COLD, WINDY, AND RAIN FROM TIME TO TIME

This morning at about 1030 I drove to Port Aysen to get my fishing permit.  Port Aysen is about 60 Km from Coyhaique.  The drive is through a relatively narrow and deep glacial valley mostly following the Rio Simpson.  It was cold windy and raining when I left.  Today’s high was forecast as 14 degrees C or about 57.  It might have made it when the sun came out every once in a while.

On the edge of Coyhaique I picked a young Israeli couple who were hitch-hiking north toward Chitain to see a national park.  I took them as far as the turn of toward Manauhala and continued on to get my permit.  Knowing right where it is, I drove right to it.  Twenty minutes and 32,000 pesos – about $62.00 – I was on my way to fish.

I wanted to fish the Emp Giuallmo  (not sure about spelling and don’t want to take the time to look up) so I headed toward Manauhala to pick up Chile Hy 7 that runs close or along the river up to Ville Ortaga.  I had never fished this river very far below Villa Ortaga.   About a third of the way to Villa Ortaga  I  found http://fms.ws/46vNz/\-45.28656/\-72.12332 a place to get down to nice looking section.  The wind was blowing so hard from behind me that it was nearly impossible to cast.  Mostly I just let out line and let the wind take it where t wanted to take it.  Not the best way to get your fly into productive seams.  I did manage to miss two before deciding to see if my favorite area just below Villa Ortaga might be more out of the wind.  On the drive toward Villa Ortaga I pause for a moment of respect toward my friend Ray who got busted for trespassing there last year and is now a Chilean felon.

The section I went to was much less windy.  I could actually control the placement of my fly fairly well most of the time even for me.  In honor of Travis Knight who guides for me and sits in cold duck blinds with me I started with an over-sized stimulator and a STREAM SIDE ADVENTURES generic nymph as a dropper.  The first fish was the fish of the day, a 16 inch rainbow on the dropper.  The next two hours produced a good mix of about 20 fish most in the 12-14 inch range.  All the rainbows were on the nymph and all but one brown was on the over-sized stimulator.  

With the wind, cold, and off and on rain I give the day a C+.  A couple of bigger fish might have moved it to a B day.  Tomorrow I’m going toward Coyhaique Alto and fish the upper Coyhaique and the middle Pedragosa.