Fishing in Parque Nacional Melimoyu

Parque Nacional Melimoyu occupies 105,500 hectares on the northern coast of Aysén, where temperate rainforest descends from the glaciated flanks of Volcán Melimoyu through river valleys, wetlands, and fjords to the sea.

The park was created in 2018 to form a continuous land-to-sea conservation corridor with the adjacent Área de Conservación de Múltiples Usos Pitipalena–Añihue.

That geography — rivers draining steep volcanic terrain into coastal channels — shapes everything about the fishing here. Access is the first thing to understand. There is no road into the park.

Reaching it means arriving by boat from Raúl Marín Balmaceda, by ferry from Quellón or Puerto Cisne, or by small aircraft to the airstrip at the village of Melimoyu.

The park itself has no visitor infrastructure: no rangers on duty, no trails, no refuges, no services of any kind. Every trip requires satellite communication and a self-sufficient plan. The waters in and around the park hold salmon and trout.

The Río Añihue and Río Correntoso drain through the park's coastal zone, their lower reaches connected to the fjord system that links the terrestrial park to the marine protected area. Lago Melimoyu and Laguna Gaviota sit within the park's interior.

The rivers running off the volcano and through the native forest are the fishing anchors here — crystalline, cold, and largely unfished given the difficulty of access. The species present include Chinook salmon and various trout.

The lodge operations based near the park — outside its boundaries — describe the fishery in terms of fly fishing on wild rivers, which reflects the character of the water: tight, forested banks, fast flows off volcanic slopes, and fish that see almost no pressure.

Because this is a national park administered by CONAF, standard Chilean fishing regulations apply, and visitors should confirm current park-specific rules directly with CONAF before entering.

The park's conservation mandate — protecting the ecological continuity between the rainforest and the marine reserve — is the reason the fishing remains what it is. That's worth keeping in mind on the water.