In my last post, I mentioned we were evacuated from Valle del Carrileufu Lodge after only 6 hours because of a large wildfire very close to the lodge. Our initial plan was to stay at the lodge for four nights and fish around an in Los Alerces National Park. That night we began what I call our “plan B” experience with El Encuentro Fly Fishing. They worked hard to ensure we still had a great experience in middle Patagonia. Our original plan was to stay 10 days with them and fly fish 9 days. Because of the wildfires, El Encuentro Fly Fishing was overbooked for their remaining lodges and asked us if we would consider going to Chile and fishing three days with a different lodge. Fly fishing with Matapiojo Lodge in Chile became our “plan C”.
The Argentina/Chile border was only a 25 minute drive away. Doesn’t look like much, does it? Our guide Leandro drove us to the border and helped us through border control in Argentina and Chile.
Matapiojo Lodge is an Orvis endorsed lodge which offers more of a glamping experience.
We met our guide and owner of Matapiojo Lodge, Fran Rivera (right) and Edgar the helper at the border crossing. After loading our luggage in his truck, we drove about a quarter of a mile to the launch on the Rio Futaleufú for a short drift of a few hours before heading to the lodge.
The Rio Futaleufú is the same river we had fished during our stay at El Encuentro Lodge the previous day.
Fran quickly rowed us downstream to a series of eddies where we ended up sight-fishing for Rainbows. These were nice fish eager to take our dry flies.
It wasn’t a long day and Fran kept moving us to different locations in slower water along the trees and a few fish ate our flies. It was a good way to begin our “plan C” trip in Chile!
After loading up the cataraft, the lodge was a little over an hour’s drive away.
A wood stove was burning and providing heat when we arrived at our tent. The space was very comfortable and we found the large tent (with a cover over the tent) very comfortable and warmed us quickly. I added a few pieces of wood while we waited for cocktails and dinner.
The attached bathroom was just outside the entrance and included the normal flush toilet and comfortable shower.
Our tent was located a few steps away from the Rio Futaleufú and these beautiful cliffs on the other side of the river. We were told condor could be seen flying around them, but we weren’t that lucky.
The next morning after breakfast, our guide Mati took us to the Rio Palena, a river that begins in Argentina also known as the Carrenleufú and Río Corcovado as the out-flow from Lake Vintter, and flows west through Chile to the Pacific Ocean.
This was some beautiful water, but overnight, the river had colored up quite a bit. Mati had floated the previous day and the river fished well when the water was blue compared to brown as we floated the river.
We did catch a few fish, but Mati suggested we row out after lunch and fish the Rio Futaleufú at the lodge where we might have better luck.
Here is our lunch spot.
Mati rowed us downstream to the takeout next to a ferry crossing.
After our drive back to the lodge, we boarded a boat next to our tent and proceeded to cross the river and look for feeding fish.
This is a big river that at first glance appears overwhelming. But Mati and the other guides know where eddies exist and easily spot fish willing to rise to a fly.
After a while, we switched from dry flies to streamers. While casting my streamer, I found a fish that rose and I immediately cast to the ring. To my surprise, I hooked and landed the fish. I had snagged it, so I guess my casting was spot on!
We decided to call it a day and headed back to the lodge.
The next day, Fran was our guide again and he took us to a different section of the Rio Futaleufú where a reservation is needed. To my surprise, we never saw another boat or angler the whole day. I’m not sure how far we floated, but we fished the whole day, drove back a little over an hour to the lodge, arriving after 7 pm. What we found were rising fish eager to eat our dry flies!
Fran had noticed my camera gear and I shared my images with him the last two nights. He was intrigued with the images of insects floating on the water and we decided to see if I could capture a fish rising to a dry fly.
Look closely and you’ll see the fish ready to eat the small dry fly just in front of its lower lip.
Dancingtrout helped with that, as she hooked and landed several very nice Rainbows
And this is one of the fish landed that morning.
We circled this eddy several times, locating fish along the edges willing to eat flies cast to them.
We caught a lot of fish in that water and we could still see where we launched the cataraft!
Finally, it was time to head downstream and Fran suggested we switch to streamers. He provided guidance for us as we don’t fish steamers very much and it wasn’t long before each of us landed some trout.
Here are two of the streamers we had success with.
Look closely at the image below. The flat water close to overhanging bushes is where Fran found fish. He’d hold us on the edge of the current, locate the fish and direct our casting. It was very effective as we caught several nice trout.
This was my last fish of the day, taken on a streamer.
We smiled when Fran pulled out his fly box, barely held together with duct tape.
I told Fran it was time to head to the takeout. He would say “just one more spot” several times. Let’s just say he is a very “fishy” guide and wants his guests to have an extraordinary experience!
This run is close to our takeout.
We had a wonderful time fishing with Fran and Mati. I’m just sorry we only had three days of fly fishing with Matapiojo Lodge!
I think a return trip is needed to explore more the water available. As I recall, the lodge lists access to 37 different waters including Rio Futaleufú, Rio Palena, Yelcho Lake, Rio Yelcho, Espolón Lake, Lonconao Lake, circuit of 7 lagoons, Rio Tigre, and Rio Malito.
At the end of our stay, we were driven back to the Chilean town of Futaleufú where Leandro, our guide from El Encuentro Fly Fishing met us and helped with the border crossing again. We really enjoyed Leandro and shared our experience over coffee before he dropped us off at the Esquel airport for our flight back to Buenos Aires and our flight to the US. We were pleased to meet up with the owner at coffee, Benjamin Beale who suggested the Chilean option for the end of our trip. We are grateful for the extra time spent to make arrangements in Chile for our “plan C” experience!
Enjoy…go fish!
