Howdy!

We made another trip down to Chile to catch fish, meet new people and eat some amazing food. It feels like a homecoming since we now know almost everybody here. We are staying at Cinco Rios in Coyhaique then heading to their sister lodge on the border of Argentina called Estancia Del Zorro. Probably won't post daily but defiantly going to leave y'all some cool pics and stories over the next two weeks.

Getting here went really smooth. Drove from Durango, CO to Albuquerque, NM and spent the night with an old friend. Flew to Houston then overnight to Santiago. We breezed through customs and quickly caught a domestic flight to Pueto Montt and stayed on the plane about 30 minutes for the final leg down to Balmaceda. The lodge owner (Sebastian) picked us up for the 30 minute drive to The Cinco Rios lodge in Coyhaique.

I will probably do a hosted trip down here in the next couple of years. Patagonia is an amazing place and I'm happy to share our experience down here and get you excited to make the trip with us in the future!

Put me on your invite list LHRF!

No it is not dry. It is absolutely incredible to eat. I have been to Chile/Argentina 9 times and the food/bbq/cigars are amazing to say the least.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3yx0LgtOK-/?igsh=ZHQyem0zMzBtNGgx

Was a beautiful day albeit generally too nice! Too much video today. You will need to click the IG link, no worries, it's safe for work!

Here's a few pics from today

Day update/ Q&A

Today was rough! Melissa caught 3 browns on a lake and I blanked she threw big beetles all day and I used a streamer half the day. Her fish were caught with blind casts but we did see a few cruising but they wouldn't eat. Saw a couple of condors flying around the peaks today!

The weather has been really nice. Some rain today, breezy at times, temps in the 50's and low 60's for high with lows in the upper 30's.

The trout were obviously stocked long ago but it's been illegal to stock for decades. A group today saw a king salmon a considerable ways inland but he wouldn't eat.

We are now at Estancia del Zorro near the border of Argentina. I've fished here a couple of other times and love this place! It's mostly spring creeks and evidently the hopper fishing has been lights out. This place looks like it's straight out of the 1800's, will add some pics of the lodge tomorrow.

The artist Derek DeYoung is currently at Cinco Rios, he was a ton of fun at dinners. We just missed Tom Rosenbauer (Orvis employee and author).

More in the coming days!

LRHF

Fished until after dark yesterday. A 24" brown was caught and on for about 20 seconds but the the net guy couldn't find the fish and net him in the dark before breaking off. Fished a small spring creek that was 1-2' wide in places. Was a tough day because of rain the night before and colder on the morning. Water clarity was slightly off and fish weren't looking up for hoppers being blown into the water. Here's a few pics

Hola amigos! Today was what the Dr ordered, a day of catching. The valley we fished today is loaded with hoppers and the streams have such little pressure. We both touched over 100 fish and purposely didn't set on smaller fish.

The picture from yesterday did include a Rhea egg I randomly found when skipping ahead of my wife.

The stream we fished today is medium to small in size. We used 6 wt rods to tackle the wind and hoppers sz 10-12. It was nonstop action but better in the afternoon after it warmed up a bit. In places, the hoppers poured into the water and good sized browns were just slamming hoppers every 45-60 seconds. The last pic is my fish but had our guide pose for the pic , turns out to be the prettiest fish of the day!

Estancia del Zorro has miles of access for the stream. Many of the people staying here have limited experience but they are still having some success here. Their biggest challenges are casting in the wind, timing of eats and across the body backhand casts. These can all be taught and good fish caught when there are so many opportunities!

Enjoy!

LRHF

Tough couple of days with night rains, cold weather and gusts to 45 mph . The trout aren't happy but hopefully this changes for the last two days.

Derek DeYoung did some art on the wall at Estancia del Zorro and let me add a couple of black spots!

Howdy amigos!

For those still following, it was a LONG tough day in the wind but worth it!