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Salmon and Trout Fishing the Yelcho in Chile
When I first went to the Yelcho in Chile, I found the trout fishing exciting and
challenging. With many brown and rainbow trout on the surface dry flies
are a must. Fishing the reeds of Lions Bay have always been exciting. This
area always tests your angling skills as well as your patience. The scenery
of the Andes Mountains
is majestic and spectacular. Thunder Mountain hangs over the river and around
11 am. you can see ice falling off the high glacier and hear the "sounds
of thunder" from the the falling ice. Brown
and Rainbow Trout Fishing
The Yelcho Area of Chile has all the types of waters that an fly angler would
want. The lake holds some of the biggest brown and rainbow trout in Patagonia.
Dry fly fishing is at its best along the reeds of the lake where the big rainbows
stalk the dragonflies. All summer long you will see large rainbows get airborne
as much a four feet, capturing hovering a dragonfly.
It’s not a simple matter to present a dry fly to these fish. It has to be presented
well and very close to the imitation or something that might look like a real
dragonfly up there from down there. Here too, you have to have backing for these
trout as they will take off and a 10 lb. fish can run a long way. Be sure you
have a least a hundred yards of backing on your reels for Lake Yelcho or the river. The
Yelcho River The
Yelcho River in some places is big and fast. It has all kinds of cover for fish,
from log jams, cut banks, overhanging brush, streams coming in, etc. The river
also has whirlpools with a lot of fish concentration. These trout like to feed
up on top in the currents  that
bring in little tiny insects. They get choosy on certain ones and you have to
get down in the 18 and 20 for fly sizes to fool one of these 24 inch or bigger
fish.
When we drift into one of these whirlpools
the fly fishermen always spend a couple of hours with these fish. There are so
many of these large trout and they look so easy to catch. After a couple fly casts
that thought goes away pretty quick. The old thinking cap comes on and the old
fly box opens up searching for the right fly
pattern. Eventually there is success and we stay a while. If we have
stirred up the water too much we move on. We got a lot of water ahead of us.
The Yelcho River goes from Lake Yelcho to the Pacific
Ocean and runs about 25 miles through a slow graded valley passing along the high
Andes mountains. Drifting down the river, you find yourself casting to all kinds
of different waters along the way. It is exciting and it is hard to stop, but
sooner or later you "gotta" stop. We take a break at some nice spot
and do some wading, etc. There are a number of small and isolated islands for
wading.
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| Chinook
and Atlantic Salmon Fishing
At different times of the year starting from November to April, salmon run up
the River Yelcho and find smaller streams that they find to their liking and spawn.
Chinook and Atlantic
Salmon are becoming more numerous in these waters. Many of the rivers
coming off the Pacific water shed along the Chilean coast have salmon runs. They
are not for the moment big, but each year they are coming back bigger and more
in numbers. 
Anglers that want to combine trout fishing with salmon
fishing can do so in Chile. Certain months are better than others and you must
consult with your outfitter or guide for this type of fishing. If the weather
is good at the time of your trip you might want to try for salmon fishing. You
do not want a lot of rain as it discolors the water on these rivers and makes
it very difficult for fishing.
Most of the salmon
in the Chilean coastal river areas are tidal fish. If they are not making their
run up rivers to spawn, it means that they are running up into the rivers on the
high tide and only staying until the tide turns and then they run out. Every day
they will repeat this. So at high tide you will have your best fishing and a lot
of them. Some might run way up into the river and hold in pools, but you will
have to do a lot of walking and searching. There are some real big fish to be
hooked.
After a good day of fly fishing, oh is it nice to
come back to a hot shower, relaxing drink or glass of wine, a little conversation
on how the day went, while we wait for a great meal. An important part of your
fishing trip is having a great place to stay, with all the comforts that anyone
would want and we promise to have the best for you at the Yelcho.
Getting
to Rio Yelcho
Rio Yelcho Lodge is located
at the Mouth of the Rio Yelcho and Lake Yelcho and about 125 miles (as the crow
flies) south of Puerto Montt, Chile.
From Santiago take one of the three domestic airlines, Lan Chile
to Puerto Montt (flight time 1.5 hours). From Puerto Montt the flight time
is 40 minutes (contact us for flight information from Puerto Montt to Chaiten).
At the Chaiten airport your guide will greet you and then drive 40 minutes
to the Rio Yelcho.
If you combine a trip to one of the two other lodges (Alerces Park/Rio
Yelcho or Rio Yelcho/Alto Puelo) it takes 5-6 hours to drive over the Chile/Argentina
frontier. This drive crosses the entire range of the Andes Mountains and follows
the Futaleufu River which comes out of the Alerces Park and empties into the Pacific
ocean in Chile.
Contact us for further information about an exciting fly fishing adventure in
Chile and Argentina.
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