Fly fishing in Patagonia

The Aysén region of Chilean Patagonia is dry fly water. Resident brown trout and rainbows eat off the surface from November to April, and the hatches are often the kind you’ve only read about: caddis and mayflies blanketing the water in January and February, then beetles and hoppers in the back half of the season. Most fish run 35 to 50 centimetres, wild and heavy, and every season fish over 60 hit the net.

Our water is the Río Paloma, an hour south of Coyhaique, and the rivers and lakes around it: the Simpson, the Mañihuales, the Aysén, Lago Elizalde and Lago Desierto. Two private cabins stand on the Paloma’s bank, one group to a cabin, and the nearest other anglers are a valley away. The guides are local and have fished this water all their lives.

You fly to Balmaceda via Santiago. We pick you up there. From then on it’s a question of how much guiding you want: a couple of days to learn the water and the rest of the week on your own, or a guide and a boat every day with the cooking done.