My family and I and five friends had the pleasure of visiting Rio Palena Lodge in Chile this past February. Rio Palena Lodge is one of several properties owned by Eleven Experience. We had a great time fishing the numerous waters near the lodge and enjoying the incredibly well appointed property.
The varied waters of Chilean Patagonia contain rainbow, brown and brook trout amidst stunning scenery. Rio Palena has the resources to get anglers to the best waters. Deluxe NRS Rafts, Hyde Power Drifters, a Helicopter, 9 Toyota Hilux trucks, and 2 Mercedes Sprinters. Our group experienced all of the “travel to options” and all of the “fish to” options. The staff and the efficiencies of getting anglers to the water were fantastic. Anglers were often transported to boats in the water ready to go. When the day was done we went back to the lodge in a van while the boats, shuttles and gear were sorted out behind the scenes. I felt this maximized fishing time and relaxing at the lodge time.
We caught some of our best fish in Lago Yelcho. Rio Palena Lodge has unique access to the lower Futaleufu River and then into the lake.
The Lodge is on the Palena River which offers several “floatable” beats all season.
Utilizing a helicopter anglers can visit lakes with boats and smaller waters in the area. We had a fantastic combo day were we visited Palena Lake and a small stream loaded with Brook Trout.
The lodge facility is absolutely stunning and is no expense has been spared in making the rooms, fireplaces, bars, hot tubs, sauna, steam showers, music system, outdoor dinning areas and more, very enjoyable.
One of the coolest design features of the lodge (and there are many) was the “fishing locker room”. Anglers are assigned a wooden “locker” in a beautiful open room in the basement of the lodge. In the locker are your boots, waders, life jacket, rain jacket, water bottle, sun screen etc.. You are able to keep all your fishing gear in your locker so it’s ready each day. No need to deal with wet gear in your room. A boot drier is in each locker, the room is dry enough that by morning all of your gear was dry for the next day. In addition to all your gear the locker room has a coffee maker, mini fridge, music system, snacks and restroom.
On our final night at the lodge the staff and local gauchos put on an Asado ( South American BBQ). A short walk from the main lodge is a delightful outdoor dining area that has a stand alone bar, picnic tables, performance stage, BBQ pit, earthen empanada oven, grilling area, and dining enclosure. The food was excellent and the evening finished with karaoke, good times were had by all.
For information on booking Rio Palena Lodge call 541 342 7005 or email me at caddiseug@yahoo.com
CD
