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So many destinations, so little time. We all have our personal ‘bucket lists’ shaped by our fishing desires and dreams that includes the likes of Seychelles, New Zealand and Alaska, amongst many others. Introduced to us by Wildfly Travel, March this year saw one of our bucket list items became a reality – Chile, Patagonia. The journey hopped via Buenos Aires to a little town called Esquel in Argentina, around two hours from the Chilean border. Esquel is situated on the fringe of the Andes mountains and the drive takes you from this wind swept, baron land straight into the teeth of the mountain range. The environmental transition is as dramatic as the change in annual rainfall, increasing from 40mm on the Argentinean side to 4000mm on the Chilean side. It is a spectacular 3 hour drive with each of the many crossings of the Futaleufu river, the landscape becoming more and more dramatic. Our adventure took us to Yelcho Lodge on the shores of the mighty Yelcho Lake which is an exceedingly comfortable wood built cabin style hotel, a mere 100 yards from the jetty. The surroundings are breath taking with thick forests sloping up to spectacular cliffs and glaciers atop sky high peaks of the mighty Andes. It makes the Drakensberg seem puny in comparison. But it was the fishing that had our brains doing back flips and our perspectives on flyfishing turned inside out. Our daily fishing kicked at the crack of nine after a hearty breakfast with us heading west to the further bays. Afternoons started at around three on the Eastern side of the lake positioned on the lee ward side to avoid the perpetual afternoon winds. We had good weather for the most part, but had one or two cold session that required the beanies and weather proof jackets to be donned. The fishing was excellent in both sessions, our tally ending up at over 100 fish each over the six days. Fly selection held one requirement, the hook. All flies fished produced fish consistently. Several fish over 10 pounds were boated and the average was somewhere around 8 pounds. Several fish ran us into our backing, a few more than once. Plenty Rainbows and Browns came out as well as a Brook trout of around 3 lbs was a highlight. We also fished the outflowing river, the Futaleufu resulting in a bus Chinook Salmon on spoon for Mark. Our limited Salmon on fly experience delivered no results, but the regulars do hook them on their 9 weights. Fishing the bays was fantastic, we often sightfished in water crystal clear at depths in excess of 6 meters. Targeting a marked fish and watching its behaviour and ultimately the take left us quivering and laughing like gibbering idiots. Often the takes would be savage and the fight surprisingly powerful. Often still, the takes would pop the 8lb tippet like it was made of butter. The record trout on fly is a whopping 38 lbs rainbow. I can wax on lyrically about the accommodation, the fishing and the local rum, but what struck me was the experience as a whole. Chile, and specifically the Yelcho area is beautiful beyond description. Whislt fishing we could hear the Glaciers rumble as they grind and cut into the mountain. To fish in these conditions is very special. It strikes you repeatedly how clean it is there, the water, the air, even the roads. At the end of the day, Jaco van Jaarsveld |