ADVENTURES IN PARADISE

AND

THE FOIBLES OF THE SWIMMING STEVES

 

We are just back from our third trip to Chile in the last thirteen months. I know we have highlighted our past trips in detail but not to worry, it won’t be that long winded.  This trip was every bit as exciting and magnificent as Ken’s trip and my last trip.  The people of Patagonia are still as warm and receptive to tourists as before and the beauty of this region is still breathtaking and virtually unspoiled. The food and wines served at the lodges we stayed in were even better than the last time I went, I am not kidding. Sooner or later the rest of the world will finally catch on to this region and changes will occur. The land is now slowly being bought up by outsiders (mainly from the U.S.) and big ranches can still be purchased reasonably inexpensive. Why am I telling you this? Well, because I want to impress upon you the thought that if you ever wanted to go to Patagonian Chile I would definitely put it up there at the top of your travel plans. Think of New Zealand ten years ago and what it is like now. No, it was never as remote as Patagonia but hopefully you get the gist of what I am talking about.

You get exceptional scenic beauty, unbelievable flora and fauna, no crowds, oh, and great fishing to boot. Don’t get me wrong, I am not forecasting doom and gloom, but eventually it will get crowded. Right now Puerto Montt /Puerto Varas has become a cruise line excursion destination.
So, what about our trip? Well, our trip was a little different than most this time. We had one couple (Paul and Marcia Breskin) stay two weeks, one week over Christmas at Estancia del Zorro and the second week with most of the rest of us at the brand spanking new Cinco Rios lodge. Paul and Marcia were the first people this season at Zorro and Paul caught a 30 inch brown from their world famous spring creek, and I don’t exaggerate how important that spring creek is to the fishing world. After fishing there for Christmas week, they joined most of the rest of us (Max and Harriet Poper, Ross Shideler, Kathy Komar, Steve Newman, Dolores and me) for New Years week at Cinco Rios where we had the distinct pleasure to be the first guests to stay at this remarkable lodge. OK, I am a bit of a snob so I thought it would be great to be the first group that visited the Lodge at Cinco Rios. There is only one time that anyone can be the first at something.  The lodge is situated high on a bluff overlooking the Rio Simpson and the Simpson Valley. There are 180-degree panoramic views from their deck and the lounge has a gigantic fireplace with wonderful views from either side. All the rooms are wonderfully furnished, very comfortable and have panoramic views with nifty amenities like a bathroom towel drying rack. Our host, Sebastian Galilea and his brother Juan Andreas treated us like family. From the moment we arrived at the airport in Balmaceda until the time we left their lodge, that feeling never abated. We all enjoyed fantastic service with truly wonderful food and wines. This will fast become a landmark with the likes of Estancia del Zorro, El Patagon, and Yan Kee Way. These are all Patagonian lodges that we know and love here at the Spot. They are all first-rate and run extremely well.

After our stay at Cinco Rios ended, everyone went back to the states except for Steve Newman and me. We were driven five hours north through spectacular vistas, glaciers, waterfalls, and rain forests to El Patagon another wonderful lodge located in a temperate rain forest. At El Patagon, long time Sierra Pacific member Bill Harry, joined us. Here, our host Pato (we nicked named him “El Mama” because he was always doting on us), made sure all our needs were met with satisfaction. He ran the lodge with a mother’s iron fist. The food and wines were delicious, sumptuous and plentiful. The deserts were to die for just like at Cinco Rios. We all ate in a yurt, and a very elegant yurt at that. The cabins were extremely comfortable and quite spacious.
OK, what about the fishing?  Well, it was pretty darn good.

As I stated earlier, Paul Breskin caught a 30-inch brown and Ross Shideler caught a rainbow that had to be over 25 inches. Steve Newman loaded up on fish over 20 inches and Max, Marcia, Kathy, Bill and I all had fish over 18-20 inches.

There were several 50+ fish days. There are many things you have control over when traveling and one of them ain’t the weather. Mark Twain was reported to have said that….”The coldest winter he ever spent, was a summer in San Francisco.” It wasn’t that it was that cold all the time, but it rained everyday while we were in Patagonia and it snowed a few hundred feet above us at El Patagon on our last fishing day. That’s show biz, and that is one of the reasons why one should invest in good technical clothing (I will elaborate later).
Fishing these lodges is a total experience. Besides fly-fishing, there are the great meals and superb wines, schmoozing about that day’s experiences (always important), as well as immersing oneself in a foreign culture within a beautiful and spectacular part of the world. And, you don’t need to just fish if you so choose. You can ride horses, zip line, white-water raft at some of the lodges. Dolores and Harriet went there just to enjoy the beauty of the land and to see what goes on in Patagonia. This is a perfect area for birding with numerous species available to the enthusiast. Their guide took them all over the region driving as far as four hours from the lodge. Lunch was still provided just like with a fishing guide. Why they even learned how to castrate a bull and hopefully that will be the end of that story.

At this point you are probably asking yourselves, “Well, what about the swimming Steves and what about technical clothing too?”  Believe it or not, they are related. OK, you need to be aware of what you are doing at all times. For example, I was fishing a glacial feed river near Cinco Rios called the Paloma and I was at the front of a 16’ two man raft on the fishing platform. To my right I spotted a fish rising. I immediately turned to my right, began to cast and took a step (wrong!) and unfortunately stepped off the platform with my left foot on to the bottom of the raft, which is like walking on a waterbed. Well to my complete surprise, my momentum carried me over the side of the raft head first into the cold, cold river. The guide was right there to grab me when I bobbed up to the surface and within a few seconds I was back on the raft, but soaked. My first actual thought (besides thinking, “Wow, what a stupid thing I just did and wow, I am completely under water), was I hope I didn’t “expletive deleted” up this float. Believe it or not, my fly rod was still in my hand. The guide immediately rowed to a landing spot. Luckily for me I was wearing great technical outerwear. I took my Simms G3 jacket and Gortex waders off first, turned them inside out and put them on a large shrub to dry out. This is where the term good comes to mean something very important. They were sufficiently dried out with 45 minutes or less. This is also where a good guide means something important too. Not only had Claudio expertly retrieved me, he had a dry bag with extra clothing items in it. He had enough extra fleece items in it too make things a lot better for me. After drying off as much as possible, having lunch with some hot coffee, I was able to put my waders and jacket back on and to continue the float to the end. One Steve down, one more to go.

A few days later, at El Patagon, Steve Newman and I were fishing on a lake seemingly appropriately named Lago Muerto (death). It was a cold and rainy day, just like a few days earlier. Well guess what? Steve number two wasn’t paying attention and bam; the next thing we saw was Steve number two, almost in slow motion, falling overboard.  Again, our guide was perfect in the rescue. What this should all mean to all who are reading this is that you never know what can possibly go wrong. You always need to pay attention and you always should have an advantage if something does go wrong. Your advantage, good clothing that will save the day or your life. My other suggestion which I learned from this experience is that when you are floating a river it is a good idea to take along a dry bag and stuff it with fleece clothing, an extra jacket, socks and hat. It couldn’t hurt and there always room in a boat for the dry bag. Experience is a good instructor too. A lot of times customers may think we are a little over zealous when selling for a trip. We never like to oversell, but we need to point out products that can make your trip better and safer. One of the couples on our trip thought that I might have been a little overenthusiastic when I suggested some of the clothing items for this trip but when they saw what happened to me they came back into the shop after our trip and bought what was needed to prepare for their next adventure.
Well, I guess I was a little more long winded than I had intended. Like our last trip, we all had a terrific time, ate well, caught many fish and have memories that will last a lifetime. Fly-fishing in Patagonia in the summer at best is an adventure and the weather can be unpredictable. One week before the main group got to Cinco Rios it was in the 80’s with no rain and the day we arrived it started to rain and got windy and a lot colder. For most of our trip the rain was spotty, almost misty, but we did have a day where it poured. We all adjusted and in spite of the wind, rain or cold it was a marvelous experience for me and I hope for our group. As many of you know, I mostly fish dries at places like Hot Creek and the Owens. So, stripping a streamer or even something like a Turk’s Tarantula (one of my new favorite flies) or fishing a big nymph or even setting a size 6 dry in a fish coming out of a log pile in a big river with 1X tippet is a little beyond my usual comfort zone. Well, I adjusted and was eventually rewarded. The way I look at things everyday that you are on the water you learn and a fishing trip is the sum total of all the parts. A mediocre day on the water can turn into a great day when the experience also involves good food and good wine shared with friends at a first rate lodge.

All the photos on this page were provided by our friends and clients. Thank you!

 

 

Fishermen's Spot
14411 Burbank Blvd.,
Van Nuys, CA 91401
(818) 785-7306
411@fishermensspot.com