In early March I flew into Chile from my summer in New Zealand. I had to check out a new lodge, “Where Wise Men Fish.” It was built by a fellow named Adam Henderson, who I taught to tie flies when he was about 10 years old. His parents were good friends of mine here in Armstrong, B.C. and in short order he started a fly tying business tying for our local lakes. Then, when he was barely old enough a friend of mine hired him to guide and do float trips on the famed Blackwater River in B.C. Then his resume began to really grow; guiding on our Chilko River for the big rainbows, then being head guide and running the show in Fernie for Dave Brown for a dozen years and spending the fall months guiding on the Sustut River in Northern B.C. and he’s been the head guide and lodge manager there at Valhalla Steelhead Lodge for the past 18 years and counting. But wait, it gets better. About 20 years ago he started guiding in Chile and spending the winters down there and about 10 years ago meets this gorgeous Chilean Woman named Emma Morales in Coyhaique and married her.
BY DAVID LAMBROUGHTON
It was the perfect match as Emma worked for Chilean Tourism and she and Adam started Fly Wise Anglers that has now turned into their beautiful fishing lodge overlooking the Simpson River Valley. From here you’ve got fishing in all directions and Adam watches the weather forecasts like a hawk to help select the best waters for the day of a dozen rivers and streams and 30+ Lakes and Lagoons and counting. So his fishing area is quite large and to help cut down driving times, has a couple of Spike Lodges (the Chef goes there as well) that are right on some nice waters. They also only take 6 anglers max to keep the experience a relaxed one and I was impressed. The lodge is exquisite, the guides are excellent, and boats, vehicles, etc., are top notch and backed up.
As for the fishing, we fished a couple of small streams where 14 to 20+ inch fish would fight for your Hopper Pattern and you could catch more fish than you need to. But the Lakes and Lagoons produce the bigger fish, mostly on big foam rubber dries with lots of fish in the 4 to 8 pound range and some via sight fishing which is extra fun. There also a couple of lakes that can produce Browns over 20 pounds and these are real wild fish, no salmon farms/pellet jobs and self sustaining. But you can fish all day hard and come up with nothing.
So, seeing different areas and more generous waters would be a better choice for most and certainly was for us. There’s just too much to see. Speaking of which, Southern Chile is a long way to go for just one week so you might want to add a few more days to your trip; a day or two in the coastal city of Puerto Montt and or taking the one day bus and ferry trip (3 legs of each) over the Andes to Bariloche, Argentina and see both sides of the Andes with daily flights to Buenos Aires and home and it won’t increase your airline costs and you can do it in either direction or add some fishing on the big Estancias in Argentina.
So keep all this in mind if you want to see this beautiful part of Patagonia. It’s just too far to go for just one week but Adam’s and Emma’s Lodge would a good place to start.
