Included / Not Included –
Included: Accommodations and meals, guided fishing, roundtrip transfers from Balmaceda airport to the lodge, beer, wine, Pisco Sours (Chilean national cocktail) and mixes.
Not Included: Airfare to Balmaceda, accommodations, meals, and transfers in Santiago, personal equipment/flies, hard liquor, fishing licenses (approximately US $75 per person), staff and guide gratuities.
Travel Logistics:
Arrival Information: To get to La Posada de los Farios you need to make flight arrangements to Balmaceda, Chile, approximately a three hour flight from Santiago. Refer to your itinerary for your arrival date at the lodge.
Getting to the Lodge: In Balmaceda, you will be met by a lodge representative and driven approximately three hours to the lodge.
Departure Information: On your departure day you will be driven back to Balmaceda. Please book an afternoon flight out of Balmaceda.
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 that before you clear customs, Chile charges a one-time entrance fee of US $100 good for the life of your passport. Please be prepared to pay this on-site with a MasterCard or Visa.
Currency:
We have found from our experience that you do not need to exchange dollars for pesos for your travels in Chile. US dollars are welcomed at the lodge for paying gratuities, and additional services at the lodge (laundry, souvenirs, etc). The lodge only accepts cash, and personal checks (no credit cards are accepted at the lodge).
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 - $1,000.00 (per week of travel) for gratuities, alcohol, and miscellaneous gifts.
Gratuities:
We suggest a gratuity of 10% of your package rate per person per week. This is left to the discretion of the angler, and is only a rough guideline for planning purposes. The lodge manager will collect the tips at the end of the week and distribute them to the entire staff appropriately.
Fishing Licenses:
You may purchase your Chilean fishing license directly from the lodge for approximately US $75 per person. This is not included in your package and can be paid in US dollars or Pesos. The fishing license is good for one year.
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 and/or medical evacuation coverage.
Power and Communications:
The lodge has 220 volts and takes the rounded two prong adaptors. Please bring an adaptor to use during your stay. We suggest a Dual-Wattage Foreign Travel AC Converter, it lets you use 120VAC (USA) devices on 240VAC foreign. This device is for electronic/motorized devices up to 50 watts, such as radios and battery chargers.
The lodge does not have a phone but does communicate via radio with the office in Coyhaique multiple times a day. There is telephone and Wi-fi internet service (slow) available in Villa Amengual 15 km from the lodge and where guests can be taken to check e-mail upon request.
Water:
Bottled water is available everywhere in Chile; however, the lodge has a very pure artesian spring as their water supply for the lodge. There is no problem with drinking this water and the water is so good that guests prefer it over the bottled water and use it to refill their water bottles.
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. Please see checklist below.
Laundry:
Laundry is offered as a courtesy for guests. We suggest you consider adding a little extra to the staff gratuity as a thank you.
Beverages/Alcohol:
The lodge provides beer, Pisco sours, wine (of course!) and mixes. If you want special alcohol such as scotch, vodka, etc you should bring it with you and ask your driver to stop in Coyhaique to purchase what you need. You can find some brands of single malt scotch in Coyhaique and some may choose to purchase it in duty free on the flight down. The lodge also likes to ask coffee drinkers to bring down some good beans with them. It is difficult to find quality coffee in Chile.
Tackle/Equipment List:
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 three fly lines at La Posada: weight-forward floater. A (6' - 10' depending on line size) sink tip fly line - Type IV - VI sink rate 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 that produce all season: The enclosed fly list is supplied by Rex Bryngelson
Attractors & Terrestrials: These patterns are very important and a must!
Monster Beetle, size 4 Rance’s Gypsy King, size 4
Chernobyl Ant, black size 6, 8... A MUST! • Small beetle 10, 12
Turk’s Tarantula, size 8 • Dave's foam Hoppers, sizes 6 -
Rainy’s Chernobyl Hopper, size 8, 10 • Fat Albert… A MUST!
Flat Head Cicada size 10
Traditional Dries: Not as critical as above patterns, a broad selection of high floating dries will
Parachute Adams, size 16 • Cutter’s E/C Caddis, size 14, 16
Stimulators, various sizes medium - large • Parachute ants, black, size 16,
Compara Duns, Quigley’s Cripple • Mayfly Emergers
Streamers: Not as critical as the attractors and terrestrials but important to have with you.
Dragon Fly nymphs, size 6 (olive) • Kaufman’s stonefly nymphs, large
Chilean Rubber Buggers • GTC Autumn Splendor * CH Fire Tiger Bugger
Nymph Selections: Nymphs haven't been consistently important in past years, but it might be advisable to bring along a short selection of small (size 10, 12, 14) standard nymphs.
Bitch Creek nymphs and other buggy rubber-legged nymphs, sizes 4 - 8
Bead head - Prince Nymphs, Hare’s Ear, Bird’s Nests, Copper Johns, and Pheasant tails
EARLY SEASON FLIES (November and December)
Dries:
All Black Chernobyl Ants (body and legs) #6 - 8’s
Gypsy Kings
Turk’s Tarantulas #6 - 8, various colors
Foam beetles and ants, small to large sizes
Caddis and Stimulators, #8 - 16
Mayfly BWO dun and emerger patterns (few), #14 - 16
Streamers:
Wooly Buggers (black, olive, brown) white rubberlegs, with or without cone or beadhead, # 4-8
Beadhead Crystal buggers, black, olive, silver, #4 - 8
Zuddlers, conehead, (olive/olive, black/silver), etc., #4 - 6
Beldar’s Rubberlegs, #4
Double Bunny String Leech
Nymphs:
Beadheads: prince, pheasant tails, hare’s ear, lightning bug, copper john, #12 - 16
Beaded soft hackles can be useful on occasion also, #12 - 16
Dragon and damselfly nymphs (for the lakes and lagunas), #6 - 12
Bitch Creek, weighted or beadhead/conehead, #6 - 8
Beech Crick, #6 - 8
Rubberleg stones (a few), #6 – 8
MID-SEASON FLIES (mid-January to mid-March):
Large Foam Bugs: Cantaria (giant stag beetles) Gypsy Kings, Monster Beetles, Black Bottom Chernobyl’s, etc.
Hoppers: (smaller sizes in Jan and early February (#8, #10), #6-#8 later on) Dave’s, Parachute, Foam Tan, Burk’ Spent, Basin, Streambank, etc. Parachute Madame-X #8
Flying Ant hatches are possible starting about mid-February. Good to have some foam or parachute ants size #16 black on hand just in case.
LATE SEASON FLIES (mid-March through April):
May Flies: (As the weather cools starting about mid-March the may fly action cranks up). #14-#18. Parachute Adams,
March Browns, PMDs, Callibaetis, Comparaduns - olive, etc.
Emergers: #14-#18. Spotlight Emerger - brown, Trina’s Budding, Brooks, Sprout Fly, etc.
Nymphs: Pheasant Tails, Princes, Copper Johns,
Streamers: Crystal Buggers – black, olive, silver #6-#12
COASTAL FLIES (good all season)
Wooley Buggers #2-#8 weighted, white, black, gray, olive, purple. (some with cone or beadheads).
Crystal Rubber Bugger: olive, purple, black
Rabbit Fur Leeches #2-#8, Purple, Black, Olive, white, tan, egg sucking, etc.
Articulated Leeches in darker colors primarily
Fire Tiger Bugger
Beaded Striptease
Milt’s Belly Pond Smelt
Double Bunny
Clouser’s: Olive/white, Black, Yellow
Mercer’s Poxyegg Leech
