Floating the Cisnes from the Lodge Door
Old-growth coihue forest lines the first float on the Río Cisnes, a wide, meandering stretch of about four miles that marks the shift from Patagonian steppe to coastal rainforest. It is where La Posada de los Farios often opens the week, with the upper half offered on the day of arrival.
Trout here average 12 to 16 inches, and several of the lodge’s largest browns, over 25 inches, have come from this water. Black-bottomed foam flies work best because trout watch for the beetles that are abundant along this stretch, and in even-numbered years a hatch of large stag beetles runs from mid-December through February. Streamers earn their place when the river is high.
Upper River Dry Flies and the Lower Canyon
An hour upriver the Cisnes changes character. Eight miles of float water, split into two sections, run through semiarid mountain terrain much like Montana, with trout averaging 15 to 18 inches and regular shots at fish of 20 inches or better. Spring-fed lagunas along the way offer sight-fishing for larger trout, and an overnight camping float is available.
The Lower Canyon float puts in 30 minutes from the lodge and drops into rainforest and granite canyon. A class IV rapid means it runs only when flows allow, as a two-boat trip, so it is not guaranteed on every stay. The trout are typically not large, but heavy sinking lines and weighted flies along the deep rock walls can raise the occasional big brown.
Manihuales Floats and Cisnes Wade Beats
The Río Manihuales, 45 minutes to an hour from the lodge, is fished from the boat, with brown and rainbow trout holding along logjams and under high rock walls. A fish over 20 inches is almost a given on most days. Wading fills the rest of the week. Claudio’s, 15 minutes upriver, has a cobble bottom below the canyon called La Garganta and plenty of trout of 10 to 14 inches on small black beetles.
The New Zealand Hole, a deep canyon pool at the end of a quarter-mile trail, gave up the lodge record brown of 31 inches in 2005 on a streamer, and king salmon have also come from its main pool. On the upper Cisnes, hopper fishing runs from mid-January to mid-March, and mayflies take over from mid-March.
Brown Trout Lakes and a Week on the Water
The lakes lie 20 minutes to an hour and a half from the lodge, some under Andean peaks and others in open steppe near the Argentine pampas. Their browns average 18 to 25 inches, and on warm days they hunt dragonflies above the surface and hit large attractor dries hard. A sink-tip with streamers is the choice for the biggest fish.
A typical week has three or four days floating the Cisnes or Manihuales and one or two wading, fishing the lagunas or fishing a lake. The standard fly is a Fat Albert foam dry, the rafts have rowing frames and angling chairs, and all fish are released.
To learn more about the fishing and express an interest, message The Support Team.
