What do you like to fish with? Last year I bought a tip flex 6 and sage 8 but could have done just as well with a 5 and 7. This year I have a small collection, the same Winston Boron III Plus 9′ 6x plus a 6/7 Hardy Jet Switch, and a Vision MAG 4/5 11′ nymph rod.
My fishing is from river or streamside; a $400 float or boat trip is not in my budget. Now I have rods and lines that will allow me to cast from the side of a stream with minimal or no backcast, see the OPST and Wulff lines I have installed on the reels and the 11′ Hardy Switch rod. I may have the opportunity to go on a boat or float, but I do not depend on it, and there is a lifetime of streamside to explore and fish.
Reels; Lamson Guru 2, Lamson Velocity Hard Alox 3.5, Abel 3N,
Lines; OPST Lazar Line 35, Commando Heads 15′, Commando Tips, Wulff Triangle Taper Plus (TTP5F)
Are there really monster trout? Little trout and big trout, browns, and rainbows, brookies, maybe even Salmon?
Rivers are large or small, raging torrents that are powerfully fast and deep, riffles and pools in creeks and streams that are slow and shallow, and of course lakes.
Don’t fall on your rod, have a backup, and remember where the fly fishing stores are. Santiago, Puerto Varas, and Coyhaique are all far away that require long trips that last from hours to days. The cost of replacing gear in Chile is exceptionally high.
Big flies, gigantic feathered birds, minnows, wooly buggers, little dry flies, attractors, Fat Alberts, Chernobles, hoppers, nymphs, and midges on top or down deep, dry or wet, you’re gonna have fun, they’re in there.
On warm sunny days in February and March, the rivers are alive with grasshoppers. The flies that make a nice meal for hungry trout are hoppers, attractors, big dry flies, insects that the trout will chew on. I have even seen fishermen first toss out live hoppers into the river to get the fish hungry, on top, and feeding on the surface.
Get that streamer down! Have a few sink tips for fast-moving glacial rivers. The large trout really like big 2 hook deceivers, 0, 1, 2X, 3x, swing it above or behind large boulders.
I always lose stuff, so I now carry backups. Last year I was doing well with a sinking leader, and then I hooked a rock out in the middle of a wide and swift mountain creek, the Rio Azul. I could not wade to where the line was hung up and had to break it off. That Rio sink tip was the only one I had, and its loss impacted my fishing success. The lesson is to carry spares because purchasing a replacement might be days away by bus.
A River To Fish 
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