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1999/2000 Fishing Report
By Jack Mitchell
Nice! To quote Rick Sizzler (a well-qualified Southern Chile Expeditions guide), very nice, is how we describe our 1999/2000 fly-fishing season in Chile. Saying, “thanks” to all of our guests and workers is our first and foremost priority. So… thanks very much…to all of you! The season was not without changes and challenges, but it was an overall success. After assuring that our guests were absolutely satisfied, the continuing improvement and expansion of our fishing program was a key goal. We succeeded in meeting both goals this season and added more waters to the program as usual.
Our guests were again impressed with our facilities, equipment, staff and service. Unparalleled was a frequently used adjective.
We take pride in our program and strive to assure that your experience in Chile is the best available in the country, if not the world. In addition to our superb fishing program, this season we had many fishers and non-fishers take pleasure in the sport and cultural adventure expeditions at Yan Kee Way Lodge.
For those of you who were not our among our guests this last season, we refer in this report, to Yan Kee Way as our northern location. Yan Kee Way Lodge is situated on the shore of Lago Llanquihue, a
one-hour drive Northeast of Puerto Montt. The whole family may enjoy this deluxe lodge, as it offers a variety of sport adventure expeditions in addition to fishing. The expeditions offer you the opportunity to
experience all that this region of Chile has to offer.
El Patagon Lodge is located approximately 330 air miles South of Yan Kee Way. A deluxe fishing camp, El Patagon is located in the heart of the Chilean Andes amidst our own 3,000 acres of forests,
rivers and lakes. The primary focus there is fishing! We are expanding the program there, for the 2000/2001 season, by adding kayaking, horseback riding, trekking and nature hikes for those who want to broaden
their experience by closer contact with the natural beauty there.
Our season really began November 15th (Fishing Season Opens) with the guide crew doing a lot of R&D to locate areas to expand our program. Basically this means that we fished and fished and we fished and we, well you know! The last half of November, we were in the North where the Rio Petrohué, Jimmy Carter Spring Creek and the Rio Puelo kept us
busy with 10-27 inch Rainbows and Browns. The legendary Rio Petrohué is almost out the back door of Yan Kee Way Lodge and offers outstanding fishing. It is a changeable river. However
, knowledge of its intricacies during the early and late season can definitely widen your eyes and bend your rod. The Robson party joined us during this month. Pete and Ann fished our northern
location for only three days. We spent one special day, on the Cayatue creek, a tributary to Todos Los Santos Lake. It was a wonderful day of fishing with many 15-22 inch trout taken in crystal clear water.
Spring is a wonderful time in Chile. Flowers burst forth in bloom, the water flows clean and the fish are hungry. December, our springtime down here, is an exciting month for fishing as well. As the
Christmas holidays effect our total guest count, some of us were able to spend time at our South camp conducting a bit more research.
Awesome best describes the fishing we found. During the months of November, December and the first part of January we were able to float fish what we call “ Rio Especial.”  This river is the perfect
example of a classic, textbook trout fishery in Chile. If you were to photo- illustrate a book on fly-fishing, this would be the place to do it. This special river remains a great fishery following Jan 15, but is
unfloatable due to low water conditions and difficult access by foot. Later on, for the hardy, it’s a party. Our home lake, aptly named “Jumping Fish Lake” is a hopping place to be in the early season,
literally. After Jan. 15 until about March 15 the lake tends to slow to fishing with dries. We named Jumping Fish Lake for the fish,
(Rainbows, Brookies and Browns), as they literally go airborne for flying dragonflies. The truth, no lies, or guide BS! These fish don’t jump occasionally; it happens on a MEGA scale!
Our favorite river in the south, we refer to as Rio Patagon. It’s also on fire at this time. Large lake run Brown trout and resident Browns are very busy throughout a certain five mile stretch. In the spring,
Mayfly and Caddis hatches come on which we all love to see. However our favorite approach to entice Browns is through the use of...can you say MICE!
In January the Bumstead, Searing and Hanson party spent a few days at the North camp fishing The Rio Petrohué, Rio Puelo and J.C. Spring Creek. The Bumstead’s experienced great fishing on the
Rio Puelo in the North and Tim Searing landed a hog Brown on the Spring Creek. At El Patagon the fishing was average due to the leading edge of a huge weather pattern, but Steve Bumstead still
managed to take a wonderful brown and the rest of the party caught many respectable trout. The Pope Party at El Patagon and The Reichow party at Yan Kee caught the heart of the weather pattern that
the Bumsteads barely missed. This unusual system, for that time of year, was merciless. The rivers were inflated in both the North and South for about 5 days. Nonetheless, we still managed to
get secure good fishing in at both locations by fishing some of our local secrets. In fact, Jerry Reichow landed a 27-inch brown from Lago I can’t tell you the name and he figured it weighed about 8 pounds. As a result, he wants us to put this location
on our regular schedule.
The Vaden party joined us and experienced great fishing at El Patagon. On a few days their fish catches numbered close to 100. Of course the terrible weather pattern had passed and we all felt
fortunate. The Pigott, Krengell, Thomas and Darlands followed for their combined two-week stay at our north and south locations. These man and wife teams too had many days with catches in excess
of 100. Their adventure started in the north. Carol Krengell had to be persuaded to leave Yan Kee Way, She explained that she didn’t want to leave the best trout fishing ever experienced. But we
convinced her that our program at El Patagon, down south, had a few surprises in store for her.
Hatches of Mayflies, Caddis and a few Stoneflies continued to keep the trout looking for dries. But the most interesting insect (and dry fly of choice for trout and angler at this time of year) is the Cantaria Beetle. This critter measures about 4-5 inches in length and definitely raises eyebrows from Mr.
Bow and Brown. The four couples proceeded to tear up the water to the end of their stay. Don and Dottie Thomas, not only enjoyed the fishing, but also were especially impressed with the natural
beauty and bird life they experienced on their river floats. On departing, all of this group remarked that the trout fishing and overall package was an absolutely wonderful experience and provided some of
the best fishing, if not the best, that they have had in the world. We are pleased that E. Donald Thomas Jr. and his wife are joining us in December of 2000 to try his hand on our waters. He was
moved to action by his parent’s reports.
The fall season in Chile is also a very special time of year. In March we guided Everett Boy, Peter Braman, Terry Deeny and Frank Young at El Patagon and Yan Kee Way. Unfortunately the two
parties experienced another unusual weather pattern down South and it put a damper on the overall fishing at El Patagon. Everett returned to Yan Kee Way for a few days and experienced two good and
one stellar day on the Rio Petrohué. As the fall progressed both locations boasted great Brown trout fishing. Jeff Edvalds came down to try his hand at some dedicated fly-fishing time. On his previous
trips, he has spent more time behind his camera than behind his rod. He too had several 100 fish days. He was surprised at the number of hatches during his 8-day stay in March. He decided to
take the majority of his fish, other than when he fished the mice, by matching the hatch.
Jeff Crosetto and John Rapp joined us at Yan Kee Way in the second week of April. John, a designer
for Patagonia’s® fishing products, went out fishing on Lake Llanquihue shortly after he got off the plane. That evening at dinner, he remarked that, based on the fish he saw rising and jumping (even
though he didn’t get one to the boat), he could go home right then a happy fisherman!
During the following week, Jeff and John had the opportunity to take many large fish from the runs moving back into the rivers in the fall, as the waters cooled down. The Rio Petrohué fished incredibly
well in April through May 15 as the season closed. One of our Chilean guides finished up the season at Yan Kee Way with exploratory fishing right up to the last day. Based on his catches
and reports, we have some incredible runs of Atlantic and silver salmon in the Rio Petrohué right at the end of the season, not to mention awesome Rainbow and Brown trout fishing.
Before concluding, it should be noted that this summary touches on but a few of the season highlights. The problem is
space and time. You may not have the time to read it all and we may not have the space to store it all. So with that, we teased you with but a few fish stories. The only way you’ll really understand
what we’re talking about is to join us again or make your first trip on…Rio X and Y…like the descriptions of Eden, but within reach in the Patagonia of Chile!
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