Welcome to Southern Latitudes Fly Fishing

S O U T H E R N   L A T I T U D E S

F L Y   F I S H I N G

T H E   F I S H I N G

Southern Latitudes Fly Fishing - The Fishing Is Great In Chile! Southern Latitudes Fly Fishing is committed to providing the best dry fly fishing in the Southern Hemisphere. While streamers and nymphs are often used the rivers and lakes in this area truly provide incredible hatches and dry fly fishing. There is also a broad variety of water to sample here. From the lush, green Simpson with its pools and riffles to the dry cutbanks of the Ñireguao. From the heavy, powerful, blue waters of the Baker to the calm, winding S-curves of the Spring Creek.

The Rivers:
Simpson
  • Drive time 10-30 minutes
  • Medium sized river, very wadeable late season
  • Rainbows and Browns to 23 inches
  • Insects: caddis, mayflies, and midges
  • Flies: Elk Hair Caddis, Adams, Hares’ Ear, and Prince Nymph
  • Floating line, medium weight rod
  • Intense evening insect activity
  • Drift boat fishing available

Ñireguao

  • Drive time 1 1/2 hours
  • Small river, wadeable all season
  • Lagoon fishing available
  • Brown Trout to 20 inches in river, 24 inches in Lagoons
  • Insects: grasshoppers
  • Flies: Dave’s Hopper
  • Floating line, medium weight rod
  • Dry flies all day in the river

Lagos Frio/Pollux
  • Drive time 25 minutes
  • Bank and float tube fishing
  • Insects: Caddis and Mayflies
  • Flies: Elk Hair Caddis, various mayflies, Hare’s Ear
  • Floating Line, medium weight rod
  • Dragging caddis very effective

Baker

  • Drive time 10 minutes
  • Large river, boat access to fishing areas
  • Rainbows to 25 inches
  • Feed: Caddis, mayflies, and minnows
  • Flies: Adams, streamers, Hare’s Ear
  • Floating and sink-tip lines, heavy rod
  • Success within a variety of fishing styles

Secret Hopper River

  • Drive time 40 minutes
  • Small river, easy walking and fishing
  • Browns to 21 inches
  • Insects: Hoppers and mayflies
  • Flies: Dave's Hopper
  • Floating line, light or medium rod
  • Remote fishing experience

Spring Creek
  • Drive time 45 minutes
  • Very small creek, deep pools and channels
  • Browns to 24 inches
  • Feed: Mayflies and leeches
  • Flies: Black Woolly Bugger and attractor dries
  • Floating line, medium rod
  • Accurate casting a must

Cost:

Please send me an e-mail or call us for the latest prices. A 50% deposit is required to secure your dates. This deposit is non-refundable but can be used for a future reservation if you must cancel. Final payment must be received 30 days prior to arrival in Chile. Included is guide service for duration of the trip. All ground transportation upon your arrival at the Coyhaique airport. All food and lodging. Not included are airline services which will be quoted separately by Andetur, extra services such as telephone or laundry, gratuities.

 

2000 Season Summary
Southern Latitudes Fly Fishing
Coyhaique, Chile

By David Frederick - Owner and Guide

December

    December is slowly becoming a favorite month in my book. The water levels are still up from spring run-off and the fish are relaxed after a long winter of high water and cool temperatures. Most of the rivers fish well even if the conditions aren't ideal and are incredible when the conditions are good. Case in point was a pre-season warm up day with my lunch chef Diana on Dec. 18 at my secret hopper stream. The water wasm Old Greenwich, CT were my first guests arriving on Dec. 28. This was their second trip in three years. The first two days on the Simpson River were a bit slow. Things turned around dramatically though the afternoon of Dec. 30 on the Spring Creek. After struggling all morning we made the decision to stick with it for the afternoon and it was as if somebody clicked a switch. Temperatures rose and fish we had been seeing in the morning and were unable to catch went on the bite. Karen's first fish of the day was a 20" brown and from that point on we hooked fish in almost every pool. The fishing stayed good for the rest of their trip. Continued below.

    January

    Apparently nobody told the fish New Years Day is a holiday! Keeping count for the on-going study, Don rose 63 browns and landed 35 of them on hoppers at the Ñireguao River. The largest 21". Conditions were a perfect 75° and sunny. Floating the lower Simpson on Jan. 3, both Don and Karen picked up 20" fish. A 20" brown on a Woolly Bugger and a 20" rainbow on a Prince nymph. My guide Kevin arrived on Jan. 13 and we spent a week racing around the area including a trip down south to the Baker and Cochrane rivers. Arnie and Dossie Turtz from Mamaroneck, NY were next up arriving on Jan. 23. The Spring Creek was in a good mood on the 25th as Dossie got a 21" and Arnie some nice browns on dries. It was a great show of teamwork on the Ñireguao as they rose 140 brown trout to their hopper patterns! They had excellent dry fly fishing both days we floated the Simpson although no remarkably large fish were landed. Floating the lower Simpson on Jan. 28, we had fish taking mayflies until 5:00pm.

February

Ernie and David Cockrell from Houston and Alan Dachs and Mark Simpson from San Francisco arrived on Feb. 4 for nine days. After a quick afternoon on the Spring Creek and two fish landed over 20" we headed south to the Baker and Cochrane Rivers. They had some great dry fly fishing on the Baker and the White Woolly Bugger racked up its usual numbers. We guessed about 50 landed on the Baker on Feb. 7. Alan had his moment in the limelight with a 23" brown on the Cochrane River. He spotted the fish and brought him to hand with a heavy nymph. Back in Coyhaique we fished between the Simpson and Ñireguao Rivers. There had been rain while we were on the Baker so the Simpson was up a bit. This made for great action. This was probably the best streamer fishing on the Simpson all season. We landed several over 20", the largest being a 24" caught by Ernie on his last day. This ties the largest brown I've seen caught on the Simpson! The conditions were perfect for the Simpson, overcast, calm, 60°. Meanwhile Kevin was doing the guiding on the Ñireguao and finding some great fish. David Cockrell landed a 23" on a hopper. As Feb. wore on the streams dropped and warmed. The Simpson became extremely difficult but the hopper fishing remained terrific. My next group was Jim and Jean Crabtree, Jim and Jane Fox, Allyn Scheu and Judy Brown. All from Southern California. They arrived Feb. 28. The Simpson and the Ñireguao fished best for this group as basically tough conditions continued.

March/April

My first of two groups sent by Lee Mortimer fished from Mar. 4-14. Michael McGoldrick, Tom Hale, Steve Byler and Lynn Ramsson got to see just how tough the Simpson could get when it hasn't rained for three weeks! So tough that we only floated once in the ten days. A day hike into the canyon did produce some fish up to 18" though. The Ñireguao just kept on producing all summer and these four had a good taste of it. Tom in particular fished like a machine one day and seemed to have a fish on every time I looked. Down on the Baker and Cochrane the larger fish were evasive but we caught lots of other fish on dries, nymphs and streamers. Once again, Tom with his machine like style did great stripping White Woollies on the Baker. This group had many chances on the Spring Creek but big fish and heavy weeds got the best of them. Next up were Chuck and Yvonne Pigott, and Walt and Carol Krengel all from the Seattle area. What a difference a week can make! The mid-March hatches had begun and combined with a little rain to bring the Simpson back to life. Floating the Simpson on Mar. 16 we had fish rising to Mayflies all day. The #16 Grey Wulff was killer! High winds or bright sun seemed to keep the hatch in check for a couple days then Walt and Carol had two great days in a row fishing dries and nymphs on the Simpson. The hopper fishing finally started to taper off with fall approaching. This group had only average fishing on the Ñireguao and secret hopper stream. My last group and second from Lee Mortimer was Steve Abbey, Bob Deacon and Karl Engist. Three complete novices with lots of enthusiasm! Their first day, Mar. 24, had the Simpson swollen with rain. The browns didn't seem to mind and were rising steadily to dry flies. The Ñireguao kicked out some decent browns as these guys got better and better with their rods. Their last day on the Simpson was Mar. 30 and things really came together. The hatch was on and they landed 5 fish over 18" all on dries.

Fishing and Weather Report #3 - March 17, 2001

    The Fishing

      Weather conditions continued to make the fishing challenging but more records were set during this period. Arriving on Feb. 12 were Chuck and Betty Lou Bender from Hermosa Beach, CA and Neal and Judy Webb from Northridge, CA. The Simpson was kind of hit or miss for this group. Neal did most of the hitting when they floated the lower section. Neal landed a 23" rainbow on a #16 Royal Wulff which is the largest rainbow so far this season. He got several other rainbows over 16" and a brown of 19". Meanwhile on the Secret Hopper stream Chuck was setting an all time record for that river with a 22" brown. The Benders also had many other fish under 22" on hoppers to make the best day on that stream this season. Neal continued his record setting ways on the Ñireguao. On Feb. 21 we had one of those days on the Ñireguao. 16-18" browns were a dime a dozen! The conditons were perfect, sunny warm and windy. I heard the yelling just after lunch, "David bring a camera"! I can't repeat what I said when I saw the fish. I just took pictures while Neal landed a 23", 5.5 lb. brown. This is the largest client caught fish on the Ñireguao ever and the second largest I've ever seen. My next group was the Scheu clan. Allyn and Mark Scheu and Kristen and Eric Oberman. The first phase of their trip was a week of hiking or trekking and sightseeing in Torres del Paine National Park. My wife Andrea went along also and we all had a great time. We hiked along glaciars and up mountain valleys to spectacular scenery. We crossed glacial lakes by boats to hike and explore remote corners of the park. We saw guanacos (like llamas), rheas (like ostrich), fox and black neck swans. The second phase of their trip was a week of fishing and Kristen and Eric were replaced by Leland and Craig Scheu. Heavy rains put the Simpson out of shape but the Ñireguao held together for awhile. We had two decent days there with the highlight being Allyn's 20" brown. The Baker fished well for Craig and Mark as they stripped streamers like mad all day. Meanwhile on the Cochrane Allyn brought in a 21" rainbow on a dry fly. Then the storm of the century (or at least the decade) rolled in. All rivers were out so we went to a nearby lake for big rainbows and weren't disappointed. We saw lots of cruising fish but managed to land only one of these difficult fish. Craig got a 23.5" rainbow on a minnow pattern. This is now the current large rainbow of the season.

      The Weather and Rivers

        I think in my last report I used the word "nightmare" to describe the weather. Maybe that was a little light. I've since talked to several lifelong residents of Coyhaique and nobody has ever seen anything like this summer. The big news was a storm that came through Mar. 7-8. Ten days later and the rivers are still high. There was so much snow in the mountains that it's been like spring all over again as the rivers swell with run off. The week following the storm was one of the nicest of the season with two days of cloudless calm weather. However, today we are back to more rain we don't need, 55° and blustery.

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P.O. Box 52
Montegut, Louisiana, USA 70377
985-594-0147 Capt. Donald R. Reid - Andetur

Questions or Comments, Email us at
dreid@andetur.com