Patagonia Fly Fishing Odyssey 2028 – Chile & Argentina
August 28, 2026
I recently returned from Patagonian Basecamp, where I hosted a 10-night trip from Feb 3–13, 2026. Since we had other groups arriving on Feb. 1, I arrived early to spend time with them as well. There were too many highlights over 11 straight days of fishing to report here but this should depict the incredible time we had plus give you idea of what a trip would be like. You can always read more about PBC on our site or simple give us a call.
Not all anglers we send to Patagonian Basecamp take our advice to book the 10- or 11-night program. The 7-night option seems easier to swallow, with less time and money invested. However, this shorter program never includes fishing the Figueroa River and rarely includes fishing Escondido Camp—both crown jewels of the operation. Every season, the lodge runs just a few 10- and 11-night programs, and those that fall during January through early March are booked full 9–10 months in advance.
See 2027 Available Dates At The End
Despite being there in February, we had more rain than usual for the Aysen Region in the summer. In fact, only 2 out of 11 days were bluebird sunny days. The other 9 had some level of rain, drizzle, or overcast. The Palena River in front of the lodge was unfishable for 2 days, which just meant anglers focused on numerous other clear waters nearby. The head guide, Jackson, reconfirmed that this much rain was not normal and that typically, on a 10-night trip in January or February, you will get one day of precipitation, maybe two. Otherwise, it’s 80 degrees and sunny.
Aside from the main lodge, Patagonian Basecamp offers 3 riverside outpost camps—Isla de los Leons on the Palena River, Temple Camp on the Figueroa, and Escondido Camp on Lago Verde. Each has dome tents with raised wooden floors, heaters, real beds with very comfortable mattresses, and nice linens. Although optional, these camps do add exciting diversity and we can’t recommend them enough.
The Palena River flows right by the lodge and offers 7 sections, with the best sections being just above and just below the lodge. It’s the main river everyone fishes and a consistent fishery. On our Palena overnight float, we had fair weather, and even though we did well on big foam flies, we opted to fish mostly streamers amongst the rocks and logs. It all looks like big Brown Trout water.
On a particularly rainy day, we decided to fish a stretch of the Palena River right above the lodge, which is considered by guides to be the best producer of big browns. Since we were targeting quality over quantity, casting big streamers in the drizzling rain was right up our alley. We had many dark, torpedoing trout chase our flies, managed to land a few, and lose a few. When pressed, our guide confessed that the one fish I totally screwed up on was easily a 24-inch trout. I had hopes the trout would be looking up more because 2026 was a year for the Cantaria Beetles and although they were around, our beetle imitations were not producing like I’ve experienced.
The wet weather didn’t slow anybody down. Those who embraced it by searching for larger browns with streamers found those 20–24 inch Brown Trout they came for. I should add that streamer fishing at Patagonia Basecamp is not your standard cast, swing, strip, retrieve. Here, the guides want it bounced off the log and screaming off the bank perpendicular the moment it hits. The right rod and line combo makes this easier, but so does constantly looking downstream and timing each cast to selected targets, not trying to hit every “big brown spot” you see.
This was a particularly successful tactic on the Rio Claro Solar, a gin-clear river flowing through the thick Valdivian jungle and emptying into the Rio Rosselot. The river’s narrow width means you can always reach both banks from the raft. The water along the banks was dark greenish-blue, relatively deep, and usually contained tree trunks—Brown Trout pockets everywhere you looked.
All guests who fished the Claro returned with photos of perfectly colored 18–23 inch Brown Trout and stories about what may be the most beautiful river they had ever fished. Our 23-incher is forever etched in my memory. I’ve been lucky enough to have fished many breathtaking trout rivers across Chile and Argentina, and the Rio Claro Solar is certainly in my top 5, right next to the Figueroa River.
When it was our turn to fish the famous Figueroa River and stay at Temple Camp, we lucked out with sunny weather. Easily regarded as one of the most visually stunning trout rivers in Chile, the Figueroa flows 39 miles between Lago Verde and Lago Rosselot. The upper canyon stretch starts with a launch on the Rio Pico (think Argentina) and quickly enters the Fig. Its pure water, with a slight glacial tint, flows over white boulders, submerged tree trunks, and along densely forested mountains. All morning on this section, we had 10–17 inch trout chase our streamers on practically every cast. Since we were mainly searching for the Figueroa’s big browns, we had to pull the fly away from these smaller, all-too-eager trout.
This river leaves its permanent mark on you as you descend through the narrow canyon. The turquoise waters framed by dramatic rock formations below and the rain forest above are nothing less than spectacular—so much so that we forgot to cast, and our guide Cole had to redirect our focus to the upcoming targets (he was confident it would happen at any moment). Alas, we never saw the 20+ inch fish that day, but other guests did hook up on these bruisers swimming between the canyon walls.
This section of the Figueroa is so captivating that Patagonian Basecamp owner Marcel nicknamed it The Temple, which is how Temple Camp got its name.
After you exit the canyon, you’ve got a couple of miles before you land right in front of Temple Camp. After we got showered and settled into our dome tents, we enjoyed cold beer and apps on the deck overlooking the same scenery we had enjoyed all day. All 6 of us kept saying, “This is just incredible.”
The main options on the layover day at Temple Camp include either a float on the upper or lower Fig, fishing Lago Verde, or a float on the Rio Pico close to Argentina. This section of the Rio Pico connects the drier climate to the east with the lush rainforests of the Palena River drainage. Since this year was a low-water year in Argentina, floating the Rio Pico was questionable.
“We’ll be dragging the raft over rocks in several places, but we’ll catch tons of fish on dries if you are up for it.” With that warning from our guide, we reluctantly decided to fish elsewhere. From our options, we decided to fish a lake that probably hasn’t had a boat on it in years. Since our guide had never fished it, nor knew of anyone who had, it sounded perfect to me and my fishing partner.
Our anticipation came to a halt when we came upon a massive Coihue tree across the gravel road. The 4 cars that got there before us had probably all arrived in the last hour. They were all standing around drinking mate, calmly waiting for someone else to do something. Damn… we were in what felt like the middle of nowhere, and it was going to take an army tank to move this thing. Then we saw a couple of Chileans pulling up to the trunk and securing a strap to their pickup truck, we knew we were about to get seriously entertained. After that strap promptly snapped and the two guys decided that 2 straps would surely do it—that’s when we laughed hysterically. SNAP! SNAP! Tree: 3, Chilean Machos: 0.
No one had bothered requesting a chainsaw from the one house within miles, which happened to be right up the hill in plain sight. So, after the show, I walked on up and knocked on the door. From his shed, this old Chilean mountain man pulled out not one, but two 3.2hp, 24-inch blade Husqvarna saws. Putting gas in one of them, he looked up at me—me, the Spanish-speaking gringo that I am—and said, “Incredible, not one of those lazy Chileans down there bothered to come up here and ask me for a saw.” I almost lost it!
The classic “tree blocking the road” meant we had minimal time on this mystery lake. Steep, forested, and granite-covered mountain faces merged with this big blue pond. The dead trees sticking vertically out of the water did not offer the trout sanctuary we hoped for, and it took us all afternoon to barely crack the code. We ended up with a Rainbow Trout, two Browns, and a Brook Trout to the net. However, we never did get a glimpse of two seriously heavy fish that promptly dove to unknown depths amongst the drowned forest.
Back at Temple Camp, our host, Nico, hooked up Starlink, a flat screen, and a soundbar to ensure our 4 clients from Seattle were able to watch the Seahawks win the Super Bowl.
Patagonian Basecamp fishes almost as many lakes as they do rivers, and the days we opted to fish the lakes were the coldest. It may have been a combination of the low temps and our hunt for only big fish that resulted in our limited success. A typical day on those lakes can be downright excellent (I’ve seen photos and hear stories.) On the Verde and Rosselot Lakes, there are always several silvery Rainbow Trout holding under the scum lines (guides call these suspenders). Normally easy to see and catch, most of our rainbows were just going through the motions and would rarely commit to the fly. It just seemed off to us, but other lodge guests fishing those lakes with us used nymphs and did quite well. In fact, I was lucky to be close to one of those anglers who landed a native Patagonia Pejerey on a nymph! In my 28 years fishing in Patagonia, this was the first one I’d seen. Marcel, Patagonian Basecamp owner, was in my boat, and it was his first Pejerey as well.
Lago Claro deserves mentioning. Only anglers willing and able to hike are able to fish this relatively small lake, which requires a 40-minute trek through fields and forest to a stashed drift boat. Mountains and orange-barked Arrayanes trees on one side, and rolling hills meeting reed-lined shores on the other, made for gorgeous scenery despite the rain. This clear lake is known for low catch rates but beautiful 20–25 inch Brown Trout. We hooked and landed 3 out of 4 of these trophies, most of which were found in the mouths of delicate feeder streams. We even hooked a baby Chinook Salmon as we trolled a fly back to our entry point. As we celebrated this catch, we then saw pods of Chinook skimming the surface. Acting in typical salmon fashion, they ignored our offerings. We were elated at what we had experienced and vowed to return (ideally with a packable spinning rod and salmon lures). The magic of Lago Claro mirrors that of the Rio Claro Solar, and it may now be my favorite lake to fish in all of Patagonia.
The amount of moisture we experienced at Patagonia Basecamp was clearly unusual, but it did not stop me or the other anglers from catching those beautiful Brown Trout this place is known for. Every evening, hero shots and stories of triumphs and heartbreaks were shared over cocktails.
The end of every trip to Patagonia Basecamp feels like there are too many waters left unfished or left fished not well enough. This is another reason we suggest the 10- or 11-night programs. After 11 days, I have a long list of waters that I’d like to repeat or fish for the first time. Rain or shine, we’ll be hosting another trip in 2028.
2027 Availability Patagonian Basecamp- 6 rods/program
7 nights/6 days – includes Rio Palena overnight – $8,995/angler
Jan 3-10 6 rods
Jan 17-24 2 rods
Feb 14-21 4 rods
Feb 21-28 2 rods
Feb 28-Mar 7 4 rods
Mar 7-14 6 rods
Mar 14-21 4 rods
Mar 21-28 4 rods
10 nights/ 9 days – includes Rio Palena & TempleCamp overnight – $13,995/angler
Jan 5-15 6 rods
Jan 26-Feb 5 6 rods
Feb 5-16 6 rods
Feb 16-26 4 rods
Mar 9-19 6 rods
11 nights / 10 days of fishing – includes Rio Palena & TempleCamp overnight – $14,995/angler
Jan 15-26 4 rods
Feb 5-16 6 rods
Feb 26-Mar 9 4 rods
Mar 19-30 6 rods
© 2026 Fly Fishing Patagonia
Site design by Brickhouse
Privacy Policy | Accessibility Statement