Expedition Chile! Part 2.

The break offs of the first session along with the nature of the terrain and fish, making landing them a difficult task, convinced me that I needed to beef up my mainline. Thus on the morning of the second day we went to look for a tackle shop to buy some braid. Nothing difficult about that you'd think, only you'd be wrong as this is Chile and for the life of me couldn't locate a tackle shop in the whole of Puerto Montt! No tackle shop in a city next to the sea?!
After looking on the Internet I managed to locate a couple tackle shops in nearby Puerto Varas, and since it was in the list of places to visit anyway, we headed there straight away..
Puerto Varas is considered a top destination for the fly anglers that target the salmonids in and around the lake Llanquihue, and being much more touristic explains the presence of tackle shops there. As luck would have it I walked in the first tackle shop just about when the last wheel of braid was sold to another angler (!) and was directed to another shop that might stock braid. On the next shop I cant really say that I was mesmerised by the variety on offer, but I found some Sufix 832 braid, allbeit in a horrendously thick diameter (0.24mm - 17.7 kg)!! This was not gonna be Light Game anymore... lol
After having a drive down the lake and taking a swim and a siesta, we drove back towards the rocky coast, at a mark I spied on the way back from the previous day.
This was a much more easily accessible mark with a narrow path through thick vegetation and down to the rocks. It was clear that it wasn't a virgin spot although it was looking too good not to fish it. This time I carried with me my Savage gear roadrunner XLNT 7' 3-16g travel rod and with the reel spooled with the donkey-rope (!) I felt a lot more confident!
I put on a 12g metal and started yoyo jigging it on the bottom. The first strike came very quickly and a sizeable rollizo was fighting on the end of my line. Having the heavy line allowed me to enjoy the fight and after a while I got the fish on the shore.

First cast!

After releasing the fish, I made another cast and got hit yet again by a good fish. Another fight ensued and I brought the fish near the shore. As I was excited I tried to swing the fish on the rocks with the rod, as I thought the rod could take it.. Only it didn't and broke at the spigot near the tip!
I felt as if somebody had cursed me.. Having the gear that copes with the intended fish only to break it and having to fish UL again..

Rod breaker!

Anyway, I went back at the car to get my Mobile Stick and I was going to use it with the donkey-rope line thus extra care was needed... Not really balanced gear but it got the job done, and for the remainder of the session I had fish after fish on various lures and presentations. I would have liked the extra reach of the heavier lures but there were plenty of fish about and they seemed to be close in anyway.. I fished an hour after high water till almost the ebb and was surprised at the speed the water moved. Moreover the fish seemed to get even more active towards sundown with more big specimens showing then and unfortunately getting cut off from what must have been a couple very serious fish. I'm convinced that these cut offs were not always due to rock-abrasion but also the rollizo's teeth.
Metals seemed to work better with the sun higher up and texas/cheburashka rigged slim curlytail worms being the best performers. Paddletails were not far behind in effectiveness and I noticed that they were working best when retrieved very slowly with a few pauses but no sudden jerks. The fish would pounce on them as they came close in and would then bolt for the nearest cover. They would even attack on straight retrieve, well above the bottom, especially close in.
The larger fish seemed to be more territorial and loners, while at times I got the impression that this fish tends to associate in loose groups at the most favourable spots. This was due to getting repeated catches from a relatively small area.
As mentioned above long casts were not necessary, although I suppose in shallower reefy waters, the longer casts would come in handy allowing to reach more 'holes', rocks etc.
I caught a lot of rollizo that day but unbelievably, not a single other species! I speculate that when the rollizo are in numbers, they dominate the area as I tried many different lures/presentations/retrieves etc to no avail for other species. Cant complain much though as I really had a blast!
Below more pics and the video of the day.

Metals always a good solution in 'new' waters..

The mark from above..

Near the ebb.

Serious rock mark!

Possibly the biggest of the day. Kilo plus...

Japanese pose!

Unfortunately I only had one remaining day in Puerto Mont and I would have to try and get a robalo somehow..


Tight lines

Gear used.
Rod: Savage gear roadrunner XLNT 7' 3-16g and Spro Mobile Stick 80UL
Reel: Shimano Stradic 1000FC
Mainline: Sufix 832 0.24mm 17.7 kg !
leader: Pline Halo 10lbs.
lure: Various

New travel rod testing..

I have recently purchased a new travel rod since I'm looking to have a complete range of them in preparation for future trips. The rod is the Savage Gear Roadrunner XLNT, 7', 3-16g and as soon as it arrived I was anxious to go and try it. Yesterday I got my opportunity to try it as it was my day off.
I was going to start with the freshwater, throwing some hard baits in the shallow bays for the pike and hopefully perch, and then I would close the session at my pollock mark in Loch Etive before sundown, targeting the pollock with soft plastics.
Reaching Loch Awe and on first inspection the rod seemed nice and light to the hand, being perfectly balanced with the Mitchell Mag Pro Lite 1000, and with a fast action without being too stiff.
 I rigged  a 6cm floating Salmo Slider as the water was quite shallow and I didn't want the lure to dig in the weedy bottom. I was casting in the middle of a weedy bay and retrieving the lure with jerks and twitches on a medium-fast pace trying to work it close to some bulrush. As the lure came closer to the edge of the bulrush, I got the first violent strike and after some vicious head shakes I got my first Scottish perch!

Small but feisty!

Another cast at the same spot lead to another strike and better resistance this time but unfortunately the fish (a bigger perch) threw the hook,, I made a longer cast and after a few turns of the handle with a couple jerks I got a different hard strike and I knew I had a pike in the end of the line. I struck hard lifting the rod as high as i could and the fish was on! It made some spectacular runs and jumped clear of the water 20m away from me (I'm sure these Awe fish are on steroids!) but after a while I got the upper hand and managed to land the fish. It was measured at 74cm and on closer inspection I discovered a long trace going well into the fish's throat.. I didn't try to pull it as I didn't want to cause any additional harm to the fish and let it go. Other than that the pike seemed in good condition so I hope it will be fine..

Bulrush covered bays always hold some fish..

Plenty of these fish around the 75cm mark.

I continued casting and walking towards another bay and then I saw another pike similar to the one I caught but unfortunately this fish was dead.. It had a small hook under its jaw and I'm not sure what happened there.. Possibly bad reviving effort? Anyway after seeing that fish I decided to leave the pike alone and go for the pollock instead.

Such a pity..

Culprit?

I drove to my mark and the sun was going down, the tide was also receding so it was perfect conditions for pollock. I rigged a 3'' Daiwa D'fin shad on a 5g articulated football lead head and started fan casting. It took longer than I was expecting but on a long cast I got a bite OTD and saw the line accelerate, I struck and the fish was on. I could feel it was a decent fish but it didn't start crash diving like a pollock, It felt like it was just cruising with its flanks against me and I thought i might be on to a decent cod or something.. As the fish came closer though, it woke up and made a proper crash dive towards the bottom.. I knew I had a pollock then and after a fantastic fight with a few more runs I managed to land him.

Took him a while to wake up..!

As usual, engulfed!

Another good size pollock and I was quite pleased for an afternoon's fishing, so much so that I decided to call it a day and head home for a beer and a good meal..
I'm quite happy with the rod as it works hard and soft plastics adequately with a good sensitivity on the tip. It also bends well on the fight despite being fast actioned.  I wish they made it a bit longer though but overall I'm very pleased that I bought it and hope it will give me many more fish from my travels to come!
Other than this session I had a previous one covering the same places with the addition of my trout mark a couple days before. I got a couple trout and one surprisingly on a metal jig (lost it on the fight) while yoyo-jigging it with the flow and I feel there's more to come by using this presentation.

They are getting more active..

I then went to the bays with the perch in mind and got my Ul dropshot gear. Instead of catching perch though, I caught a nice pike of 75cm that would not give up and let me land it! But in the end I managed to bring it on the bank. It was caught on a dropshotted Lunker city Ribster on my usual K2K dropshot rig. I am also posting the K2K knot I'm using as it really works best for me.

Sorry for the bad photo but I was using my Action camera and I'm not used to it yet!

K2K knot step 1.

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4.

I finished that session at my polllock mark as well and although I got no big fish I managed a few smaller ones and a codling on a combination of blades and  HTO metal jigs.

Pollock on a HTO metal jig.

Pretty codling on a metal jig.

We are really getting into summer mode lately, with the freshwater especially firing up and hopefully more fish will come. I'm really looking forward to some perch fishing as I really get a kick out of it! Its disheartening though to see fish dying after being mistreated and I think bait anglers especially should be more cautious as the pike can get the bait very deep.
I will probably follow the same pattern on my next days off and try and work on using metal jigs for the trout and some dropshot for perch..

Thanks for reading and tight lines!

Gear used

Rod: Savage Gear Roadrunner XLNT, 7', 3-16g
Reel: Mitchell Mag Pro Lite 1000
Mainline: Fins windtamer, 10lbs
lure: various