Gaston's plan was to make this more than a fishing operation and to have a developed eco-touring program that would make his little base outside of Puerto Natales the perfect venue for couples and families. The idea was that in addition to guiding the seldom fished waters of the region there would be thoughtfully guided hikes both outside of and within the park, boat-based glacier tours, puma tours, birding and more. When he committed to opening shortly after the new year in 2024, I grabbed the second week of the season and invited three couples with roots from my hometown of Oakland, California.
Getting There
Most of us flew through Houston to Santiago, Chile. Several members arrived a few days early to check out the capital city. All of us spent at least one night on the front end in Santiago where we stayed at the Hotel Cumbres in the Lastarria district. Everyone was quite pleased with the bounty of restaurants and points of interest within easy walking distance of the hotel. On Saturday morning we took a three-hour morning flight to Puerto Natales, where we were met by the lodge staff and then driven 10 minutes to the Borries House overlooking the golden grassy fields and a bright blue whitecapped inlet of the Pacific.
Where did you fish?
The four anglers of the group fished four days on regional streams, rivers, and spring creeks. Many of the systems are rarely (if ever) fished and all were on private property. The nearest system to the main lodge we fished was 25 minutes away and the most distant was over a two-hour drive (but absolutely worth the time). Some of the rivers were intimate and forested with native beech trees, others were open spring creeks with dramatic back drops. The Rio Penitente was magnificent, we fished down low on one estancia, and then higher upstream on a separate estancia. It is a remarkable river and the largest system we fished with a lovely cobble stone bottom, lots of rifles, flats with weed beds, and cut banks. It was a remarkable river and highly productive.
How was fishing?
Our fishing success overall was solid and like most trips, some days we worked hard for a few fish, but the in those cases the fish we caught were healthy specimens in the range of 17–22 inches. We also spent two days fishing the beautiful Penitente River. On our first day on the lower river, after a particularly slow morning, I mistakenly got the feeling there were very few fish in the system. As a result, I convinced my fishing partner to explore a nearby spring creek that the guide had expressed some interest in. It was a great outing, but my move proved to be a big mistake, as after lunch, the water warmed up and the Penitente really came alive! The two anglers that had the good sense to stick with the program crushed fish all afternoon on dry flies and dropper-nymph set ups. My great friend Ned said he had experienced around 40 strikes after lunch and landed fish of all sizes with some topping out at about 20 inches. This was the only day we ever saw another angler, as the estancia has multiple large fishing beats that they make available to only a select number of anglers.
The rest of the week we never saw another footprint, let alone an angler. On the last day of our trip, we headed into an even more remote section of the upper Penitente. This was our longest drive of the trip with many locked “gaucho gates” deep within a vast forested estancia that is never fished. When we reached the river, it was picture perfect; broad, semi-shallow with great rifles, buckets, steep banks, and small boulder gardens that were easy to navigate. As soon as we arrived it was game on! While my friends were all fishing dry-dropper rigs, I swung flies all day. I caught fish on small soft hackles, little leaches, and experienced amazing success on a small, unweighted baby trout streamer swung just beneath the surface. On one long flat I aggressively fished a large top-water wounded baitfish fly and blew up a dozen fish but only hooked two of them. Then I went back and fished the same run slowly pulsing a Morrish Mouse and caught all those fish plus several others. While we did not see the largest fish that the system offered, we caught many in the 15-to 20-inch class. When our group was reunited at the end of the day, everyone experienced amazing fishing, and John Murray, with whom I have fished often said, it was the best day of trout fishing in his life. I released close to 50 fish.