Chile 09-10

Hola all, sorry for the delay in the first blog post of the season but I have been pretty much shacked up out at the campo since arriving this winter and have done only very limited stints in Coyhaique thus far.

Summer 09-10 in Southern Chile is off to a good start though. Clients have been a little light, but we have had a few and they have all been wonderful. The first client of the season, Chad, came down solo and arrived only a few days after my own arrival. The weather was absolutely phenomenal while Chad was here and we had a great week.

We took him on an overnight float on the upper river.

And we took him up to Rex’s Lake, where I was able to see my old buddy Jose for the first time this season. Making fun of me still seems to be one of his favorite past times and it is even a little exacerbated this year due to the fact that Antonio, the new guide, speaks fluent Spanish. Which just seems to make my overall gringoness even more apparent.

We ended Chad’s week with a trip down to the coast. The drive down there was as beautiful as I remembered it and while there we enjoyed by far the best weather that I have experienced in that area.

The fishing was not super hot but the weather let us run out a little further into the actual ocean and the beginning of the fjords. We had lunch on our own little private island and enjoyed the views of this sweet waterfall/glacier combo.

After Chad left we entertained four guys from Brazil for two days. They operate a fishing magazine there and were on a government sponsored trip to write an article on the trout fishing in this region. In other words, they are good at talking and scammed a free two week trip down to Southern Chile, hats off gentlemen. And while they were super nice and fun, they brought the rain, which has not really stopped since they left.

Apparently, this is an El Nino year and we are all now grappling with the fact that it may rain for the next four months straight. I, however, don’t mind. I need a little break from the sun, the rivers are chock full of water, there is still plenty of snow in the high country, and the fish seem to like it.

Starting tomorrow I am back out at the lodge until sometime in February, so here are a few more pics just to remind you what it is all about down here.