El Encuentro Fly Fishing Lodge
The longest running lodge in Central Patagonia, El Encuentro has been welcoming and providing fly-fishing trips to anglers for over 30 years. Situated on the Futaleufú River, this family-run lodge offers a charming and comfortable cottage setting for up to eight guests with a privileged riverside location.
The lodge is still a family matter and the Beale brothers have each one a significant role in its success. This is why once there you will feel at home straight away.
The Fishing
The Esquel & Trevelin area offers a variety of rivers that allow you to fish from drift boat or small streams ideal for the anglers who prefer to walk.
The lodge is in the banks of Futaleufú river (also known as the Río Grande), an amazingly diverse fishery with islands and side channels that allow you to wade or drift for its many rainbows and browns. The area is also home to famous rivers such as Arroyo Pescado among other small rivers you will love to fish.
Esquel & Trevelin area has great variety of big lakes that at the right time can offer world class fishing as well.
Sample Itinerary
Day 1 – Overnight flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Day 2 – After arriving in Buenos Aires. Transfer the group one hour to the domestic flights airport for flight to Esquel, 2 hrs approx.).
Arrive at Esquel airport were you will be meet and driven to El Encuentro lodge, approx. one hour and fifteen minutes. Fish the rio Futaleufu in the afternoon.
Day 2 – Fish the Rio Futaleufu. A hundred yards walk to be on the water.
Day 3 – Fish private access lake and combine it with the Rio Percey. (private access)
Day 4 – Fish arroyo Nant y Fall. (private access)
Day 5 – Wednesday, Fish Laguna Larga in the morning for big brown trout and combine it with Arroyo Desaguadero.
Day 6 – Fish Arroyo Pescado or Lago Wilimanco (private access)
Day 7 – Fish the Futaleufu river (different stretch) in the morning, come back to the lodge for a light lunch, final packing and transfer to the airport to catch flight back home.
Other waters we fish in the Esquel/Trevelin area:
- Rio Frey upper section and lower section
- Monsters stretch & Lago Kruger.
- Rio Corinto.
- Rio Arrayanes and / or Lago Verde.
- Rio Corcovado
- Small lakes in the area with big trout
The lodge layout is comfortable for 8 anglers at once. Its ideal for small fishing groups of friends that enjoy the privacy of a small lodge that makes you feel at home. It’s a comfortable and intimate setting. At El Encuentro, we proudly grow most of our organic vegetables in an acre kitchen garden. And all the food is locally bought from local farmers products.
The traditional asados with the family and the guides are memorable!
You also will love the mud-oven baked bread and enjoy superb Argentine wines, included with all meals, even when you have lunch on the riverside.
Non-Fishing Activities
For those who don’t want just to fish or who are travelling with their non-fishing companions, Patagonia has a lot more to offer. Depending on your interests we will make sure you have a wonderful experience.
El Encuentro has a great variety of activities in addition to the fishing program.
Horseback riding right outside our back door
You can choose horseback riding right outside El Encuentro back door. Depending on your experience you can go for a couple of hours along the river, or ride for half a day to a full day up in the surroundings and mountains around the lodge.
Discover the Welsh Heritage of the area
Half an hour from El Encuentro Lodge, you can visit the town of Trevelin and its museums to learn about the fascinating Welsh settling. Enjoy a traditional Welsh tea with some delicious homemade cakes and breads.
Half day trip on La Trochita
La Trochita is one of the only narrow-gauge trains still running in the world. Departing from the local train station of Esquel, the train heads east to the small station of Nahuel Pan, an indigenous reservation located twenty kilometers far. The round trip to Esquel lasts for three hours approximately. You can enjoy a variety of landscapes, combining mountains, forests and the typical “meseta patagonica”. In Nahuel Pan you can visit a small original cultures museum and the “Casa de las Artesanas” where indigenous women of Nahuel Pan exhibit their own handicraft.
Hiking and Bird Watching
Hiking and bird watching can be done at any time, even while you are fishing. Your guides know the areas like their backyard; they have also great knowledge about the local flora and fauna. They know their birds!
Also a whole day program to go hiking and bird watching can be arranged, and why don’t you take a rod as well!
Half day trip to Chile
El Encuentro is only five miles away from the Chilean border. The town of Futaleufu has some great restaurants where you can enjoy some excellent pacific seafood and Pisco Sours. After lunch go for a drive around the area or for a nice hike. You will be surprised at the change of scenery and lifestyle.
Rafting on the Futaleufu, (Rio Grande in Chile) and the Corcovado River in Argentina.
The Futaleufu River is world famous for its rafting. We can easily arrange it and you can be there in forty minutes. On the Corcovado River, you can also go rafting; it has grade 2 and 3 rapids, so anyone can do it. The scenery is stunning and the program is also a great way to take a day off from fishing.
Day trip to The National Park Los Alerces
In the National Park Los Alerces you can take a boat tour or a hike and enjoy some stunning scenery and wildlife. The Park is also home to the alerce trees (lahuan, Fitzroya cupressoides) from which the park takes its name. It was created in 1937 in order to protect the alerce forest, and other typical examples of the flora of the Patagonian Andes. The National Park has the largest alerce forest in Argentina. The Alerce is one of the longest-living trees in the world; some in the park are around 3,000 years old, with many of them over 1,000 years. Among other things, you could take a boat ride across the Menendez lake to hike on the Torrecillas glacier or hike to the Alerces forest. The National Park is an hour and a half far from El Encuentro.
View from the porch at El Encuentro
Our guide Benjamin, rowing against gale-force winds
Searching the flat for cruising bows
Patagonia Brown Trout
Rates
Cost per person for 7 nights / 6 1/2 days fishing: $4340 USD
Whats Included
- Accommodation in a double room with private bathroom.
- Full-board: breakfast buffet, lunch and dinner with excellent Argentinean wines and open bar.
- All ground transport from Esquel airport to the lodge and fishing destinations in this program.
- Fully equipped Argentine fishing guide every two anglers.
- All private water and access fees.
- All Non Fishing Activities.
- Leaders, tippet and extra flies.
- WIFI is available only in certain areas of the lodge.
- Laundry service at El Encuentro Lodge.
Whats Not Included
- Airfares.
- Transfers, hotel, and meals in Buenos Aires
- Ground transfer to and from Bariloche Airport (if applicable)
- Personal or travel insurance. (We strongly recommend it)
- Fishing license. It can be prepaid to us in the US and we will purchase it before your arrival.
- Staff and guides gratitude’s.
- Phone calls.
