EL ENCUENTRO LODGE

The longest-running lodge in Central Patagonia, El Encuentro has been welcoming and providing fly-fishing trips to anglers for over 30 years.

Built by the Beale family as a special place to gather together with friends and family and go fishing.  And now, for over 30 years, the lodge and the family have been welcoming anglers from all over the world, many of whom return year after year to enjoy extraordinary fishing experiences. Staying at El Encuentro Lodge lets you experience Argentine hospitality at its most authentic – warm, genuine, and familial.

With four rooms in the main house (private bathrooms across the hall) and two rooms in an adjacent cottage (en suite bathrooms), El Encuentro can comfortably accommodate up to eight guests. It’s an ideal setting for a small group of friends who want to enjoy the lodge’s privacy and warmth. WiFi is available.

At El Encuentro, the Beales proudly grow most of the organic vegetables in the one-acre kitchen garden and serve eggs from their own chickens. Lamb, beef, and other products are locally sourced from family and local markets. Bread is baked daily at the lodge.  Not to be forgotten, superb Argentine wines are served at lunch and dinner, even when you have lunch on the riverside. Guests are treated to a traditional Patagonian “Asado” (barbecue) with the family and all the guides – a most memorable dining experience!

THE FISHING AT EL ENCUENTRO LODGE

From EEL we have access to a diverse program including the Esquel, Trevelin, and Southern Los Alerces National Park areas. Anglers will get to choose from the big, productive waters of the Rio Futaleufu to spring creeks, private lakes, and walk-wade streams.

When one thinks about fishing from El Encuentro Lodge, an angler can’t help but think about float fishing the famed Rio Futaleufú (sometimes known as the Rio Grande). With the lodge’s unique location right on the banks of the Rio Futaleufú, a fishing day can begin or end at the lodge, and anglers are also able to go out late in the day, right from the lodge, to enjoy the evening hatch. Additional river beats are easily accessed upstream or downstream from the lodge. El Encuentro guides know all the various side channels and the location of deep pools that hold fish; they know where to encourage guests to wade fish and how to best reach large browns under hidden banks. The Rio Futaleufú is renowned for trophy-sized rainbow and brown trout and fishes well all season.

In addition to the Rio Futaleufú, one can fish a large variety of waters in the immediate area of El Encuentro Lodge. So many in fact that individual fishing itineraries can be tailored to match any angler’s interests, including several great options for wade fishing. The Beale family has access to all kinds of private waters, including spring creeks, small streams and lakes with large trout. El Encuentro guides can also take anglers to the Rio Frey and lower Rio Corcovado for additional float fishing. As you will find out, El Encuentro Lodge offers a desirable base from which to fish in any season, without much driving (and in some cases, no driving at all).

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

BROOK TROUT BASE CAMP

On the banks of the Rio Corcovado gives us access to unbelievable remote fishing terrain while enjoying the comforts of a luxury camp.

Set riverside on a private estancia, the Camp provides comfortable safari-style tents, equipped with comfortable beds and a stove for colder weather. The main dining tent with a common area and full bar offers a comfortable place and plenty of room to settle in and enjoy your cocktails, meals, and fishing stories, either riverside on the deck, or inside, warm and protected when the weather turns harsh. The Camp is an eco-friendly one, with solar power-producing not only all our electricity needs. Heat in both the living area and the bathrooms is provided by wood-burning stoves. Bathroom and shower tents are separate, and there is a main dining tent with a common area and full bar. Not to be missed, we are treated to excellent cuisine and fine Argentine wines to complement our days. The Camp is strategically located to fish a great variety of rivers, creeks and lakes, including those which hold some of the biggest brook trout in the world.

THE FISHING AT BTBC

Its location also allows anglers to reach some of the best stretches of the river and offers convenient access to the Rio Tigre Basin, which holds the most preserved and pristine population of brook trout in Patagonia. The headwaters of this system are Berta, Engaño, and Falso Engaño lakes, which are all connected by small rivers and spring creeks to each other, being the Rio Tigre the outlet of Falso Engano lake and flowing straight west to the Chilean border draining all this water to the Pacific, with over 20 miles of rarely fished waters before flowing into Chile. We are also fishing the area of Rio Pico from the camp, all within an hour’s drive, allowing our guests to enjoy the fishing in this famous area and its great waters.

Sample Itinerary

Day 1 – Overnight flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Day 2 – After arriving in Buenos Aires. You’ll have to take a transfer of one hour to the Jorge Newbery domestic airport to take your flight to Esquel. ( 2 hrs approx.)

Arrive at Esquel airport where you will be met 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 the flight back home.