Fly fishing is one of those recreational activities which is practised with passion and patient devotion. In its purest, most traditional form (catch and release), it becomes almost a form of worship. The fishing spots designed by nature are its temples, in which each fisherman searches for that infinite peace in a reverent silence which allows him to enjoy his own thoughts, memories and experiences, whilst at the same time developing an active strategy so that the fish - his "friendly quarry" - falls into a non life-threatening trap. The game of skills of these two actors - the fisherman and the fish - develops into a magical battle in which one seeks the necessary food for physical survival whilst the other satisfies a basic spiritual necessity. The sensory contact and end communication occurs at the moment of taking the fish out of the water, sometimes with the photograph together and by the accomplishment of fair play, i.e., returning the fish its transitorily interrupted liberty. This sport/religion has universally applied rules and regulations which are preached and practised identically in places as far apart as Alaska and Patagonia.

Our country has large, not yet fully tapped comparative advantages in this recreational sport, a consequence of the insuperable quantity and quality of its brooks, streams, lakes and rivers, all with well aerated, crystalline waters which have not yet been contaminated by man.

However, the sport of fly-fishing and its validity as a tourist product to be sold in Chile and abroad has a contradictory reality. In effect, on the one hand we speak of the special kind of attraction offered by the great variety of species of wild trout (rainbow and brown trout,) to be found in geographical settings where nature has been endowed with extraordinary beauty. On the other hand, fishermen have become the victims of the lack of accurate practical information which would allow them to concentrate more on the practise of fly-fishing itself, and less on the planning and logistical problems involved in the practise of the sport.

In the light of these circumstances and given the commercial potential of fly-fishing in Chile, the companies ACE TURISMO CHILE, based in Santiago, and LAGOS ANDINOS, with its operational centre in Puerto Varas, have developed a basic programme with built-in flexibility, capable of adaptation to the tastes and styles of fly fisherman clients. These latter are definitely the ones who will decide, according to their preferences, habits and based on what they can afford, which will be the rivers in which to fish and the lodges or hotels to be used as a base for their fishing trips. (On Request)

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