Lago Fagnano, Tierra del Fuego, Chile

 We are heading to the south of the Tierra del Fuego Island.  The road is literally cut in the rocks. 

Finally the long-awaited Lago Fagnano is visible from a mountain pass.  At the pass we see the first snow.  

This huge lake is 100 km long and up to 500 m deep.  In the first evening we were able to fish the lake - the wind was very mild.  I was lucky to land a very unusually looking rainbow trout. 

 The fish was very strong, rather skinny and bright silver - with no pink strips on its sides.

 About 9/10 of the Fagnano Lake belongs to Argentina; we have visited the western, Chilean part.  Here there is the lake outlet - short Rio Azopardo. 

Rio Azopardo is swift and powerful; its water is very clear.  There are rumors on huge sea-run brown trout which are caught in this stream.   The wading was tough - in most areas the stream was way too deep. 

I was able to catch a fat brook trout.  This fish is probably coming into the river out of the lake for feeding or spawning. 

 Good size rainbow trout was caught far from the bank with a nymph on a floating line

Chile, Tierra del Fuego, middle part of Rio Grande - part 2

Along the river there are only a few trees, sowe were able to drive with our rods ready for action. 

Guanacos are very common, and they are not afraid of people.  Stefan during his sleep was almost stepped on by a careless animal. 

Sea-trout is strong fish; for landing it you spend at least a minute per pound.  Most of the holding areas were hard to cover with single-handed rods, especially in strong wind.  I was using 15' 2-handed rod.   

This fish weights about 3 kg; it could be a good trophy for Northern Europe; in Rio Grande this is an average catch.  Sea-run trout are biting mostly rather small flies.  Rubber-leg nymphs are among the best patterns. 

The flies selection for fishing Rio Grande could be limited to small wet flies and nymphs on #12-8 hooks.  In low water conditions the sea-run trout is biting mostly little flies.  Bigger flies (Wooly Buggers, String Leeches, Intruders) are used in periods with high water, and in limited light conditions.  They are also catching the majority of resident trout.   

This 70 cm silver fish was caught with a #10 Red Tag. 

Puff-balls near the river

In summer and fall the ibis is quite common in the open pampa

Chile, Tierra del Fuego, middle part of Rio Grande

Famous Rio Grande begins in the western (Chilean) part of the Tierra del Fuego, crosses the island and flows into Atlantic Ocean.  On this shot Rio Blanco flows left to right and joins Rio Grande near a big beaver hut. 

Below the junction with Rio Blanco the Rio Grande becomes rather big; it is difficult to wade across it even in low water.

 The river meanders in wide open valley with only a few beech trees.  There are no willows in the floodplain. 

Flat terrases of the river allow driving with a 4WD truck. 

 

In the private stretches of the river there are not many fishermen. 

We were fihshing the Chilean part of Rio Grande - from the bridge at the Ruta 85 downstream to the border with Argentina.  The most numerous fish was resident brown trout.  The stream offers excellent trout fishing, but we were aimed at trophy sea-run trout.  This means, a bite of even good size resident trout was considereda nuisance...

Both resident and sea-run trout were biting black or other dark wet flies.  Most of resident fish were caught with big flies on #6-4 hooks.   

Upper part of the famous Rio Grande (Tierra del Fuego)

World-famous Rio Grande (Tierra del Fuego island) is 220 km long.  The upper 120 km of the river belongs to Chile, and its lower part - to Argentina.   Most of the fishermen come here in search of the trophy sea-run brown trout, which can reach 18 kg.  This fishing occurs in the middle & lower part of the river, in Argentina.  It is also possible to catch sea-run trout in Chile, not far from the border with Argentina. In its upper part Rio Grande has good density of resident brown trout. 

This shot was made from a hill, 70 km from the source of the Rio Grande.  The stream is 12-20 meters wide; its depth is 30-150 cm.  The river floodplain is treeless, and the hills along the river valley are covered with beech trees.  The river is not deep and can be crossed by wading at most of the riffles.

In the river we were catching only one species, brown trout.  The fish were from 200 g to 1 kg.  The biggest fish density was below the riffles, but the biggest fish were found in the deep part of the pools, in the areas with cover (snags or submerged peat clumps). 

 

 It is always fun to catch brown trout.  The fishing was quite easy: the fish is not selective and (on windy days) not spooky.  Dark Wooly Bugger on #8 or #6 hook was a good choice for this stream.  

 

Calafate bush is protecting its tasty berries with inch-long spines

 

 Southern caracara

 

Rio Rusfin, Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Chile

Rio Rusfin is flowing along the road 85 in Chilean part of the Tierra del Fuego. 

We were camping near the road in the beech forest. 

Rio Rusfin is a small creek flowing in wide valley.  There are no trees or bushes in the creek floodplain. 

The creek is 2-6 meters wide; average depth is 30-60 cm; some holes are up to 1,5 m deep. 

Trout was feeding in deep riffles and in the upper parts of the pools

Regardless to the small size of a creek, in March there were mostly good size trout here

This old dredge was used during the Tierra del Fuego gold rush.  It was long ago, in beginning of the 20 century.  Now the river looks healthy regardless to the former mining activities.  We all know how bad placer mining is for the trout streams...  I am glad 100 years is enough for rehabilitaton.  

Brown trout is nocturnal animal; it is biting flies even when fisherman is not able to see his fly and tippet

In the upper reaches of the Rio Chico (right tributary to the lower Rio Galliegas)

Rio Galliegas is one of the most famous streams Patagonia - it hosts a good size anadromous brown trout.  The average fish in this stream is 2,8 kg, and the biggest can be up to 15 kg.  Most of the drainage belongs to the territory of Argentina, but its sources are situated in Chile.   

Rio Chico is right tributary to the lower Rio Galliegas.  We have come to its upper reaches after a 100 km drive on dirt road.  Now we are on Chilean territory: Argentina is several kilometers behind me.    

There were lots of nandu ostriches along this road

The river has very low gradient; in many areas it looks like a chain of pools with weeds

We have come to the area where Rio Chico was flowing through a long, shallow lake

In the pool we have started to catch fish - these were good size brook trout.  The fish were biting black Wooly Buggers and other dark streamers.  I was using a tube-fly.  There are no other fish species in the whole drainage of Rio Chico - only brook trout. 

One of the fish was incredibly bright, fat and high-bodied.

The next lake downstream from the first one had no fish.  Here we have seen flamingoes. 

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