The Fishing

                                                                                                                                                                  
Rio Yelcho offers a diverse fishing experience including dry fly fishing t0 sipping rainbows in large back eddies, wade fishing various runs, fishing smaller rivers that empty into the Yelcho and floating the log jams that line the banks (the wood from the native trees does not float so this makes incredible productive homes for large Browns), especially in the early morning and the evening.  Browns to 20 lbs. have been caught in this river. The river serves as a nursery for the lake and it is not uncommon for anglers to have 50 fish days on the river.  The size varies from 10-36 inches with many being in the 16- 24 inch range. The majority of the river fishing is with sinking or sink tip lines.  In addition to the trout the three salmon species are periodically present.

From the land based lodge we also fish a river estuary reached via a 40 minute horseback ride up the ocean beach that has produced incredible Steelhead and Atlantic salmon fishing depending on the time of the year.  Double digit fish have been common in this fishery. Unfortunately a tributary of this river originates from near the Chaiten Volcano so the ash and soil erosion run-off has negatively impacted this fishery since  the eruption in 2008.  We have only been able to fish it a few months in 2010.  Hopefully the ash will finally all wash out into the ocean and regrowth of ground cover will progress to the point that we will have this fine fishery back next season.  In the meanwhile, last season we looked at an estuary further south and found it not to meet out standards so  we are going to  explore another estuary further north next season (2011-2012) so that we will have a "back-up" to our original fantastic estuary.  Unfortunately this estuary will require a short trip up the coast via our covered catamaran  rather than the nice horseback ride-hopefully we won't need it.  We also have started clearing a trail to another small lake off the Yelcho River where we have found some very nice fishing. 
                                                                                                                                                                  
The fishing in Lake Yelcho, its bays, and the rivers that flow into it have already been described  under PUMA II - FLOATING LODGE - MOTHERSHIP.  However it is important to emphasize that this is not your usual "lake fly fishing".  It is not uncommon for anglers to have 15-25 fish days.  In addition, two world record weight rainbows were brought to net last season with the largest 34 lb. 13 oz., ON A DRY FLY! It is realistic to expect IGFA world records to come from this lake and they will not be the genetically altered, hatchery fish that are being caught in Saskatchewan, Canada. I have been amused that over the years it has been a "chore" to get USA angler to fish in the lake - but when I get them there they don't want to fish anywhere else. 

In summary, our fishery has many options so the weather "Gods" don't shut us down and as important - your type of fishing preference can be addressed in a positive manner.