Austral Kings

The Austral Kings Story

Finding a genuinely “undiscovered” fly fishing destination isn’t easy these days. In fact, twin brothers, Alex and Nico Trochine have been scouring South America in search of one for years. In February 2015 they made an exploratory expedition along the central Chilean coast chasing rumors of massive King Salmon populating many of the rivers in the region. They sampled several rivers on their explorations – many of which have runs of Kings but were not, what they felt, were fly fishing friendly. It wasn’t until they landed on the last river of the trip when they knew that they had discovered, what might possibly be, South America’s King fishing Shangri-la. Blown away by the jaw-dropping scenery, fish-ability of the river, average size (25-50 lbs.), and healthy population of salmon, they decided that this river was the place to set up their operation.

The River

The River runs through a green valley surrounded by glacier-capped granite mountains. Even after heaving rains, the river runs a deep turquoise color and has a variety of fishy structures, from gravel beaches, big boulders, classic tailwaters, and deep runs. The bulk of the salmon run seems to arrive in mid-January – late March. The chosen location for Austral Kings Camp is right on the river and we will be able to access five kilometers of water by foot, and 10 more by jetboat. Fishing will be done mostly from the bank swinging flies.

The Climate

The weather in summer is generally quite friendly, most of the time 10°–20°C. Due to its closeness to the marine environment, we might have occasional rain or fog.