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

Rio Galliegas Chico

Rio Galliegas Chico is right tributary to the middle reaches of famous Patagoinan stream - Rio Galliegas.  The river begins in the middle of a wide, dry valley on Chilean territory, several kilometers from the border with Argentina.  Above thar place there is no stream in the valley; the river appears on the day surface as a spring

creek. 

 

A horse is hiding from strong wind behind a bush

The stream is vodka-clear, chocked by weeds and green ooze. 

The river looks like a chain of separate pools, connected with green marshy meadows.

The average depth of the pools is 1-1,5 meters.

The river is one of the easiest for catching good size trout, at least on windy days.  The fish is not spooky, and there is no need to cast far.  Drop a dark streamer into the deeper part of the pool and retrieve it with jerks. 

We were hiking along the river further downstream.   

The river is populated by nice size trout.  It is true brown trout - the fish has bright, red-brown color.   In many pools it is hard to land fish - it is hiding in thick weeds.    

"Memorial to the wind" at the road #9 near Punta Arenas

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

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