{"id":39531,"date":"2026-07-30T10:30:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/?p=39531"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:40:10","slug":"coyhaique-chile-a-fishing-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2026\/07\/30\/coyhaique-chile-a-fishing-destination\/","title":{"rendered":"Coyhaique, Chile: A Fishing Destination"},"content":{"rendered":"

My first trip to Patagonia was in 2018. I arrived with a pocket full of flies and a backpack, my rod tube awkwardly wedged into a bottle holder and a hand-me-down net dangling off the side. I looked a bit like a shipwreck, but that didn\u2019t stop me from hitchhiking through southern Chile, from the pampas along the Argentine border to the lush fjords carved by glaciers long ago. Working my way south, I caught rides in the backs of pickup trucks from friendly gauchos and camped in farmers\u2019 fields, always sure to cast a fly or two into any promising trout water.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nearly ten years later, I still look back on that trip with deep nostalgia. It was my first overseas fly-fishing adventure, the beginning of what would become a decade of trout-bum wanderings, a devotion that even now borders on obsession. But more than that, I find myself admiring how much I\u2019ve grown since then. Growing up in northern Spain, I had so many dreams of adventure and travel, and that trip to Chile was the start of me making them come true. I had just turned twenty-one, and spent the majority of my life up until then plagued by insecurity, self-doubt, and tremendous amounts of fear. At the time, I thought I was simply going on a fishing trip. Looking back now, I think of it more as the first chapter in my coming-of-age story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since then, I\u2019ve built my life around fishing. I became a guide in Montana\u2019s Big Sky country and have made a habit of chasing fish across continents. My life has become so much more than I could have ever asked for, and yet, no matter how far I travel, something always draws me back to Chile.<\/span><\/p>\n

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During the northern hemisphere\u2019s winter\u2014Chile\u2019s summer\u2014I now return to guide at a lodge tucked into the vastness of Ays\u00e9n. I fell in love with a Chilean fishing guide, and the rest is history. But even without romance and even without work, I think I would still find my way back to Patagonia. There is a part of my soul I can only seem to access there.<\/span><\/p>\n