mtshasta.com – Outfitter & Actor – Jack Trout's Blog

 Trips going great here in Chile & Argentina, look for the best fishing to arrive in late February, March & April as the lunkers come rolling in from the ocean.

SIGN – UPS FOR FLY FISHING IN MAY, JUNE & JULY FOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA & BELIZE START NOW.  info@jacktrout.com 

530-926-4540

Chile cell phone 94671995  From USA  011-56-9-94671995 direct.

We look forward to all the groups arriving in Chile & Argentina for the 2013 season, and want to thank all the folks Jack Trout International Fly Fishing & The Team Trout Guides has already guided this year and last. I have one week left in March and the last two weeks of April still open. Edgar and Mattias have open dates in both months and so do our guides in Argentina and Belize.

Please check back in a few days for more photos coming in from our guides Edgar & Mattias in Chile, possible from clients we outfitted &  guided in Belize. 🙂

Chile can be described in so many ways, breathtaking, magnificent, boundless, endless, extraordinary, unique and greener than green. Mountains and impenetrable forests drunk & high from 200 plus days of rain per year in the zones south of region nine. This is the prize of the universe for any nut who loves the outdoors and adores rivers, landscapes, sunsets, fresh air like in the olden days, high mountain views, lakes and stars at night as big as Mercury Dimes. This land could be possible the thinnest stretch of land with the most of amount of  fresh water per square inch left on the face of Earth. Head out in any direction south of Temuco, Chile and you will see things that will blow your mind as well as scenic beauty that matches any place I’ve seen in 23 countries in my lifetime, of course New Zealand is a close second. I love this place, it is dear to my soul. I have decided this will be the place I want to die someday and because of Chile my life has been fulfilled, completed and content. It has been an amazing  journey to this point, I mean in 22 years and I know so many adventures still lie ahead, but I owe it all to this tiny thin country that has given me such a wide perspective in life. I owe it all to all the great Chilean people who have helped me along the way and a wonderful Government who has allowed me and Carola to operate and set up roots and start our family here. But more than anything, I owe so much to my incredible wife Carola who behind the scenes has always been my biggest fan, my support team, my lifetime partner and my Chilean girl. Any of you that have met Carola know what I mean, she is one special Human Being. Life is not about how much money you make, or whether you’re important figure that rules others, to us life is about how you effect others in a positive way and together Carola and I are achieving this one client at a time either guiding you ourselves or providing one of our very talented Team Trout guides. I guess you could say we compliment each other through love of life and liking what we do you for all of you out there. We don’t have a lot of so called ” friends” we haven’t the time, we’re busy. So it’s all of you out there we guide, love and embrace through our trips that has made us so successful, so we would like to thank all of you too. You know who you are and we want you to know how grateful we are that you are helping us make our dreams come true here in Chile and in the United States.

We love you man!  Jack & Carola Trout – Team Trout Fly Fishing  Guides International

 

 So lets go fishing now with the Asmundson Family on the Rio Maullin! 

 If I had to describe our season this year, I would call it the year of the beginner. We have never guided so many people who have never picked up a fly rod before and all we can say is bring it on people! We love beginners, we like to be the ones who teach folks this wonderful sport. Lauren Asmundson with her first hook-up ever fly fishing with her family in Chile.

 Another one on the line shortly after that made this trip exciting.

 

 Lauren’s fiancee John with his first hook-up also enjoyed the adventure as we made our way down the river that flows out of Chile’s second largest lake Lago Llanquihue. They plan to be married this year in June, congrats from all of us!

 A fine catch indeed John, thanks for making our time together with you and the family so enjoyable.

 

 Meanwhile, Edgar is guiding mom and dad and they are having a good time and catching some nice trout along the way.

 Phil Asmundson here with a nice brown he landed with Edgar that day. What fun family to hang out with for a week, we really enjoyed their company. Folks like this make life worth while, we need more Asmundson’s in the world!

John & Lauren better get busy soon…..  🙂

We wanted to mention Phil & Kim own a vineyard in Mendoza, Argentina and produce fine Malbec wines!

 That night out at the La Olla, in Puerto Varas one of Chile’s best seafood restaurants with the Asmundson’s our Past client Donald Dowie and his fiancee Evelyn and his sister. We had a wonderful seafood dinner and a lot of laughs.

 The next day we headed out to a private section we have on the Rio Rahue, it is an amazing place like out of a Walt Disney movie. Guaranteed not to see another boat, we usually don’t see others on our other floats anyway.

 If life gets stressful think about this scene and the sounds of that flowing waterfall, it should all go away in an instant. The outdoors is the cure all solution to life’s complexities, it always your best friend and welcomes you with open arms of a river. jt

 Many hook-ups that day on nymphs and streamers made the group thoroughly happy.

 That trout has Marty Feldman eyes, certainly not Betty Davis…..

                                      

 Lauren’s success first time ever nymphing, a great way to fly fish any river where the trout don’t take flies on the surface.

 We really want to show you how to fly fish nymphing with an indicator, attention all beginners!! It’s a lot of fun and very easy to learn your first time.

 These are the perfect kind of riffles or places to try your hand at nymph fly fishing.

 Next we took the family on a tour adventure to the Isla de Chiloe to see the colorful towns and visit the penguins by boat. An artist was hired to paint a theme portrait in the town of Castro, Chiloe (Capital city) of a few houses that was going to be placed in a museum in Santiago. the painter asked a few houses on one block if they would be willing to paint their houses a different bright color to make the portrait unique. when the island people caught wind of this development they all starting painting their houses a wild color and now the entire island is full of colorful houses not seen in any other part of Chile.

 The Asmundson family standing proud on a hillside above the town of Ancud, Chiloe. This town reminds me of Sausilito or San Fran back before cable cars existed.

 Then we headed out on the boat that took us to see the penguins, my wife has the cutest fanny!! 🙂 The guy helping us with the transport must be waiting for the next tsunami with those shorts he’s wearing….

 It’s always fun to take the ride out to see the penguins do their thing, the Asmundson’s enjoyed the trip thoroughly. Did you know on this island they have an event called a Minga, where many folks from all parts of the island come to move a persons house out to one of the many nearby islands. They lift the house and put it on flotation devices out on the ocean and then float it to the next island, then after they are finished they have a festival where they cook pigs underground with oysters and potatoes and have a nice tasty broth they put on top. They call this meal Curanto, one of my favorite Chilean dishes. It’s incredible, kind of like a luau in Hawaii and they party for 4 or 5 days and have soccer tournaments from each district represented from the island. A real shindigz folks and don’t forget your cleats!!

This redefines community folks!

 

 

 The Magellico Penguins come from Antarctica and the Humbolt Penguins come to mate with others from Peru, every January to March, this is prime time if you were a penguin from Chile.

 The island is mystical as well magical with stunning views all over the island in any direction, a must visit while touring around Chile near the Lakes District. We enjoyed so much our time with the Asmundson family, we wish them a prosperous 2013 and look forward to seeing them for their 2014 fly fishing and tour of the Rivers District of Chile and head into Argentina with them and our talented guides there. 

 Next was two fun wine makers from California who also own vineyards in Chile and Argentina like the Asmundson too. Alphonse and his son Alphonse DeRose own one of the oldest vineyards in the United States dating back to 1851. We enjoyed another fine meal at the La Olla Restaurant in Puerto Varas is one great seafood meal folks. When we picked them up at the airport we laughed that instead of the usual packed bags full of clothes, they brought minimal and chose luggage geared for bringing their coveted wines they make with love as their special ingredient. I would highly suggest you call on them and buy some cases of their wonderful bridles, we enjoyed the Cabernet Franc and a wine they make here in Colchagua Valley, Chile called Alchemy.

http://www.derosewine.com/

 One of my favorites at the La Olla is a Congrio fish with a cream sauce made with abalone, king crab and shrimp, a real low cal meal.

 Everyday out on the river we enjoyed a new bottle of their premium wines from California, they now ship and sell down in Chile. I like the sounds of that, I guess we could say they are part of the solution as they are “In-sourcing”  wine products from the U.S. to Chile.

I am so damn proud of you boys, now if we could have everyone drink the same water this could become contagious in the USA!

Made in America – DeRose Wines – Read about their history –  http://www.derosewine.com/history.html

 

 Alphonse his first day ever nymph fly fishing, loved every minute of it on this private stretch of river! Cheers!

 

 Pops, who also was just learning fly fishing hooked into a very nice rainbow and we thought we were going to lose her when she wraped herself intelligently to a stump but by luck we pulled out the line and the fish appeared free again and after about 15 minutes we landed the beauty queen much to our shagrin.

  Way to go Pops! You are my Sizzler of the Month award winner!! Congratulations Sizzler!! And a fine wine maker I might add with a little help from your friends…. Thanks so much Pops & Alphonse look forward to seeing you in California when we return in May and next year for the Chile/ Argentina trips.

 Wes Sands from Portland, Oregon called and said. “I like catching big trout on flies, can you help?” The name WES SANDS sounds like a big fish kind of guy and I thought to myself, if I only have one day to fish him then bring him to the private section on the Rio Petrohue. This guy was an expert at catching huge trout and infact his Skype photo was Wes holding a 16 lb steelhead he caught up in Canada on one of his many trips abroad. He was down with his group of investors looking to buy a salmon farm operation here in Chile and told me so many fascination stories about the fishing industry here in the south of Chile. One of the most intriguing was in the last 12 years how Puerto Montt has an extra 2 billion dollars per year spread into this small region just on the salmon trade alone. That’s why he said it was hard to find horse carts here anymore and was heard often saying, “Where are all the horse drawn carts I remember seeing here the last time I visited about 10 years ago”. I think they traded them in for Toyota’s and helicopters, this is a new Chile folks we can learn something from…. Then we made it to the river and started our float on the Rio Petrohue.

We could see huge fish porpoising everywhere and on the second riffle from launch we slowly moved into the inside of the bend of the rivers riffle edge and I saw a big fish surface right in the direction line of where his fly was soon to be!! I told Wes to be ready and like clock-work the fish hit his fly we were using one of the Pancora Crabs I tied the night before. Look you can see him as he jumped out of the river the minute he was hooked, it was very exciting as we knew we had a very large fish on probably from the ocean. One thing I can say about un-dammed rivers close to the ocean, they are as unpredictable as a slot machine in Virginia City, Nevada. Rivers that are dammed that we fly fishers refer to as tail- water- fisheries are very predictable. The fish are usually the same size especially the big ones, the hatches that occur are predictable and where fish live and lie are usually the same. But one of the things I love about these un-dammed rivers in Chile is that you never know what you’re going to catch and for the true gambler, Chile is a roulette table that can pay dividends on any given day. You might catch the biggest fish of your life if you’re good and it might be even a monster if you’re feeling lucky. Do you feel lucky?

 A Sea-Run- Brown was landed, The prized ocean trout of Chile!! We just started seeing them arrive up this far north in the Lakes District 2 years ago as they migrate with the Chinook & Coho Silver Salmon. It is always a great day when we land one of these trout as it doesn’t happen often enough in this region.

 Green on top and like a hologram on the sides, this trout is the best of the best for any fly angler for fresh water catches. In the oceans in Belize you ask? I would undoubtedly say the Permit is the best catch.

 Underwater world is one I have always enjoyed looking at through these low cost new era cameras, the  details are fantastic.

 We nymphed it for a while, but the Petrohue just isn’t the best river to nymph, the trout seem to respond to very long casts using streamers.

 Just a little ways down from there Wes hooked into another lunker that took him into his backing for a moment.

 We estimated this trout at about 8 lbs another fine hook-up indeed. Fishing here is what I described as western style fly fishing, like in the States the better you are and the more time out on the water the better you do on size and landing. 

Wow! a reel beauty Wes! 

 By lunch Wes had hooked 12 nice sized trout and he earned a fine meal prepared by Carola the best fly fishing chef in the world.

 More hook-ups later that day and Wes ended the day with over 20 landed fish on the equipment we provided for him. Thanks again Wes, hope to guide into some more lunkers in the future!

Mike and Susan Golightly arrived from a trip Carola arranged with stops in Machu Pichu &  Cusco, Peru, Santiago & Puerto Montt Chile

and a trip in the very end in Easter Island, Chile. Carola arranged all the flights for them and saved them thousands of dollars as she has an in with Lan Airlines as a travel agent status. Last year she did the tickets for four people from the United States Embassy in Montevideo, Uruguay and saved them lots of money also. So you might keep this in mind when you want to book your flights to South America as we have an in and pass the savings on to our valued clientele. Mike enjoyed his hook-ups that day with peace of mind knowing that behind the scenes we got them covered here on their dream South American trip.

 

 A nice small trout is always a welcomed sight but bigger is always better.

 

 Fish on, Get’em Mike!

 One of the things that is troubling us all down here in Chile is the introduction of a biological river disease called Didymo. This has entered the Rio Fuy near Choshuenco, Chile and is threatening the rest of the rivers in Chile if not controlled and contained by all of us who love, breath and eat fly fishing rivers. They think it arrived from Kayakers, but who knows and that part isn’t important now. What is important is that things get cleaned when running river to river, so the Chilean Government has set some disinfectant stations for outfitters and the public to clean their boats and gear so the spread of this river born disease and muck gets contained. wouldn’t it be a total shame if they had to close rivers in Chile to boating. This worries us so much, so we are 100% committed to being a part of the solution and stop every time to clean our boats and gear.

 

This micro algae organism must be stopped from spreading to other rivers in Chile.

 If ANYONE has questions please email us and we will help you out with an information. Please help stop the spread of Didymo in rivers around Chile disinfect your gear when moving from river to river or country to country !

 All of the boat, the trailer and everything is being washed, it doesn’t take much time and Serna Pesca, the DFG of Chile is a good watch dog and partner for Chilean rivers. We also would like to thank them for lowing the prices of Fishing Licenses in Chile and having a new one day license, One week license and a one month license for our clients that is reasonable priced and easy to obtain. Thanks Serna Pesca together we are TEAM on the rivers and that means we all win in the end! 🙂  Gringo tourist dollars are flowing in and paying us pesos, but not at the expense of the environment if we all work together. Public knowledge is the key to success against this vicious river predator.

 Wash the boots and the nets, all of the gear people! The Rio Enco and Rio Puelo are at threat now and are worth saving like all the precious rivers are in Chile.

 The next day we traveled to another river in the same region and we had great fishing, nothing big but the catches were great. We lost a few big ones but that’s why they are big, they are smart and know how to trick you and get off.

 Hard fighting rainbows is what I’m talking about!

 Susan, Mike’s wife enjoyed the trip thoroughly and just watched with amazement in back as this is a great trip for the non-angler. 

 Mike with another nice trout on, we must of hooked 20 that day.

 A nice brown trout indeed!! Way to go Mike.

 That night a great steak dinner at one of our favorite steak restaurants in Chile called the Pellin y Coigue Restaurant near Futrono, Chile.

 Back at the Araucaria Cabin near Panguipulli, life is nice like it should be.

 How about a few brews at the Knunstman Brewery in Valdivia, Chile. Everyone loves this beer tour!

 All the great German food and wonderful beers, how can life be any better. Those sausages are the best on the planet, I promise folks. I sure wish the laws weren’t so tough in the USA that makes endeavors like this practically impossible. It would be an expensive trip out on the town if this kind of thing existed in California.

 Next we traveled to the coast and viewed the Pacific Ocean in all its pride and glory. A wonderful sight with the freshest air one could breath. 

 Mike and Susan really liked it here, so we thought we’d burn it for others to view for ever!

 On a tour with Carola, Susan enjoyed her trip to Huilo Huilo Falls as I fly fished with Mike that day.

We have the best tours in mind for you non-anglers!! A big thanks to Mike & Susan who we toured and fished in two regions of Chile.

 Rod Zook stepped off his cruise ship and caught this nice brown in 4 hours of fishing.

 A real beauty folks is waiting here for you too in Chile.

 He threw out one of my Pancora Crab patterns and in a instant he had a fish that took him into his backing!! He didn’t get this trout in but wow what a fight folks.

Over in Argentina our friend Martin lands a nice rainbow on a hopper. When we lodge you in Argentina we stay at Martin’s place in San Martin de los Andes in one of the most wonderful towns in South America.

We use several guides in Argentina but our guide Gabriel is the one of the best we know. He speaks perfect English and knows the region like a book. He looks forward to all the clients we have for him in February, March and April 2013. This is dry fly heaven folks on both rivers and lakes!

 What if you landed a brook trout like this in Argentina, would it make your trip to Argentina more memorable?

We want to make your South American travel easy and memorable, give us a call when you’re ready to take that leap of fate and let us plan your dream vacation. On February 2nd, we celebrated our 3rd year of marriage, and it keeps getting better!! We survived the Chaiten Volcano eruption of of 2008 and we are back from ashes on top of our game. Life hands you tough situations, sometimes the outlook in the eye of the storm looks bleak, but stay positive and you will prevail even if you get kicked like a dog you will rise up again and win in the end people.

Thanks for watching our adventures, Jack & Carola Trout & The Team Trout International Fly Fishing Guides

WWW.MTSHASTA.COM STATS

 

Summary by Month
Month	Daily Avg				Monthly Totals
	Hits	Files	Pages	Visits	Sites	KBytes	Visits	Pages	Files	Hits
Feb 2013	10718	9048	2930	567	3409	11853975	5104	26371	81433	96468
Jan 2013	13016	11229	3246	677	9703	40430933	21007	100649	348124	403509
Dec 2012	15376	13762	3938	668	22777	32026714	20723	122094	426641	476662
Nov 2012	13075	10678	3165	793	7305	23767305	23800	94965	320347	392273
Oct 2012	14903	13748	2795	750	7563	30613151	23254	86673	426216	462023
Sep 2012	12470	11378	2661	664	6318	22356663	19924	79851	341355	374123
Aug 2012	13708	12551	2232	580	7097	27096509	17989	69218	389108	424951
Jul 2012	14407	13267	2377	681	7371	29508545	21125	73708	411284	446629
Jun 2012	14448	13117	2300	677	7278	28684934	20326	69007	393538	433446
May 2012	15694	14408	2750	852	10625	32289401	26419	85255	446665	486519
Apr 2012	10706	9742	2263	715	6677	21575450	21471	67898	292288	321189
Mar 2012	12623	11364	2503	776	7740	25901890	24063	77607	352303	391333
Totals						326105470	245205	953296	4229302	4709125