Fishing near Lago Ranco, Los Ríos

Lago Ranco sits in the Provincia del Ranco within Los Ríos, a region defined by the humid Valdivian temperate rainforest and some of the most productive trout and salmon water in northern Patagonia. The lake itself — 442 km² at the foot of the Andes — anchors a basin laced with rivers and tributary streams. The town of Llifén, on the lake's shore, is widely regarded as the birthplace of fly fishing in Chile, where early 20th-century British anglers first established fly-tying on the Río Calcurrupe. Lago Maihue, fed by glacial-volcanic headwaters, and the Río Calcurrupe that drains it are the marquee destinations, while Río Riñinahue, Río Cumilahue, and a dozen other streams around the lake round out one of Chile's most storied freshwater fishing circuits.