3 and 4, we camped near a small lake and sight fished for trout in the "flats". The water was 2-3 feet deep and you had to drop a size 14 bead head about 4 ft. in from of the sighted fish (they were nymphing) and then strip like crazy as he went after the fly. Their jumps, completely out of the water, were incredible. I think I landed about 70% of the fish I hooked.













My son and Claudio sight fishing for the Browns





It wasn't just the fishing, but the beauty of the countryside.............




Day 5 it was very cool and quite windy. So, Claudio changed it up and took us to an isolated little stream called "Pink Mountain River" - a stream really. The fish were very plentiful. Hopper/Dropper. If it was a rainbow, it took the little Copper John. If it was a brown, it took the hopper or Beatle on top.





The little stream is tucked away on this rancher's land in the extreme lower right of this photo......below the planted rows of trees going up the mountain side.

The rancher supplied fresh baked bread his wife had made. Claudio cooked the usual lunch. Cooked sausages, beef, local bread, beer and wine, etc.








Day 6 was the day we flew out. Our flight out of Balcameda required that we be at the airport at 4:00. So, after breakfast at Claudio's home, we drove the 20 miles or so to the airport and a stream within sight of the airport . We caught lots of beautiful browns in the 14 inch range on this little stream so close to the airport. Then, it was take off the waders and boots, put it in our bags and travel the 1 mile to the airport.





Here is a prepublication version of a chapter in Gary Borger's book on Casting that he sent Claudio for his review. It mentions Claudio several times.
Claudio can be reached and his rates can be seen on his website: Cast and Blast Chile. He does hunting trips for wild boar and Stag as well as fishing.

Sorry, I can't seem to get his website correct. His email is: info4castandblast@gmail.com

I believe his current rates for 6 days of fishing; transportation; equipment (boats, tents, etc.); lodging and all meals is approximately $2,800 for 5-6 days each for a party of 2. The big named guide services with 4 star dining, lodge, etc are approximately twice that, i believe.

Claudio speaks great English and is very entertaining. I understand in some other lodges, you may be paired with a guide who is not as fluent in English. Believe me, that is very important!!!

If you would like more information about specifics, please contact me.

byhaugh1@mac.com

[1hook]

Awesome post thanks for sharing looks like a blast

[waskeyc]

Byron, thanks for all of the useful information. You've provided a fantastic report, and probably the most detailed summary I've seen for Patagonia. I'm glad you had such a great guiding experience.

The scenery looks somewhat similar to the American (US) West, with mountains that have three distinct levels: below tree line, tall evergreens, and above tree line. It looks like most of your fishing is just below the lower treeline, is that true? Was that to take advantage of the larger size of the rivers compared to the higher elevations? About what elevation were you, mostly?

You mention the flight time from DFW, but your bio says you are in Hawaii. I assume you included that because a) your international leg departed DFW, and b) you wanted to provide a reference for those of us in the lower 48. Is that correct?

You mention how the fish were generally easy catching. Do you think that is because they are only lightly pressured, or because you hit them at the right time (February translates to about August here in the US)? I have no idea the economic status of Chile or the population density of the southern end of the country, but I would guess that there are fewer locals who fish there than in comparable regions of the US.

[Byron haugh]

Great questions.
Yes, I gave time from DFW to Santiago for mainland residents for a frame of reference.
For me, it was a 5.5 hr, flight from here to Seattle; a long layover in Seattle; and then a 2.5 hour flight to DFW.

The fish were easy to catch (generally), I believe, because there is no fishing pressure there. Locals rarely fish for some cultural reason.

It did remind me of the West, but MUCH more dramatic. You could spend your whole trip photographing the countryside. I didn't want to bore folks with many pics of the scenery, but it is incomparable, in my opinion.

The countryside is quite poor. Mostly big, homesteader ranches with meager homes and ancient farming equipment. Mostly huge ranches passed down from original homesteads. Besides sheep and some cattle, firewood is a big industry......

Not sure of the elevation. We were always surrounded by mountains, but fishing the valleys.......the Andes nearby.....


This is the home of a huge, Beautiful ranch with access to a gorgeous fish - laden stream









Bit of a relief map of the area may provide a better idea of the overall terrain.