For many reasons our favorite river for salmon fishing is the Rio Petrohue, one of the rivers where the kings were first planted. It's our home river, only 15 minutes from the lodge, and the salmon are fresh, heavy, and healthy. Usually kings enter the river in mid-February, all through March, and into April. When it rains occasionally throughout the summer (as usual) salmon may arrive earlier, but in a dry summer they enter when the rains swell the river. No worries, when the salmon have yet to enter the Petrohue we travel to where they have started to run.
We fish for king salmon in the ocean from November through March trolling with downriggers, which can also get us into two other game species, sierra and corvina. In January and February we start out trolling for salmon but often switch to target tuna if we spot bird activity indicating their presence. March and April are the prime months for tuna. For many the most exciting fishing is for tuna as they feed on schools of sardines that they've forced to the surface. One can cast a fly or spinner into the fray and be assured of a fast, hard take from a 7 to 10 kg tuna. It's not unusual for a spin fishing angler to battle with 8 or 9 tuna in an outing, bringing about a third of them to hand. Your average fly caster could expect half of that. Caution: they'll try to pull your arms out of socket!
We might be the only lodge or outfitter in Chile that offers the flexibility to move around and go where the salmon are biting best at the moment. We can do this whether you are staying at Tres Rios Lodge or you're with us on a Road Trip further south in Patagonia. We are mobile! We know that your fishing vacation comes around only once a year, and to Chile maybe only once in a lifetime. It should be the best possible trip imaginable, and we'll make an extra effort to see that it is.