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SOUTH AMERICAN THREE PART PACKAGE
This is a brief rundown on the three week South
American package mentioned in our newsletter. Two
of the three parts are relatively close together –
the Andes and Fjord elements – while the
Amazon/Peacock Bass portion is in Brazil. Although
you could do them in any order (i.e. do the Amazon
first followed by Andes/Fjords or visa versa) for
the sake of our example, let’s start in the Andes.
You would arrive in Santiago, Chile on a Thursday to
begin your adventure. Assuming you took a red eye
flight, we would R & R in Santiago on this Thursday
and catch an early flight the next morning south to
Puerto Montt – about a 2.5 hr flight. Here you
would catch a local airline for the 30 minute flight
to Chaitan, a small Chilean town on the coast of the
fjords. You would be met at Chaitan for transport
to the lodge. This is one of the most rural
remaining areas in Patagonia….and the less pressured
by US fisherman. Also, with a good chance to take
large rainbows and browns. The lodge is a quality
operation on the Palena River and has the best
fishing options of any Patagonian lodge. During
your seven night stay here, your guided fishing
(English speaking guides) would include several
different rivers and lagoons. You could also do an
overnight float trip through the Andes on the Palena
River and do another overnight at an outpost cabin
on the Argentine border near the crest of the
Andes. The lodge caters to only six fisherman per
week and offers a high level of personal service and
comfort. Price: $3,850 for the seven night
package.
After your stay here, the lodge would transport you
about 2 hours south to your stay in the fjords. If
you look at a map of Chile, you’ll see hundreds of
tiny islands just off the coast. This is a
different environment than the Andes – a salt water
environment with fresh water rivers and streams
draining the larger islands. Good population of
large trout as well as silver salmon – their size is
influenced by the salt water environment as the fish
move in and out of the salt water. Our stay here
would be at a high end hotel and spa built in the
fjords – can only be accessed by boat or small
plane. They have a fly fishing program here
limited to four fly fishers at a time. We would
spend four nights here with two or three days of
guided fishing – may take a day off of fishing to
enjoy the spa and the ambiance of the area in which
the spa is located. Price would vary depending on
what we included, but it would be approximately the
same as the lodge on a per day basis.
We’d wrap up our stay at the hotel/spa with a
catamaran trip south through the fjords, overnight,
and then fly out of Balmaceda back to Santiago.
From Santiago, we’d make our way via air east
across South America to the Amazon town of Manaus,
Brazil, where we would meet the lodge plane for the
60 minute flight to the lodges private airport
adjoining their property. Our seven night stay here
would include fishing the clear waters of the
AguaBoa River for peacock bass, arowana, pacu, and
several other jungle species. The water is clear
enough to allow sight casting to peacock bass to 20+
pounds. The general area is one of the Amazon’s
last remaining tracts of uncut and uninhabited
rainforest. The lodge itself provides a high level
of comfort and friendly service in air conditioned
bungaloos – 12 people max. Price is $4,400 for your
Sat to Sat stay, including the charter flight to and
from Manaus. At the conclusion of your stay, the
lodge would return you to Manaus where you could
catch your flight to Miami.
Reservations: When piecing three parts together at
lodges which tend to book up early with repeat
clients like these, it’s best to plan far in advance
to allow for everything to fit together right. For
instance, if you were planning an early ’07 trip,
now would not be too early to be making tentative
plans. If you wanted to go in early ’06, there are
very few window of availability open and we would be
fortunate to be able to piece everything together
for all three stops.
Prime time in all three places is Jan, Feb into
early March with Dec as a possibility.
What next? I do have an extensive slide
presentation of the Andes and fjords options as I
have spent several years exploring and fishing
Patagonia and the fjords. I’m going to be in the
Bush Street shop this Thursday through the early
evening if you’d like to get together and view the
slide tour?
Thanks.
Don Meulrath
TRIP REPORT
Fly Fishing Adventures
888-347-4896
flyfish@napanet.net
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