The Great Fish

It is hard to put fly-fishing into words. One may attempt to tell others about it but it is, and must always be, a personal experience. Wading a river, thinking about where the trout may be hiding, seeing a large salmon go upstream, realising that they are eating and waiting for the right moment to cast the fly accurately is part of the fly-casting phylosophy. A kind of phylosophy that earns fans year after year in our beautiful Chilean Patagonia and manages to attract fans from all latitudes in the planet.

Huge Lake Llanquihue, Lake Todos los Santos, Lake Rupanco and each of the rivers which start or end there, in addition to the streams and tributaries of each of these basins, turn this area into a real oasis for sport fishing.

National Parks like Vicente Perez Rosales, Puyehue, Alerce Andino, Hornopiren and Pumalín contribute with their leafy vegetation which includes hundreds of species and life aspects hard to imagine somewhere else.

There are volcanoes of all sizes, shapes and types. Active, dormant, snow-capped. The Osorno may be the most popular, but the Puntiagudo, the Casablanca, the Tronador, the Calbuco, the Yaltes, the Hosnopiren and the small Huequi, as well as others such as the Corcovado and the Michinmahuida, are ideal to create the perfect scenery for a day of fishing.

In this magnificent environment, the trout and the salmon are the protagonists. There is no water course or mirror in Southern Chile which does not contain either trout or salmon. Everything from the large rainbow and brown trout to the huge salmon, such as the silver, the coho and the land-locked salmon.

As far as salmon aquaculture in this area is concerned, it has reached incredible sustained growth levels which have placed the salmon next to the Norwegian giant. Both regions share production and export levels of salmon, which are grown in cages located in rivers, lakes and estuaries. When one of these cages breaks down, they free thousands of salmons that follow their instinct and go up the rivers once again in order to comply with their life cycle, including spawning, just like the wild fish do.

The truth is that Chile has all the necessary elements to enjoy unforgettable days of fishing, whether floating or wading the rivers or even flying on seaplanes and landing by the fishing boats. As well, it has worldwide known fishing guides who know the region almost by heart. Thus, they guarantee clients the challenge of finding themselves face to face with really great fish.

Spots like Puelo, Hosnopirén, Chaitén and Fuateleufú are ideal base camps from where visitors can explore amazingly beautiful sites which always offer the possibility of finding the great fish destined for each of us in some place or some moment of our lives. Any fishing outing may come true here.

How to get there

leaving from Puerto Varas.

Tips

the fishing season includes spring and summer and it ends when the autumn begins. A national fishing permit must be obtained and the hired guide generally deals with such proceedings.