Summertime Chile 2016 Fishing & Tour Report

 

http://www.mtshasta.com/americans-can-now-fly-fish-cuba/

 

It’s been a good season down here in Chile, nothing to complain about at all. January and February are months I tell people to fish in the Lakes District of Chile only if you have to or limit it to a few days because the best fishing is in Novemeber/December and March/April. January & February are the equivalent of July & August in Most of the US, kind of like the dog days of summer. We catch fish and have excellent days out on the water, but compared to those other months I mentioned, to do more 3 days fishing is a waste in my opinion for the edges of the season are always the best around these neck of the woods. I like January & February, I guide less fishing, do a few tours, work on the web sites, kick back and enjoy my wife and our Chilean summer together. Carola gets to spend time with her family, which is always great. I get to BBQ and do some fishing on my own, slow down read some more books on history and enjoy this wonderful life. 

It’s absolutely astoundingly beautiful down here, I find myself in awe of Chile’s forests and striking landscapes that seems to just come naturally where the Southern Cross is my witness.

Christopher Norris came into the Lakes District area and gave me a call to fish one day before his road trip down south of us. I get alot of one day trips this time of year so we headed to the Rio Maullin which was my last trip in my fiberglass drift boat.

Right off the bat, we started catching these beautiful Atlantic Salmon Grilse that were shipped down here by England in past years. This is a salmon that was introduced that thrives in fresh water rivers and lakes around here, but does especially well in the Rio Maullin.

We must of caught 10 of these that day as they loved the fresh water back shrimp I tie to fool them.

Then we saw trout rising and I put on a caddis imitation and Chris started catching them on the surface also as these fish were hungry that day.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/150684738[/vimeo]

 

Then we caught more Atlantics a few miles more down the river. I had a great day with Chris and wished him safe travels for the rest of his trip down south of us.

One day I drove with Carola to the Cochamo River, “You get there faster, then you take it slow…”

I didn’t catch anything after an hour of fishing it and we elected to drive around scouting and shooting photos for this blog.

Fish come rolling in from the ocean and the Reloncavi Estuary, but fishing here in March and April is always more promising, you never now what you’re going to catch including a huge Sea Run Brown.

I love this area and plan to spend more time with clients here trying to hit the run of fish that come up the river when the time is right.

Down in the town of Cochamo, a church that was built years prior I was told the wood was all brought in by ship as back then they didn’t have roads out to here.

Back home a BBQ, or as they call it down here an asado. Plus, 3 neighbor dogs praying they might get a piece of the action. I’d say their odds were pretty good….

Then a road trip up to Pucon to get my new boat and trailer and try it out on a local lagoona my friend owns. The boat rows like a feather and the anchor is so light, it really helps the shoulders. What a great boat I have now for incoming clients.

This is a McKenzie Drift Boat that is inflatable and can ride on 2 inches of water.

The next day I went to a mechanic in Villarrica to fix the lights and do some upgrades.

Trailer lights work!  Check.

Then a drive to the local Home Center to get a cover for this boat because the sun is the most damaging thing to the longevity of its existence.

The lady at the home center was selling these awesome empanadas de pino, so I bought 6 for the ride home.

Made it back to Llanquihue with our new outfit, it felt great after years of having a very heavy boat that did its service for my clients, but now we really have a great boat for fly fishing in Chile.

January and February is a month where I get a lot of one day trips with beginners Marshall Rhines and his wife enjoyed getting geared-up and ready for their day out on the Rio Maullin.

We loaded up the wagon and all got in and within minutes we were floating down the river in my new boat.

Too bad but my old buddy, Medieval Anchor was way too heavy, so I took him off and he enjoyed a day of rest. I found out later that one of the huge advantages of this boat is you hardly need any anchor weight at all as this boat is so light, I use a 17 lb anchor and it holds in any current it seems. Sure saves the arms and shoulders that are not getting any younger.

Within a few minutes Marshall had an Atlantic Salmon on his line.

Always a good way to start out the day!

In the background we could see the Volcano Osorno’s peak in the background of where we got out to wade for dry fly fishing an eat some great food for lunch.

The boat rides on air it seems like, I was so glad I had bought the Chailyn 1, named after our daughter who is in Heaven now. The trout were rising on the other side of the river, so I prepared lunch and the clients fished.

It was an amazing day in Chile, hot & sunny and the good vibes were running high with plenty of water and anticipations.

There’s a fresh water black shrimp in the waters, I am always trying to perfect a fly that imitates this.

I call this my Tie-Dye Shrimp.

There’s lots of minnows in the rivers here, this is Tie-Dye Monnow, the trout seem to love it and it’s very heavy. I had a great day with The Rhines family and they continued down south for the second half of their Chilean journey as they fished with me for one day.

The German influence down here in the Lakes District of Chile is a great one, we talk about it on our tours and fly fishing trips. You just can’t beat the desserts down here, we love them. Remember desserts spelled backwards is STRESSED, so have seconds please and relax.

Artisan craft fair down town Puerto Varas where vendors bring in cheeses, jellies, potatoes, nuts and more!

We live in a duplex in Chile so we rented the other side to to Polly, Greg and their son Oscar for a month, they were great neighbors and we had a lot of fun hearing their stories about what they did on their adventures here in the Lakes District of Chile.

Want to rent our place in Puerto Varas Chile?   https://www.airbnb.cl/rooms/5005452   <Check it out!

The Isla de Chiloe has some 200 potatoes, not all are edible, but these ones that are purple are edible and boy are they terrific! Hey folks, is that too many many Ares?? Quack!

The next people who called for a one day trip was the Gary Chaimowitz group of 4, so my guide Mattias took 2 to his private ranch to float and I took Gary and his partner with me on the upper section of the Maullin River.

 

Both had never really fly fished much, which is normal for what I get here in Chile for January and February off the cruise ship in Puerto Montt.

Gary hooked up fish on my Tie-Dye Minnow, he was happy as can be that day!

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/152692632[/vimeo]

Dry fly fishing was awesome that day and Gary hooked 4 trout in a row on caddis and was having the time of his life.

I started cooking our lunch and hearing both of the anglers having fun in the background.

Hold on Gary, I’m coming with the net, don’t fall in!

Way to go bro! First trout ever caught on dry flies, that’s great.

I like tying Elk Hair Caddis with a little foam parachutes, much easier for my clientele to see.

You can never have enough streamers in the Lakes District of Chile, that’s why I’m always tying up bugs for your adventures here!

Sexy! This fly imitates crabs, shrimps and crayfish down here or anywhere. A very effective fly down here for catching trout or salmon.

Another day out on a river in the Rivers District of Chile about 3 hours from where we are home based.

Chailyn 1 holding her own down here in the land of the free flowing rivers.

The meals out on the river guaranteed wonderful, also we brought the purple potatoes from Chiloe on that day.

They are incredible delicious and have a flavorful meaty taste to them. ( Jimi Hendrix Approved Folks.) Arc Arc!! 

George Day called from Valdivia and we fished together all day, the fishing was fun but we never caught anything very big that day. Lots of hook-ups though.

Many hard fighting trout that day just nothing huge like on previous trips.

Michelle and Steve Schafer gave a call and came down to the south of Chile. They are working in minerals up north and saw my blog and wanted to get a trip in this season.

Nice trout for a first day beginner!

Not too long later Steve hooked up with a nice trout of his own.

Way to go Steve, you two were very nice. Thanks again for the great trip that day!

The fish were hungry that day and we had trout all the way down the river. Steve and Michelle thanks so much for coming down and seeing me and Carola, hope we can meet up again someday.

Matt Dolan is an employee on the cruise ship Sea Borne X that takes people to glaciers and Antarctica down here in Chile. He’s the sea kayak instructor but enjoys fly fishing when ever he has some spare time.

What a nice trout he landed with some of the other employees that came off the ship that day.

 

Philip from Switzerland had never fly fished before and he caught nice trout and promised to stick with fly fishing as there are some great rivers back home in Switzerland.

Carola doing a few casts that day, I like when Carola wants to fly fish with me, it really makes me happy.

Later we all went to our home and we prepared this meal for the group off the cruise ship.

 

 They all kicked back in our backyard and enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Look how dry everything is here in Chile January/February. We need those rains to come now and make the fly fishing superb. This is what I’m talking about, unless you’re heading down to Patagonia, the Lakes District is not the place for multi-day fly fishing in Jan/Feb, just day trips. Thanks for calling again Matt, see you in the future! Tell the others hi from me and Carola.

I went on a drive the next day around Lago Llanquihue, it was a lot of fun as usual.

Birds/ducks hanging out on a rock.

Perfect flowing rivers melt my soul here in Chile.

Tom Crass came a calling for a one day trip while staying in Puerto Varas and told me he only like dry fly fishing and nymphing, so I set he and his wife up with a Hopper/Dropper. They caught fish all day long, it was great.

What a great guy, he kind of reminded me of Chevy Chase, but a much younger version. Thanks Tom for coming out!

 

 

Next Gary Kahn & David Katz called for a scenic tour, so I toured them around the Lakes District and told them the entire history of the area.    We also run and operate down here – www.tourpuertomontt.com

 

This is an amazing drive around Chile’s 2nd biggest lake Lago Llanquihue, you can fit 3 Lake Tahoe’s in this lake. 70 miles across and 360 square miles of surface space.

Two great guys that plan to contact me when I get back to Shasta and do some fishing up there.

We get calls for tours in January and February so Carola and I led a group of 14 tourist from Austin Texas on a trip around Lago Llanquihue to the different German towns in the area.

 

Carola in Action leading a few of the folks in the quaint German town of Frutillar.

This was a very fun group, we enjoyed touring and explaining the entire history of Chile and South America. www.tourpuertomontt.com 

Lagoona Verde – Green Lagoon was spectacular and very volcanic too.

We brought them to a great restaurant we knew in Ensenada, they really were enjoying themselves.

The seafood dishes were divine, no one was talking much.

The new Tie-Dye Crayfish I am working on perfecting.

Filet’s back at the house that night sure were fantastic and boy do I enjoy meat prices down here compared to the USA, which is not even in the same league. The lamb is even better!

 Jerry Baer off the cruise ship called for a day trip so I took he and his father out fishing at one of my favorite places. We had a great day together and got them back to their ship on time. Thanks Jerry!

Next we got a call from American Express Concierge and they wanted us to do a private tour for two of their clients.

We took them to the Isla de Chiloe they enjoyed this tour and we saw miles of uninhabited beaches. It was a great scene.

This area is amazing and so many awesome views, it’s not hard to sell this trip folks.

Rona and her husband Tim enjoyed the tour and the views the island had to share. Thanks for coming out with us, enjoy your travels down in South America!

Kate and Chris called for a 2 day trip on their adventures around the Puerto Varas area then they would head down into Chiloe and south from there. Carola had helped with rent a car info and all kinds of other information that aided them on their travels here in Chile. think of us as your South American Lifeline. We can even have one of our Jack Trout Representatives greet you in Santiago at the airport with a cell phone so you can call us at anytime to help you on your safe travels in Chile. “Jack Trout Lifeline.”  jt & ct

Chris hooked up just after Kate landed her first trout and we were off to the races that day.

Double hook-ups and I knew we must be getting closer to it being March, the fish were bigger and we were catching more of them regularly.

Then Kate landed 4 lunkers in a row on her first day ever fly fishing or fishing for that matter!

Great catch Kate!

Then another lunker!

We always let them go any where we catch them.

Chris hooked a few more here, Kate was on fire and hooked trout every where she fished that day. Beginner? I became suspect, who catches 4 trout over 3 lbs up to 5 lbs their first day out fly fishing….KATE!

A few more casts for Kate and a few more trout, it’s always nice to beginners do so well their first day out fly fishing.

Hilarious! Hang on Kate!

As I would say, “WhooHooo!! I think Kate caught almost 10 trout that day, that was terrific.

The next day we went on the Rio Maullin and Chris starting hooking all the trout on streamers.

Chris having a lot of fun folks! I always said I was an Opportunity Employer!! 🙂

Lots of healthy beautiful Brown Trout in this river.

Then a little bigger trout was landed as well as lost that day, but never really mattered, we were winning in life just being out there.

Then we came into an area and you could just feel there must of been a large trout in the vicinity and as I commented on this, just then Chris hooked a very large trout that wouldn’t move at all on the bottom of the river.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/156408207[/vimeo]

He had hooked and landed a Sea Run Brown, which is very rare in these parts as I hadn’t hooked one on the Rio Maullin for 6 years prior.

Way to go Chris & Kate, look forward to guiding you up in Shasta this spring! Have a great and safe rest of your travels here in Chile. Just this email in from Chris:

Jack and Carola

Kate and I wanted to thank you for your time, guidance, knowledge and companionship during the past few weeks and during our stay at Puerto Varas. We really enjoyed our time with you Jack and we look forward to seeing you again in Northern CA! I’m going to post a review for you on trip advisor as soon as I have better internet access. In the meantime, please send me your address. We would like to send you some goodies from California while you complete your last few weeks/months in Chile. thank you for sending me the pictures. I haven’t had a chance to open them yet but I’m really excited to see the fish Kate caught and that sea run brown!

Talk to you soon. Hasta luego…..

Chris and Kate

PATAGONIA CHILE * PATAGONIA CHILE * PATAGONIA CHILE * 

We have guides and outfit people for fly fishing down in the Patagonia Chile area of Punta Arenas & Puerto Natales, let us help you with your fly fishing adventures down here for extra costs to you. We can organized everything for you and make your fly fishing dream vacation a successful one.

Reuben Levinson and his daughter sure enjoyed their trip down there that we organized and helped with.

Thanks Scott Tabar, we enjoyed helping you and glad you caught some amazing trout with our guide there. jt & ct

You just can’t go wrong in January & February in Southern Patagonia, that’s a great time of year to head down that far in Southern Chile.

Robert Lowe Photo – How Special Patagonia Chile Really Can Be, Maybe You Should Go There.

Our Guide Knows Where The Monsters Live, You Go There Boys and girls!

I think I finally have it, the Jack Trout Crayfish, we caught a Sea Run Brown On This Yesterday!

Jack Trout Tie-Dye Shrimp and Crayfish, they work folks!

Thanks for watching our adventures, we hope to guide, outfit or tour you anywhere we do business. Many Rivers to You, Jack & Carola Trout * info@jacktrout.com * 530-918-8879 * 530-926-4540