TRAVEL CHILE
All are super hardwon fights and require a team effort to land and measure.
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as the fish ran downstream. All sorts of things kick-off at Austral Kings. It’s a fishery of scale, one that rewards solid casting and persistence on a wide and powerful river. This is not a river where you’ll catch fish all the time (over the week all our group caught fish) but what you miss in numbers is made up for in exhilaration. All are super hard-won fights and require a team effort to land and measure. Of course, quick releases are essential for the fish’s health and the guides at Austral Kings are very big on this stewardship of the river and its residents. “The fish can knock themsel-
SPORTFISHING ADVENTURES | Q2 2021
ves on rocks on the way in,” Lucio explains, “and with the size of them we need to return them immediately so they can recover.” The fishery is being run in a beautifully sympathetic way with all people, the anglers, the camp team looking after luxury tented accommodations, and guides involved in conservation. The surrounding area is part of Doug Tompkins’ old ranch. He had painstakingly bought up parcels of land off local people, built dirt roads and fenced off areas to provide for cattle farming. And although now no longer alive I can’t