Chile Trip Report Feb 2026 -Part 2 -Torres del Paine

Chile 2026 – Trip Report, Part 2

As much as I hated to leave Patagonian Basecamp (Chile 2026 Trip Report, Part 1), I was headed to the land of granite towers and 20-inch Brown Trout — and where I’d have my best chance of spotting a puma. What I didn’t expect was landing my most memorable fish of the trip in what I’d later nickname, Shitty Little Spring Creek.

From Puerto Montt, Chile, I flew to far southern Chilean Patagonia. The area around the towns of Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales is one of our most popular destinations in Chile because of its proximity to the world-famous Torres del Paine National Park and some excellent trout fishing — making it ideal for couples and groups with mixed interests visiting between December and March.

Our partnering outfitter in this area is Orvis Endorsed Outfitter, Claudio Jooste. After many years outfitting in Coyhaique, he decided to start a new operation somewhere far from other lodges — a place where established fly fishing tourism had yet to blossom. His choice? Puerto Natales, Chile and the rivers surrounding Torres del Paine National Park. He had discovered a couple of guides in the area, but nothing professional or published. Since fishing is prohibited inside the park, Claudio had to carefully build relationships with local estancias and eventually secured several exclusive leases which our clients enjoy today. My plan was to first fish his recently secured leases to the south and then his rivers closer to the park in the north.

Landing at Punta Arenas Airport put me close to several of Claudio’s leases in and around the Rubens Valley. When fishing the valley, anglers stay at the Rubens Hotel — an early 1900s building converted into a comfortable inn for travelers along Route 9. It’s uninspiring when you first pull up, but the guest rooms are as nice as you’d find in a refined fishing lodge — high-end bedding and luxurious bathrooms. Even the food was delicious. I recommend the grilled lamb.

The area is geographically interesting because it lies in the transition between the dense Nothofagus forests that meet the Pacific Ocean and the open steppe that stretches to Argentina. Claudio’s leased section of the Río San José showcases this transition perfectly. In the upper forested sections, the clear stream is very spring creek-like with small, technical water holding some heavy browns. As it comes out of the dense forests, the trout population soars and the fishing becomes very easy. This little stream was dry fly paradise with Brown Trout striking almost anything you put in front of them. We didn’t hook anything larger than 15 inches, but the entertainment factor was high and it reaffirmed itself as an ideal river to teach someone how to fly fish.

On the second day, my guide Maru and I fished the Rubens River, which starts farther south, flows north and then east to connect with the Río Gallegos in Argentina. Claudio’s lease is located on a private ranch within the thick forests and this section is a spitting image of the Irigoyen River in Argentina — minus the sea trout. Wading its tea-colored waters, we cast to logs, foam lines and little dark pools curving around bends. In the tail-outs, there were always fish rising, but we had the most luck in spots that had current, depth and structure.

After 3 nights at the Rubens Hotel, I moved 45 minutes north to Puerto Natales, a small coastal town that is the main gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. I stayed at Simple Patagonia Hotel because most of the groups we send here are anglers and non-anglers wanting to visit the park and fly fish, and this hotel is the perfect base for all of it. Non-anglers can go horseback riding and take various tours in the park while anglers head out to the rivers. Plus it’s 5 minutes from downtown, where visitors can enjoy cocktails at the popular gin distillery before hitting one of the pizzerias.

However, when the entire group wants to fish and also see the park, we typically arrange just one or two nights at Simple Patagonia for the park visit, then move the anglers to a small, fully staffed cottage on Estancia San Luis for the fishing days. The cottage puts anglers five minutes from two rivers which means more time on the water and much less time in the truck.

On my first day in Puerto Natales, Claudio arranged for his guide Victor to take me on a full-day driving tour of the park. As a licensed park guide, Victor could explain why the winds move in a particular direction through the various valleys, how the granite towers were formed, how pumas change behavior depending on the season, and the difference between two identical-looking trees. It was clear that no matter how many times he visited the park — with clients or on his own — he still finds the grandeur of the entire ecosystem captivating. If you have just one day to see the park, that full-day driving tour with Victor will show you all the major sites and leave time for a few short hikes.

The crown jewel of Claudio’s fishing program is located on Estancia San Luis — a huge sheep and cattle ranch southwest of the park. It has several streams with trout, but the two main rivers are Arroyo Viscachas and the Río Baguales. The Viscachas is a 15–30 foot wide, tea-colored spring creek holding only Brown Trout averaging 20 inches. It can be quite technical but requires only moderate stealth when it’s windy — which is almost all the time. For such delicate water, it’s amazing how aggressive these fish are. On more than one occasion, I had 20-inch browns crush my terrestrial like it was their first meal in days and then launch into aerial acrobatics across the surface of the pool. The real challenge on the Viscachas is the weed beds, which only become an obstacle when the water level is low. Almost every trout I hooked eventually ran into the weeds — sometimes it found the net and other times it successfully gave us the slip.

The Río Baguales, on the other hand, is fed by both springs and mountain runoff. It meanders through the open grass plain with no distinctive vegetation marking the river corridor. In fact, you can’t even tell there is a stream there until you’re upon it. About the same width as the Viscachas, the Baguales runs super clear along a gravel bottom with very few weed beds. Like the Viscachas, fish smaller than 20 inches appear to be completely absent from the Baguales. What’s even more extraordinary is that they were plentiful. Every spot that looked like it would hold a fish had at least one of these big browns, and you only had to walk 20–30 yards between hot spots.

As easy as it may sound, one must become friends with the wind — because without it, the fishing becomes quite difficult. Luckily, 9 times out of 10 it’s blowing — strong and somewhat constant. But just like in Tierra del Fuego, the guides have a few basic tactics to help you use the wind to make a good presentation with little effort. I found the wind particularly helpful when struggling to spot a fish in a pool. I could easily discover its location by disturbing the grasses to make the hoppers fly and get blown downwind onto the pool’s surface. Five, 4, 3, 2, balooop…. Bingo, there it is.

I’ve fished many streams across Patagonia but I can’t remember one where all you caught were 20-inch browns. What made the Baguales even more special was that no matter where you were on the river, you always had the granite towers of Torres del Paine National Park as a backdrop.

Between the rivers of the Rubens Valley and those within and outside Estancia San Luis, one could easily spend a week fishing here. But realistically, seeing the park for a day or two is a priority for anyone flying down here, and that usually leaves 2–4 days of fishing.

On my last day, I was going to stay at the hotel and get some work done. But Maru offered to take me to a small private spring creek outside of town. I immediately got worried when I first laid eyes on it. It looked like a large dirty puddle. As he drove me around to scout the creek, it all looked uninviting. The pools didn’t even connect and there was zero current. Parts of the pools were choked with weeds that covered 90% of the surface. One pool had a half-submerged broken bucket, another had a dead sheep, and some pools had enough water to make a couple of casts before the rest disappeared into willow trees. Maru explained that in December, this river is four times the size, has current, and holds big trout. Well, that’s nice, but this is late February — who would want to fish this thing now? It was the shittiest little spring creek I’d ever seen.

But then we spotted a fish — a rather nice one too. Maru and I focused on the cleaner, open pools that seemed more likely to hold anything that swims, and to my surprise, a big trout came up from the dark murky muck and ate my fly. That maroon-colored fish turned out to be probably the most beautiful Brown Trout of my trip. On the next pool I landed another. I was baffled. I asked Maru — how can trout this healthy be thriving in this shitty little spring creek? We laughed and laughed, and the name stuck: The Shitty Little Spring Creek.

Maru then took me to a particular pool where he had seen, on multiple occasions, a fish of 25 inches. Estimated at 25 inches — no one had hooked it to his knowledge. Sure enough, I spotted this thing — well protected under a tree branch that leaned out over the water. I studied the angles, timed the wind, and a couple of times got close enough that I thought he should see my fly. Alas, he either ignored it or left undetected — which was fine with me, as I was totally fulfilled by this unusual experience. It spoke to the real reason we anglers chase fish with a fly rod — to be surprised by the unexpected.

Would I return to that creek or recommend it to our anglers? No, not unless it’s December. But Claudio’s program is highly recommendable.   Torres del Paine is one of the most amazing national parks in the world and is frequently featured on magazine covers. If you are traveling to fish Chile, adding a quick side trip down to see the park is just too easy not to consider. While there, you might as well catch a few 20-inch trout before heading home.

If this is something you’d like to tack on to your Chile fishing trip, we are only a phone call or email away.

We are returning, hosting a short 5 night stay in Feb 2028. Contact us if you’d like to join!

Fly Fishing Patagonia
Justi Campa
jcampa@flyfishingpatagonia.com
434-249-1783