PATAGONIA’S TOPOGRAPHY can be compared to a giant, flat triangle, the apex being the Andes, descending on each side to terraced plateaus terminating in the bordering oceans. It’s one of the least populated regions in the Americas.

Most of the land mass known as Patagonia is on the Argentina side of the Andes, and the texture of Patagonia changes rapidly as one moves south from the Rio Colorado to Tierra del Fuego. The climate is generally cold, though summers are pleasant in the central strip, where the weather resembles Calgary or northern Montana. Southern Patagonia temperatures drop as the American continent ends near Antarctica. The most common feature of southern Patagonia’s climate is its wind, which usually originates in the Pacific Ocean, downloading humidity in the Andean mountains, creating abundant rains, before sweeping east with great intensity toward an enormous, barren plateau.

The Patagonia trout fishing map changes as quickly as latitude and longitude. Mountain lakes and streams in the northern plateaus on both sides of the Andes could easily be imagined in Wyoming or Montana, and glacier-swollen, alpine rivers on the Chilean coast are mindful of the Canadian Pacific.

No visitor would argue that the clear, pollution-free Patagonia air doesn’t give new meaning to “Big Sky Country”. But, in truth, South American trout fishing is no better than the best found in the lower 48. Why then travel thousands of miles to fish this part of the world? Because the fishing is usually as good as the best we have at home. And, as anyone that has visited and become addicted to Patagonia will tell you, it’s because the fishing experience is punctuated by scenery that’s magnificent, accented by wonderful people, and alive with a friendly, rich, rural culture that marches to a pace suited for fishing.

Patagonia is an imaginary swath covering southern Chile and Argentina and stretches across the map from the Atlantic to the Pacific

THIS IS TROUT COUNTRY. Much of it is reminiscent of an old western movie, and most is farther south than Calgary is north. It’s a place where people don’t lock their doors when they’re gone and, in some ways, is a journey into our own past.

It’s a world with a landscape filled with picture-perfect streams where trout thrive without angling pressure and lack 21st-century sophistication.

Just like at home, the best of Argentina’s and Chile’s fishing is often behind some locked gate, tucked away in a rough, roadless canyon, or in a river that’s difficult to find and access. Patagonia’s angling is largely catch and release only because trout fishing is not yet part of their culture, and the distances to the streams from the major population centers are enormous.

And just like home, a great Patagonia fly fishing vacation requires good planning!

THE FLY SHOP™ has been part of the cutting-edge of fly fishing in Chile and Argentina for more than three decades. The people we’ve chosen to work with are the same skillful angling pioneers that were among the first to expose Patagonia to the sport. Often, we were there to help them. Together we brought the first float plane to Chile and explored uncharted angling of their rugged coastline for rainbows, browns, and sea trout. Then we turned our attention to the rivers and streams pouring out of the Andes toward the east and western shores.

The Fly Shop™ was instrumental in helping develop the great fishing of Coyhaique and Aisen in Chile. We walked the walk, camped, and rafted the rivers on both the Argentine and Chilean slopes of the Andes before many of the modern day lodges were built on their shorelines.

Most other angling travel experts will agree The Fly Shop™ represents the finest estancias and outfitters in the vague band pasted across South America called Patagonia.

Download any of the following:
•  2009/2010 General Chile Travel & Information
•  2009/2010 Chile Travel Information & Services