Included / Not Included: –
Included: Accommodations, breakfasts and dinners at lodge (with a ½ bottle of wine with dinner), lunches on water, noted guided fishing, flies, round-trip transportation from Balmaceda Airport to the lodge.
Not Included: Airfare to and from Balmaceda, Chile arrival and departure taxes, alcohol, additional wine, fishing licenses, staff and guide gratuities, phone calls, personal gear, rods, or reels.
Travel Logistics:
Arrival Information: To get to the Coyhaique, anglers must arrive into Santiago, Chile and transfer to Balmaceda. Most anglers choose to spend the day in historical Santiago enjoying the culture, restaurants, shopping options, and wine touring. The following early morning anglers take a flight from Santiago to Balmaceda
Getting to the Lodge:.Once anglers arrive in Balmaceda, your guide will meet you for a 30 minute drive to the lodge.
Departure Information: On your departure day your guide will drive you to the airport for the flight to Santiago and points beyond.
Travel Recommendations in Chile
Documentation Requirements:
You will need a valid passport to enter Chile! Please make sure your passport is valid for six months after the last day of your trip.
*Please note: Chile charges a one-time fee to US citizens of US $140 upon entering the country. This fee is paid (cash or credit card) just before passing through customs in Santiago and is good for the life of your passport. This is a reciprocal fee equal to what Chilean citizens must pay to apply for a US visa.
Currency:
We have found from our experience that you do not need to exchange dollars for pesos for your travels in Chile. Minchos Lodge does accept credit cards (Mastercard and Visa) to settle up with bar bill, staff gratuities, and gift shop items. Guide tips are handled directly with the guide. American dollars are preferred.
Travel Cash:
Most of the restaurants and shops take credit cards in Santiago but you will need cash for the lodge and Coyhaique area. We recommend each guest travels with approximately $750.00 - $1000.00(per week of travel) for gratuities, alcohol, and miscellaneous gifts.
Gratuities:
This is left to the discretion of the angler and a rough guideline for planning purposes. We recommend tipping the guide at the end of each day $50-$80 per day/guide and $8 per night/guest at the lodge for the kitchen and housekeeping staff. American dollars are preferred.
Fishing Licenses:
Fishing licenses are purchased onsite and can be paid with a credit card, US dollars, or Pesos (approximately $75US per week).
Climate:
The summer (November - April) weather in Chilean Patagonia can most aptly be described as variable. Conditions can range from hot and sunny (80°F+) to cool and rainy (40ºF). Anglers should be prepared for either type of condition. Bring warm clothing that can be layered and maybe a pair of shorts if you want to work on your tan.
Medical Facilities:
All guests have the responsibility to disclose any special medical, physical, or dietary needs to the lodge ahead of time in order to facilitate an enjoyable excursion. The lodge will take every effort to ensure your safety while you are a guest at the Lodge. However, outdoor activities of this nature are not entirely ‘risk free’. The lodge (and Fly Water Travel highly) recommend investing in travel insurance. In emergency situations, a charter flight may be required to reach a medical facility. Guests may want to consider medical evacuation coverage. We recommend Global Rescue.
Power and Communications:
The lodge has 220 volts and takes the rounded two prong adaptors. Please bring your own adaptors.
The lodge does have Wi-Fi in all the rooms and a house computer guests are welcome to use. Phones are available and phone cards are available for purchase. Please speak with Victoria to make arrangements.
Water:
Bottled water is available everywhere in Chile. We do not recommend drinking the water from the tap.
Clothing:
Dress at the lodge is neat but casual. The summer climate of this southernmost area of South America is extremely changeable; a wide range of temperatures and conditions should be expected within hours. We recommend layering clothes, enabling you to add or subtract garments during the day. All guests should be prepared with thermal underwear, fleece/soft shell jacket, and a rain jacket.
Laundry:
Laundry service is available for a small fee at Minchos Lodge. Please speak with a staff member to make arrangements.
Beverages/Alcohol:
Dinner is served with a ½ bottle of complimentary wine each evening. For additional beverages a fully stocked bar is available for purchases for the duration of your stay.
Tackle/Equipment List:
We recommend a good hat, waders and jackets. Dress in layers and be ready to change from hot to cold and wet to dry in any given day. The only constant to the weather in Patagonia is change. A headlamp is indispensable. Bug spray is not always necessary but good to have for those rare occasions. Good polarized sunglasses and sunscreen are a must as the ozone layer is thin in South America. Don’t forget your camera!
Rods: Multi-piece 6, 5, or 4 wt. fly rods will cover most of the fishing situations you’ll encounter in Chile. We strongly recommend a multi-piece travel rod (3, 4 or 5 piece). If you had to bring just one rod, bring a six weight.
Reels: Good quality, lightweight fly reels, with simple disk drags or pawl drags, are the best choice. Reels should be filled with fresh 20 pound backing (about 75-125 yards).
Lines: You will basically need two fly lines: A weight-forward floater and a 24’ sink-tip in 150 or 200 grain.
Leaders/Tippet: For a week's fishing, you will need no less than three tapered leaders - 9 ft. (4X) & three tapered leaders - 9 ft. (3X) for your floating line and two (4 - 6 ft.) (2X) leaders for your sinking fly lines. For tippet, bring fresh spools of (4X), (3X) and (2X). Fluorocarbon is great tippet and leader material.
Flies:
Dry Flies
Adult Dragonflies, Mice, Damsel flies, Caddis, Mayflies, Midges, Tom Thumb size ten, Brown Elk Hair Caddis size ten, Royal Wolf size ten to sixteen, Asauble Wolf size sixteen to ten, Grey Wolf size sixteen to ten, emerger/ cripple patterns, stimulators size six through twelve, Lambroughten Skater, Parachute Adams (all sizes), Irresistible size 14, Madam X size 10, Schroeder’s Parachute Emergent Caddis, Beck’s Spinner (brown) size 14, Lawson’s Caddis Emerger, Lawson’s Cripple Dun and Mayfly Cripple.
Terrestrials
Black Chernobyl Ant size ten through six (all variations will work). Any big ugly terrestrial including mice, beetle patterns of any size or shape, amphibians, Lambroughten Spider, Henry’s Fork Hopper, Club Sandwich, Poppers and Turk’s Tarantulas.
Nymphs
Caddis Pupa, Caddis Larvae, Callibaetis Nymph, Flashback Hare’s Ear, any flashback nymph, Prince Nymph, Pheasant Tail Nymph, Dragonfly Nymph, Damsel Fly Nymph and Girdle Bugs.
Streamers
Black and Olive Woolly Buggers size ten to six, Muddler Minnows, Black Clouser Minnows, Black and White Clouser Minnows, Chartreuse and White Clouser Minnows, Pink and White Clouser Minnows, Flash-a-bugger’s, Double Bunnies, Bunny Leaches, Articulated Leaches, bait fish, all streamer patterns.
Miscellaneous: We recommend a good hat, Simms waders and jackets. Dress in layers and be ready to change from hot to cold and wet to dry in any given day. The only constant to the weather in Patagonia is change. A headlamp is indispensable. Bug spray is not always necessary but good to have for those rare occasions. Good polarized sunglasses and sunscreen are a must as the ozone layer is thin in South America. Don’t forget your camera!
