In the national park Torres del Paine, Chile

The national park Torres del Paine is situated 300 km to the north from Punta Arenas, capital of the Region XII, Chile.  One of the main attractions of the park is a group of spectacular rocks called Cuernos.  These rocks are built of black hornstone on top of white granite.  Some people like to climb such cliffs and claim that it is even better than fly-fishing... 

This shot shows the same mountains as background of the biggest stream of the park - Rio Serrano.

Rio Serrano is powerful, deep and wide.  In the end of February 2010 near the stream outlet out of a big lake Lago del Toro there were lots of chinook salmon.  All fish were dark and did not want to bite our flies same as lures of local fishermen.   

In the river it was possible to catch good size trout

All fish caught at the park territory should be released

In the park there are many lakes created by glaciers

Waterfall between the lakes Lago Nordenskjold and Lago Pehoe

It is hard to visit the park and not to take numerous pictures of guanacos

Local gees have striped feathers which are excellent as fly-tying material

In the areas where the gees feed it is easy to find plenty of feathers,

which make excellent streamer wings

Chile, Region XII, Rio Rubens

Rio Rubens was the first Patagonian stream which I had fished.  Very exciting. 

Rio Rubens and Rio Penitente are sources of the Argentinian Rio Galliegas, famous with its sea-run brown trout.  Both streams begin in Chile, not far from the Pacific coast.  Rio Rubens near the bridge at the road #9 is 12-20 meters wide.  The water in the river is tea-colored. 

Rio Rubens has LOTS of dead trees and submerged snags.  Be ready to loose many flies.

My first casts had brought this...  - the local fishermen are fishing with metal lures. 

I was able to find one pool with trout, and landed some good fish.  This one was the biggest..

This tube-fly I used to use for chum salmon in Sakhalin Island.  Now it is catching trout.  

The forest of southern beech looks suitable for trolls and other unpleasant creatures...

Punta Arenas, Chilean Patagonia

Punta Arenas is capital of the southern, XII Region of Chile.   This city was a "base" of our fishing trips in Patagonia.  From here it is easy to get to the Torres del Paine National Park, to Tierra del Fuego, and also to the Santa Cruz Province of Argentina.

This is a nice quiet city with population of 100,000

I have not seen any alarm systems installed on the cars of the residents

There were 3 of us: Arthur Miskevich from Russia (left), Stefan Benzinger from Germany (right), and I

We have rented a Mitsubishi L200 puckup truck and spent 6 weeks travelling through Patagonia.  The total distance of all our trips was 4500 km. 

  

Lots of buildings if Punta Arenas are old and nice

This is a statue of an Indian sitting at the base of the monument to Magellan.  There are tales that to obtain luck it is necessary to touch its foot.  I did it to have good fishing in the next 6 weeks. 

Panorama of a city from a hill

Black-necked swans in the sea