Northern Patagonia Lodge

Patagonia Fishing

Overlooking the Chimehuín River, Northern Patagonia Lodge boasts front-door access to the greatest diversity of trout water in northern Patagonia. Brown, rainbow, brook trout, and landlocked salmon all thrive here. You’ll wade, float, and fish untouched beats by horseback or vehicle access, depending on your daily preferences.

The picturesque Chimehuín River is a wade and raft-friendly river that flows for 25 miles until it meets the Collón Curá River—another Patagonia fly-fishing mainstay. Also nearby, you’ll find small, technical streams offering dry-fly, streamer, and nymphing opportunities depending on the season.

In addition to sprawling rivers and intimate small streams, this is also a land of lakes. Trophy still-waters include the Tromen, Huechulafquen, Epulafquen, Verde, and Curruhé—to name a few. Each has its own special nuances and all are known for sizable trout. In total, the area is home to more than 20 trout-rich lakes.

Guide services at Northern Patagonia Lodge (NPL) are provided by Patagonia River Guides (PRG). The PRG squad is the best in the area opening up exciting new possibilities for NPL guests. For instance, during a weeklong stay, you can now participate in one of PRG’s renowned 2-night “Unplugged” camp trips. These multi-day wilderness floats allow you to fish unpressured waters that are not easily reached during a day trip from the lodge. The camps are also deluxe by design. That means delicious Argentine meals, a comfortable night’s sleep under the stars, and dynamite fishing every morning.

This is a sample itinerary for the purpose of illustration only. These are the waters we typically fish from the lodge. We may vary your specific itinerary according to your fishing preferences and prevailing weather, temperature, water levels, fish migration, and the opinions of our guides. We can also arrange trips to other great fisheries from the lodge.

Day 1

• • Arrival in San Martin de los Andes at Chapelco Airport (around 2 p.m.)
  • Drive to Northern Patagonia Lodge
  • After lunch, the fishing manager will assist anglers in preparation of fishing equipment
  • Cocktails, appetizers, and dinner at the lodge.

Day 2

• • Breakfast at the Lodge
  • After breakfast, we’ll drive to the Lower Malleo River
  • This section of the river is located in the Mapuche Reservation Amutuy Quime
  • It is wading only. There are hundreds of pools to fish all day long.
  • Back to the Lodge for appetizers and dinner
  • Recommended rods: 4, 5 or 6 wt with floating lines and 7’ to 12’ leaders

Day 3

• • Breakfast at the lodge
  • Our day starts at the Rinconada Bridge, which spans the Collón Curá River
  • This is big water, like the Madison in Montana, with fish from 12 inches to several pounds; there are brown and rainbow trout and Perca, our native fish. Percas put up a nice fight, much like a brown trout, and eat whatever you throw at them
  • We’ll float most of this river and we’ll stop and wade the many channels formed around the islands in the river
  • Back to the lodge for appetizers and dinner

Day 4

• • Breakfast at the Lodge
  • Drive to Lake Tromen, in the shadows of Lanín Volcano and 3 miles from the Chilean border, where we will fish for trophy brown, rainbow, and brook trout. We’ll fish from our rafts casting to submerged logs, weed patches, obstacles, and boulders where big trout live. There is a tiny spring creek that can be fished while we cook you a traditional Argentine Asado (BBQ) for small brookies, or you may fish the outlet of this creek for trophy size trout up to 7+ pounds
  • If you are in the mood of walking, there is a 40-minute walk to the mouth of the Malleo River. Fishing with dry flies sometimes produces nonstop action for rainbow trout and browns
  • Back to the lodge for appetizers and dinner

Day 5

• • Breakfast at the lodge
  • Float the Chimehuin River, from Piedra del Viento (200 yards upstream from Northern Patagonia Lodge) to the Military Bridge. It is an all-day float with a lunch break around 1 pm. We’ll fish the pools that made Junin de los Andes a world-class destination for fly anglers (Piedras Blancas, Currhue, and Parrot pools). A lot of fishing is done from the rafts, but we’ll stop at the best spots and wade
  • Back to the lodge for appetizers and dinner.

Day 6

• • Breakfast at the Lodge
  • Our day starts at the confluence of the Malleo and Alumine rivers. This is big water again, with fish from 12 inches to several pounds. There are brown and rainbow trout, some landlocked Atlantic salmon, and Perca, our native fish
  • Back to the lodge for appetizers and dinner

Day 7

• • Breakfast at the Lodge
  • Fish the middle Malleo River, with a streamside barbeque. This is pretty much the same (unforgettable) fishing as the lower Malleo River. You’ll love to be back on this jewel of a river
  • Back to the lodge for appetizers and dinner

Day 8

• • Breakfast at the lodge
  • Today we will say our good-byes and go to San Martin de los Andes for some shopping and lunch (depending on the time of departure flight) and then transfer to Chapelco Airport for departure.

Rainbow Trout

Is there a more beautiful or popular fish? Depicted on corporate logos, ball caps, and gas station signs, the rainbow trout is the ideal symbol combining beauty and sport. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is favored by fly fishers because of its beautiful coloration—for which it’s named—and its fighting ability. Wild rainbow trout typically have olive-colored backs, tails peppered with dark spots, and silvery sides that look as if they’ve been painted pink and crimson. The rainbow trout is actually a member of the Pacific salmon family and has been stocked on six continents. It can be found in freshwater streams, rivers, and lakes, also in saltwater bays and open ocean as steelhead (the sea-run form of the fish, which returns to freshwater to spawn). Trout prefer cold, oxygenated moderately moving creeks and streams with plenty of cover and pools, although they also do well in food-rich backcountry lakes and rivers.

Rainbow size generally relates to the size of the water they can be found in, as well as the available forage base. Smaller creeks are usually home to smaller fish, while bigger rainbows inhabit bigger watersheds. Generally speaking, a three-year-old rainbow trout in a general trout stream grows to 12 inches but can exceed 20 inches if food is abundant and water temperatures are stable throughout the year.

Brown Trout

Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) and Sea Trout (S. truttamorpha trutta) are both fish of the same species. They can be distinguished by the fact that that resident, non-migrating browns live in freshwater river systems such as Chile’s Futaleufú, while the sea trout of Tierra del Fuego show anadromous tendencies, migrating to the ocean and returning to freshwater as massive steelhead-size specimens to spawn.

Brown trout are native to Europe and Asia, but the natural distribution of the migratory forms may be, in fact, circumpolar. Sea-run brown trout are not considered endangered in any location. But in some cases, individual stocks are under various degrees of stress because of habitat degradation and artificial propagation leading to introgression.

Brown trout like cold (60-65 degrees F, or 15-18 degrees C), well-oxygenated waters, especially large streams in mountainous areas. The in-stream cover is important, and they are more likely to be found where there are submerged rocks, undercut banks, and overhanging vegetation. Browns in freshwater have the ability to grow to 9+ pounds. Although in most small rivers, mature brown might average 2 to 3 pounds. The sea-run variations of Argentina are another story, and consistently push the 20-30+ pound range—a challenge for fly fishers seeking the biggest, baddest browns on the planet.

Brown trout are active both by day and by night and are predatory feeders. While in freshwater, the diet typically includes streambed invertebrates, small fish, frogs, wayward mice, and insects flying near the water’s surface. A brown’s penchant for insect larvae, pupae, nymphs, and adult insects is what makes this trout a fly-fishing favorite.