mtshasta.com – jack trout's weblog

*****FLY FISHING HAS BEEN FANTASTIC! OUR NEW CUSTOMERS BILL VANDERWEKEN AND TOME RICH HAVE BEEN CATCHING TROUT NOT RAYS AS
THE WEATHER CHANGES HERE IN PATAGONIA. TOM LANDED TWO BROWN
LUNKERS AROUND 5LBS EACH AND MANY OTHERS ON THE RIO MAULLIN,
STAY TUNED FOR THOSE ADVENTURES NEXT!***** UPPER SAC RAFTING TRIP SIGN-UPS START NOW, DON’T MISS THE BOAT….THANKS FOR HELPING US BREAK THE 100,000 HITS PLATEAU IN THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY SIZZLERS!!****

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The Upper Futaleufu has got to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Certainly among the top rivers to fly fish in the world with its numerous species of trout which include rainbows, browns & steelhead. On this river you have views everywhere you look, and then an inner-peace sets in that replenishes the soul. This is a place one should visit in one’s lifetime if not often, to witness how great life on earth can really be. So the stage was set, Henry and daughter Lucia Hossfeld were on their way. We just finished our perfect week of fly fishing with Clay Hash and Blake Larsen. Nico, Poncho and I headed for Chaiten to take the Trout Mobile and the two boats back to Puerto Varas via the ship to pick up the Hossfelds. I could feel it in the air that the fishing was really starting to turn on here in Patagonia, since unusual high waters from December and January had finally left us on their journey to the surrounding oceans.

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As we headed into the port village of Porto La Arena, I could see kids running on the beach, people laying out soaking up the sun, and local fishermen wrapping up their nets from a day’s work heading out to the restaurants to reap the fruits of their labor. I looked up into sky and thought about my great-grandfather Jacob, (Jack) who migrated to the United States back at the turn of the 19th century from Minsk, Russia. He was looking for a better life for him and his family. An opportunity to live the American Dream, and not have to suffer anymore the brutal winters and lack of work that existed where he left. He didn’t speak a word of English, nor did he possess any real skills he could use other than photography, and a desire to make his life better. A dream that burned in his heart like the mid-night oil that carried his great-grandchild across the oceans of the Pacific and through the fiords of Chile, and somehow that day I felt him with me on my journey. To Jacob, my great grandfather, thank you for taking the risks and bringing our family to a place where we could all flourish in the future. The American/Chilean Dream is here and alive in my heart. I couldn’t have done it without you and your genuine sense, foresight, and spirit! Love Jack, in the year 2006, I too, follow in your footsteps.

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I picked up Henry and Lucia at the airport, and took them for the usual at Alassandro’s in Puerto Varas. I know when folks finally reach us here in Chile after a long flight, they’re ready for some great food and a drink to whet their whistle. Alassandro’s is just the place, and Henry and Lucia agreed!

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Lucia enjoyed her first day ever fly fishing by hooking into 9 trout and landing 7! The trout were very strong on the Rio Petrohue. This one in the picture took her down 150 yards into her backing over the next series of falls and was heading for the ocean the last we heard! I like the Rio Petrohue because the trout are so strong, and you can also catch steelhead and browns in the Lower Petrohue in which we drift in boats.

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Lucia was a delight to fly fish with and instruct. Even though this really wasn’t her cup of tea in the beginning, she started out with just a sip and asked for a second cup! She always put in a 100% effort, and was really enjoying her time on the river. The fishing couldn’t have been better on her first day out, and what a nice steelhead she landed.

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She was having a ball Sizzlers, and taking in the wonderful Chilean views.
I thought to myself, jolly rancher, she must be in the lead for Sizzler of the Week on her first day of fly fishing!
We caught all of her trout nymphing with indicators and small mayflies.

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Meanwhile, father Henry was on the Rio Maullin, with Nico guiding him and he had other ideas. He was hooking into browns and had a lifetime dream of being Sizzler of the Week! Nico the night before had tied up some of his cheater streamers and trout can’t resist them cause they looked so much like small fry atlantic salmon.

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Then, Pops, right before dark in a location that Nico seems to always catch lunkers in, hooked into a whale that gave him a serious battle! Nico remained calm as usual and maneuvered the boat perfectly to land the tiny vessel. To say the least, this fish was obscene, and had a huge kype (shoulders). In laymen terms, nice catch Henry! (Little did we know this was happening. Lucia and I were on the Rio Petrohue slapping each other high fives).

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After that awesome first day for any beginner, I took Lucia back to Alassandro’s for a dessert treat for being such a great student, and we enjoyed these two delicious desserts and yakked about our day! Stressed spelled backwards is Desserts!

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On the second day, we took both Henry and Lucia to another place we knew on the Rio Petrohue, and they both hooked into numerous trout. Lucia caught more than the previous day, and when it’s right next to pops, all the better!

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Lucia caught this lovely crome trout, and I knew we had potentially hooked her for life! I think Chile is a great place for the person who wants to learn fly fishing or the non-angler, we always have something to show or do! But a fish like this can make your dreams come true.

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The next day Henry, Lucia and I took a catamaran ride from Puerto Montt to Chaiten. We wanted to try out this season all the best ways to access the Rio Yelcho and Rio Futaleufu from Puerto Varas this season. I have to admit the 6 hour journey was the best of all! It helped that the oceans were calm that day and the sun was out in full force. It was a trip that you really didn’t want to end. The views of the tiny islands and fiords were almost surreal and I brought my lucky baseball that keeps me safe on my travel journeys, and my lucky trout ring that accompanies me on all my guide trips for fly fishing! Nico took the ship the night before with all the boats and the Trout Mobile to meet us when we arrived….

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From the very top of the map is where we left from Puerto Montt, and we landed in Chaiten 6 hours too soon! What a classic ride I would do over again as long as the day and the weather was the same. We have three options as guides, a plane ride was 45 minutes, by catamaran was 6 hours or via ship was 12 hours, and we can only bring the boats on the ship…jt

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Henry and Lucia loved their trip through the chain of islands
on their once in a life time trip. Just look at Henry’s face, it says it all!

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Even the kids were fired up about the trip on board, and the seats were so comfortable you could recline them way back and take a little snooze like Lucia did. We watched the views outside over and over again, and inside the other passengers watched, My Body Guard, with Kevin Costner. Up stairs on the cata, some others played cards, and even a band was playing music getting ready for their big night in Chaiten at the high school gym. It was a hoot Sizzlers! So there you go, you’ve seen access to the Yelcho area with Blake and Clay via Argentina, over the Andes, and now by catamaran through the Chilean fiords. The next story in about a week, I will show you the views by airplane, on my journey back from Futaleufu/Yelcho area to fetch Tom Rich, Bill Vanderweken, Mary Ellen Rivera and her friend Frolin.

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We now have access to use Doug Tompkin’s farm house exclusively when our customers are staying there! You might know the name, he’s the former part owner of Espree and the founder of Northface clothing. He hit big back in the MTV era, with a little help from all of us, and you or your wife might have bought a pair of those unique running shoes or a tent for camping back in the 1980’s. Now he’s known in the world and Chile, as the “Eco Warrior!” Buying up chunks of land around Chile and turning them into National Parks to preserve old growth forest. I used to hear negative things about Doug, like he didn’t allow people to wear shoes in his houses, even employees. But after visiting his farm and seeing the beautiful hardwood floors that take in the Patagonian soil if socks aren’t worn, I could see his point. Heck, I don’t allow shoes on my carpets and hardwood floors in my house in Mt Shasta. The other thing I heard often is that he buys up land and displaces Chileans, in fact, he allows them to stay on their land after he buys their property and fixes up their houses and gives them work if needed. So my conclusion on Doug Tompkins is, we need more Doug Tompkins people in the world, using their money through philanthropy to do just what he is doing. Anything else said is just pure green envy.(There’s a lot of it out there!) This is a great place for our customers to stay and visit when fishing or touring with us. On his farm he raises, strawberries, raspberries, apples and everything is crisp, clean and perfect! Why don’t you stay here with us in 2007?

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Rodrigo, the caretaker, runs the place and is a fabulous host. The atmosphere is light and country-like. The food is divine! The first night Rodrigo prepared us his famous fettuccini with white, red and mushroom sauces. And for dessert a scrumptious raspberry mousse that was whipped until it was light as a feather! On this night after a long day on the river, it was a meat and potato style dish that warmed our hearts and made you want to ask for seconds.

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Henry and Lucia were our first customers ever lucky enough to stay here and they loved the dog that reminded me of Lassie.

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Everyone is sleeping good at this place!

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On the Upper Futaleufu, Henry landed a giant using a small size 22 black & green caddis pupa. The best part of all was he sight casted to the trout and off we were, chasing him downstream! We caught several other browns and rainbows that day, but none was better than this one.

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The next day we headed for the Lower Futaleufu and Henry caught this trout that reminded me of going to back to the 70`s, and watching my brother Tim listen to the records of that albino singer, Edgar Winter. Can anyone identify this trout? It’s part brown, part sea-run, (but up this high?) brook, who knows? None of us have ever seen a trout that looks like this one did any where? Which adds to the mystique of the Lower Futaleufu, Sizzlers! Maybe his name was Ian(inside family joke)?

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What a pig Henry! I think we should send this one off to “Whale Watchers!”

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Life is always good on the Lower Futaleufu!

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We then headed over to the Yelcho area to fly fish Lago Yelcho and the Rio Yelcho like we did with Clay and Blake in the previous story. The weather was changing and we knew we needed to hit the lake on a day with not a lot of wind.

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Henry landed this ginormous trout on a Chernoble Ant pattern I bought through Solitude Fly Co. This pattern was better than the Umpqua version because it sported eyes and we truly found the trout liked them better on this day! Wow! what a dream come true… I call that a wet dream!

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What a great trip for Henry and Lucia, before she headed off to Buenos Aires for 6 months of study under her Spanish major. What a great dad for buying her this wonderful trip before she headed off for her studies in the country next door.
Guess what? We have another Co-Sizzler winner week! I know Henry, you wanted to be Sizzler, you’ll just have to come back and see if you can win it out right next time….? CONGRATULATIONS CO-SIZZLERS! JACK TROUT

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The next day on the Rio Yelcho, Henry landed this beauty on a small dry with Nico by his side.

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Meanwhile, I was with Lucia in a place called Sipper Cove, watching huge trout that laid near the surface taking emergers and dries. You could see them everywhere, but the big boys were right up against the bank. It was amazing! My heart started pounding cause in all my 14 years of guiding full-time, I had never seen anything like this! So many big trout that you could see so easily. Any expert would pick the best trout out like a pool shot in the corner pocket. So there I was with Lucia, on her last day with me. She had come to me as a beginner but with numerous catches over her total of 13 days, she had elevated her skills to an intermediate. I always say anybody can learn to fly fish, all you need is desire and opportunity, and these qualities she never lacked. So we rowed a little closer and one by one she caught the smaller and medium-sized trout that lined up like a feast at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, California.

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Seeing is believing, Sizzlers! This was the epitome of dry fly fishing by anyone who has ever held a rod in their hands. Nice steelhead cruising under the boat, made my heart pitter-patter!

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The lineup was awesome and the color of the water was an added treat! It didn’t matter how many years you had been guiding, it was like the first day at the office. Or how little time someone had been fly fishing, her desire gave her years of experience. We were both excited and proceeded to move closer in for the biggest trout line, the ones against the bank and in the cove!

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Lucia got her fly in for the pole position drift and up came a sip the size of a pea! Fish on, Sizzlers! AND IT’S A LUNKER!!!! WOW! HOLD ON LU, WE’RE TAKING HIM AWAY FROM THE BANK NOW!! A JUMP THEN ANOTHER JUMP!! (LUCIA DID SO GOOD NOT TO BREAK HIM OFF ON HIS INITIAL RUNS AND BURSTS) ANOTHER JUMP AND A DIVE DEEP INTO THE DEPTHS. 20 MINUTES LATER I HAND-NETTED THE GOO GOO DOLL! I was so proud of Lucia because this was a fight of epic proportions, one that only 4 out of 10 would have landed because of the wood, trout’s strength and trout wisdom to possible shake the hook off and get away. She had mastered it all in such a short time and landed her catch!

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After we revived the trout and watched it take off swiftly, we both sat down and were speechless for 5 minutes. Lu said nothing and looked towards that bank in awe. For she had witnessed something that only happens once every few years for the avid dry fly fishermen. Many big trout were rising carelessly, and unaffected by our driftboat, never had I seen this so apparent in my 14 years of guiding! Lu went on that day to hook 5 more just as big on dries, and on her last day in paradise was one she will never forget. She came to me not knowing what to expect, nor did she really have any big time expectations. It was more to please her father before heading off for her studies and just go along for the ride, learn a new sport that she would possible enjoy. But she never quit on the sport, and through fun light-hearted teaching as well as great fly fishing locations, she became more and more comfortable which finally led to the start of what I would think would be a lifetime passion. Something she could do with her friends, boyfriend or her father, because now she has embraced what the sport was all about. It’s not always the catch, it’s not always the size. But the experiences are priceless, and where the sport takes you can be endless. Many Rivers to you, Jack Trout**STAY TUNED SIZZLERS AS TOME RICH AND BILL VANDERWEKEN GO FLY FISHING , WHILE MARY ELLEN AND FROLIN GO TOURING THE COUNTRYSIDES!**GO TO WWW.MTSHASTA.COM/STATS TO SEE OUR HITS HOURLY!!**