Guillermo Sagui and friend.

CHILEAN SALTWATER RAINBOWS
One of the world's new salmonoid fisheries

The coastal rivers of Chile offer some of the most exciting angling opportunities in South America. The trout and salmon are the unintentional by-product of the Chilean fish-farming industry: rainbow and brown, and Silver, Coho, and Atlantic salmon inhabit these Pacific drainages. The rivers we fish drain the temperate rainforest and the jagged, glacially-capped mountains and volcanoes.

These are primarily rainbow fisheries. Fish average 6-10 pounds and look like super-stuffed footballs; they are acrobatic and very strong. Very little is known about these fish and their habits, although one thing is certain: they like to eat flies. We employ the same fishing techniques as steelheading and Atlantic salmon fishing. Unlike "true" steelhead, the Chilean rainbows enter the river with the tide to breath the oxygenated sweetwater. They are also reproducing naturally in the rivers and runs of fish like our steelhead may already be established.

This season we are pleased to offer our clients a saltwater rainbow program to fish three rivers from Rancho Chancho, "Hog Ranch", a comfortable three-bedroom, one bathroom house, located in a rural coastal Chilean community. The Rancho Chancho is conveniently situated within casting distance of one river and a short hike to another; an hour boat ride brings us to our third river.

Join us for 10 days of fishing and combine a week's stay in Esquel with a trip to Rio Pico or coastal Chile for saltwater rainbows.