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Our first days of fishing in Chile were spent aboard the M/V Azul, a 54’ Hatteras.  We boarded the vessel at Puerto Chacabuco and spent 6 days/5 nights motoring in the fjords in the south of Chile.  We disembarked each morning and afternoon via a Zodiac craft.  We then fished fresh water streams that ultimately emptied into the fjords.  Not only did we have excellent fishing, but we saw incredible scenery and enjoyed the solitude of fishing very isolated waters.  We also saw lots of dolphin, including the small and rare black dolphin, as they played in the wake of the Hatteras as well as right along side the zodiac.  Our fishing partners, Arnie & Aggie, were a delight as well as the balance of the crew – Guide Andres, Captain Freddy & Chef Cristian.

DAY 1 (Sunday, February 27):  For the most part, today we took in the spectacular scenery as we motored the fjords to be in prime fishing territory.  We did some late afternoon fishing on two small streams.  At the initial pool, we each landed a 16” rainbow.  Then, Ed caught several ravalos as well as another rainbow.  We then tried another creek outlet without success.  So, at 5:30PM we returned to our original spot.  Ed hooked five rainbows and landed four, the biggest being ~5lbs (unfortunately, no photos).  Lindy hooked a few but wasn’t able to land them (still that learning curve!).

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DAY 2 (Monday, February 28):   We enjoyed a great day of fishing.  We began at 9:00AM and Ed had a fish on the line at 9:01AM.  We spent more time fighting fish than fishing for them.  That being said, we probably landed 20+ fish.  Highlights included Ed landing two rainbow, each measuring 21”x13” and weighing 5-6lbs.  Lindy had one rainbow measuring 22”x14” and weighing 6-6.5lbs.  Great fun!

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DAY 3 (Tuesday, March 1):  Today we once again enjoyed fishing in an incredible setting although we didn’t catch as many fish as the day before.  In the morning, Lindy landed a nice rainbow, ~4.5lbs.  In the afternoon, we did a bit of our fishing apart so that Lindy could get some extra assistance from Guide Cristian.  His coaching paid off when she successfully landed her “under the log, over the trees and into the leaves” first brown of the trip (~2lb).  Ed caught & released five fish total but no photographs as he was solo and without the camera.

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DAY 4 (March 2):   This morning we woke up to rainy weather.  Since the fish didn’t care, we didn’t either.  We began the day in a flats area.  The morning was fairly slow.  Lindy did manage to land one large rainbow, ~6lb.  Apart from that, she caught only one ravalo.  Ed caught a 19” brown and another smaller one as well as a couple of ravalo.  However, the afternoon fishing was incredible!  We fished a “hole” were Ed caught and released an 8lb, 25”x15” brown beauty.  He also caught two rainbows, one being 5-6lbs. and the other being 4-5lbs.  Lindy also caught a 4lb. rainbow.  Unfortunately the rain continued to fall so we didn’t get pictures of all fish.  We then decided to try another “hole” which involved a long paddle upstream.  It was worth the effort as we caught lots of 5lb+ fish that readily took the fly.  It was amazing fishing!  We did our fishing from the zodiac and even got Guide Cristian to toss a line out and catch one of these beauties.  Great, great fun!

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DAY 5 (March 3):   Again the rain continued but it certainly didn’t affect our morning/afternoon fishing.  It was another excellent day.  We both caught several 2-3lb. rainbows and Ed also caught a few small (16”-17”) browns.  Highlights included Lindy landing a 5lb. rainbow.  Then, only a few minutes later she caught and released her biggest rainbow to date – a 7¾lb. beauty!  Ed landed a monster rainbow caught on his second cast.  It was a 11lb. beauty, measuring 30”x17”!  Our evening fishing was not as productive as the rain continued to fall and boy did it fall.  Lindy managed a 2lb. brown and Ed had one hook-up but no landed fish.  However, we certainly had fabulous fishing overall that day.

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DAY 6 (March 4):  To everyone’s surprise and dismay, the rain just kept falling.  We did fish in the morning and Ed landed a number of rivalo and rolliso.  However, today wasn’t the day for big rainbows or browns.  Our afternoon was a rain/wind out as the weather continued to worsen and Captain Freddy moved us to calmer waters for our last evening on the M/V Azul.

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In addition to the excellent fishing, we truly enjoyed ourselves on the M/V Azul.  Chef Cristian did an excellent job of creating gourmet meals in a very tiny kitchen.  Then, Captain Freddy made sure we had a safe & secure place to spend each evening as well as the best ride possible as we motored about.  ¡Muchas gracias, amigos!  See you in 2006!

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