We believe that a picture tells not only one, but thousands of stories. The salmon fishing that we offer is in our opinion, like nothing else on Earth! As you can see in the gallery below, and on the faces of our clients, there are a lot of stories to tell about catching salmon ranging from 20lbs right up to 65lbs!!! The fish in the pictures below are just a tiny selection of some of our catches and are amongst some of the largest salmon on the planet, and our catches all get released back in to their natural habitat to continue growing so that you can come and catch them again and again!
The History
In 1966, our founder made his first fly-fishing expedition to Chile In 199 he invited fly-fishing friends and other well-known fly fishermen from the Pacific Northwest to explore, enjoy and “decode” this unique fishery in southern Chile. Over 2,700 acres on Chilean waters were acquired based on these exploratory fishing expeditions and their discoveries. These locations are a result of their combined experience and what these experts consider to be the “best” of the best” fly-fishing in the Patagonia.
As stories spread and interest grew, our founder was encouraged to make this opportunity available to other fly-fishing enthusiasts as well. Southern Chile Expeditions was thus born. If your interest is fly-fishing rivers and lakes, saltwater estuaries or both, you deserve the best the Patagonia has to offer and that is what we have awaiting you.
More Than Words
We invited Jeff Edvalds, a well-known fly-fishing photographer to accompany Dale DePriest, Jack Mitchell and Guy Fullart on a fly-fishing expedition through our fishing grounds to visually portray what we have awaiting you. Jeff has continued to join us each year and his photos, taken at our lodges, appear in numerous articles in Gray’s Sporting Journal, Fly Rod & Reel and many other fishing magazines and gear ads illustrating our famous fishery.
These days our fishing is focussed on the incredible salmon fishing available to us on the ocean and in the estuary. We have discovered a winning formula for giving our customers the biggest chances of getting into some of the largest salmon on the planet. As you can see from the photographs on this page, which have been collected over a couple of recent years, the chances of catching not just one, but several fish of a lifetime are extremely high. The salmon that are caught are returned safely to the water, so that you can come back and try to catch them again and again!
We truly believe photographs ARE worth MORE than a thousand words!
Premier Staff
Our premier staff of fly-fishing guides will enable you to enjoy this experience to its full potential. During the fly-fishing season in the Northern Hemisphere, our North American guides work in Alaska, the lower 48 states and British Colombia. Our multilingual Chilean guides have numerous years of angling experience on our local waters and provide real competition to our guides from the North.
Our lodges have been featured twice on Fly Fish the World and other international film and television programs.
Our guests have been extremely pleased with the professionalism and expertise of our guides. Their ability to tie and match the hatch is among, if not the best, in Chile.
Estuary Fish
Ocean Fish
Estuaries and the ocean
Yan Kee Way lodge is also very close to the sea. With ready accessibility to estuary fisheries, we offer opportunities to fish for very large silver, Atlantic and king salmon. King salmon exceeding 50 pounds ply these waters. A further bonus of our estuary fishery is the assurance that you will have additional fishable waters should unseasonable rains put some of our local rivers out of shape. While we focus primarily on fly-fishing, we also satisfy customers who desire to pursue this abundant salmon resource beyond the estuaries. Our professional Pacific Northwest and Alaskan guides will escort you on a traditional salmon fishing expedition on the salt chuck.
Estuaries — where fresh waters engage the salt — are home to fine salmon. They eat their breakfast, lunch and dinner in the sea. Incoming tides carry them to the rivers for their dessert.
Monster Salmon
Yan Kee Way lodge is nearby the salt-water estuaries of the Rio Petrohue, Rio Puelo and the Rio Maullin, to mention but a few of the better known of these fisheries in the immediate area. In the last five years the Spring Salmon run has been increasing to the point that we are now offering Salmon fishing to our clients. Some have caught Kings in excess of 60 lbs. on our home river, and we know for sure that there any many much larger fish still to be caught!
We differentiate between resident and migratory salmonoids as we have a large population of them which have made the 320 square mile Lago Llanquihue (yan-kee-way) their year-round home. As a result, we do not rely on migratory seasons to fish for them. Migratory salmonoids return to our river systems to spawn as shown below. They may also be taken as an incidental catch in lakes such as Rosselot, as they pass from one river system to the next.
Some items to bring along
To assure your comfort on the water, we recommend that you bring the following minimum clothing: a quality hooded rain jacket, warm sweater or pullover (such as a Synchilla product), medium weight Capilene or polypropylene undershirt, medium weight Capilene or polypropylene long underwear pants, wool or polypropylene socks, fishing hat, small day pack, polarized sunglasses, sunscreen, camera, film, small zip lock bags to protect your camera, flashlight, personal medication, and a small water bottle. Our weather is that it is changeable and cool during the majority of the fishing season.