TGF Bulletin
The Monthly Voice of Theodore Gordon Flyfishers March 2005
For last minute reservations or information, contact
Mr. Robert Yunich
917-301-4145
TO OUR READERS:
We are reprinting below an article about the hearings for the Catskill casinos for your information. Editor.
Public Hearing Not So Public
By Amaris Elliott-Engel / The Citizen
The state Senate public hearings on Gov. George Pataki's plan to settle five Indian land claims will not be an open house for any and all public opinion.
The Senate committee organizing the hearings will determine the final list of speakers and limit invitations for oral testimony to groups that can substantively analyze impacts of the legislation, officials said Tuesday.
"We're looking for testimony on impacts (of the legislation), not raw, unsubstantiated opinion," said Langdon Chapman, the counsel to the Senate's Housing, Construction and Community Development Committee.
The housing committee is holding three hearings jointly with the Senate's Racing, Wagering and Gaming and Tourism Committee and the Recreation and Sports Development Committee. Hearings will be held in Albany Feb. 28, in Sullivan County March 3 and Cayuga County Community College in Auburn March 9.
Richard Tallcot, the chairman of the Upstate Citizens for Equality Cayuga-Seneca Chapter, said he called last Thursday to submit written and oral testimony, but the information given about the hearings was confusing.
"It's not easily accessible to the general public," Tallcot said.
But state Sen. Michael Nozzolio, R-Fayette, said no one should feel shut out.
"The committee will have ultimate say over who will testify based on time constraints," he said. "I can assure my district that all the points of view will be presented."
Staff members in the office of state Sen. John J. Bonacic, chair of the Housing committee and representative for Sullivan County, are currently scrambling to deal with the flood of calls from groups, such as UCE and New York Farm Bureau.
Requests to give oral testimony are still being taken, Chapman said, but if multiple members of a single group are making requests to testify, they are being asked to select a point person to speak.
One point of confusion has been over how long each speaker would be allowed to testify, but Nozzolio said he was sure it would be five minutes.
Nozzolio also pointed out that if area residents want to submit written testimony, only one copy is needed and there is no limit on length.
If oral testimony is to be given, groups are asked to bring 15 copies of their testimony for the senators and their staff to look over while they testify.
All of the oral and written testimony will be submitted for publication by March 25, when it will be printed as a composite record for Senate members prior to voting on the legislation, Chapman said.
To participate:
Those wishing to submit written testimony should send one copy to Indian Casino Hearing Testimony, c/o Senate Majority Counsel Office, Room 430 in the Capitol, Albany, NY 12247.
Those wishing to deliver oral testimony must call the Senate Committee on Housing, Construction and Community Development in Albany at (518)-455-3181. Oral testimony must be limited to five minutes and will be strictly enforced.
The local hearing will be held 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 9, at the Cayuga Community College campus at 197 Franklin St., Auburn.
Staff writer [for The Citizen] Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at
Readers’ Inquiries
At the suggestion of one of our readers, we’ve included this section of the Bulletin to provide a place for readers to ask questions and get or share information with other TGF members.
If there’s a place you want to fish, an outfitter you’d like to check out, a technique or technical issue to investigate, you can have it posted here and see what reactions we get. Of course, there will be a bit of delay, but we’ll publish any information we get in response (probably best if you copy me and the person who asked, by the way.)
Just send your inquiries to me, , and I’ll put them in the next issue. I received some good information from my inquiry about Mongolia for example, and this month, so I’m repeating an important one:
Flyfishing stories?
I haven’t gotten a lot of response to this query, but if this cold weather has discouraged you, sit down an write up one of your adventures to relive warmer days! As editor of the TGF Bulletin and the Quill, I can use material for both. If you’ve fished an interesting place, let me know, write it up, and we’ll publish it in one or the other!
In the Shadow of Osorno
A review of a Luxury Lodge and Fly fishing Destination: The Yankee Way Lodge in Chilean Patagonia
By James C. Aker
Recently I returned from what may well be the finest fishing vacation I have ever experienced, largely due to a marvelous deluxe facility at one of the most beautiful places on earth. Brother TGF’er and fishing buddy of many years, Todd Snyder and I were in one of the top ten places on our respective “must visit” lists of fishing destinations. We were in Chilean Patagonia. More than that, we were at what some have called “the finest fishing lodge in the world.” Neither one of us having experienced all the fishing lodges in the world, we cannot make this claim. However, if lodges come better than The Yan Kee Way Lodge, located between Puerto Varas and Ensenada, Chile on the shores of beautiful Lake Llanquihue (pronounced yankeeway), I sure want to make it a point to visit them.
We arrived at Puerto Montt airport, the gateway of Patagonia, at about 12:30 PM after a comfortable hour and forty minute flight south from Santiago via LAN Chile the national airline. From the moment we arrived, we were given the royal treatment. We were met at the gate by a representative of the Southern Chile Expeditions organization who quickly took us to our car. Our chauffer, Ronnie Hillmann, turned out to be our primary fishing guide for the week that we were in residence. Ronnie loaded our copious luggage into the Toyota Land Cruiser and we were off on the roughly one hour trip from the airport at Puerto Montt to our destination outside Ensenadas.
The Yan Kee Way lodge is a first class operation owned by the genial and most interesting Mr. Michael Darland, a former CEO of Digital Systems Inc. and run by a transplanted New Englander Mr. Paul Kinney, the General Manager. The lodgeis located roughly 45 Km from Puerto Varas on the shores of Lake Llanquihue. It is a sprawling complex of comfortable
bungalows, chalets, and recreation buildings, spa, wood fired hot tubs, exercise and weight room, lounge, library and internet room, guide center, restaurant, and administrative buildings.
The view is tremendous for we were literally on the lake, perhaps half a mile from the foot of one of the most beautiful dormant volcanoes in the world Volcano Osorno which at 2652 meters (8701 Ft.) dominates the countryside for a hundred miles around. As Mike said the first day “You have a ringside seat if we get any action over there!” That ringside seat would only last about thirty seconds of course, but there is no need to fear. Osorno has been dormant since 1897 and the closest thing that passes for active volcanism is the smoky Volcano Villarrica many miles to the north. Gazing north, one can see the spine of the magnificent Andes Mountains. The scenery alone is worth the trip. Spectacular is not enough of a descriptive adjective to do it justice.
The lodge, besides being a flyfishing destination, has a variety of activities that they provide to non-fishing guests or spouses. Yan Kee Way can accommodate up to 42 guests at a time. Activities range from horse back expeditions, trekking, white water rafting, canoe trips, hiking and climbing, mountain biking, volcano and mountain tours, helicopter tours, culinary & wine tasting programs, to many more things to see and do. If you can not find anything to your liking in this list, the quaint fishing town of Puerto Varas can provide a variety of entertainment including shopping, clubs, and a state sponsored casino where you can win or lose on the turn of a card. The area surrounding the lodge is heavily influenced by the German and Swiss colonists who settled there over the last hundred years or so and as a result the architecture and general ambiance will remind you greatly of a town in the Alps.
The Latitude 42 Degrees restaurant, where we dined most of the trip, is on the grounds of the lodge. It boasts a large cellar of the finest Chilean vintages and a first class sommelier (Pablo) who is recognized as one of the top three of all of Chile’s wine experts. He has personally tasted over 3000 wines. Having tasted a few vintages myself, I can assure the reader that what was offered was always premier quality. I felt privileged when I was invited by Mike to taste the new House wines to be offered next season to the guests. A Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot were chosen by Pablo. Of the four, the Whites were very good and of excellent quality, the Cabernet, also very good, holds great promise as it matures, and the Merlot was in a word, spectacular! The Latitude 42’s menu is gourmet in nature incorporating some of Chile’s best dishes with the more standard continental fare and the first class Maitre Chef knows his business whether it be Chilean Barbequed Lamb, a fine cut of Filet Mignon or a splendid confection for dessert. I never had a single meal from these folks that was anything less than very good and most were quite excellent.
Todd and I never wanted for anything and were warmly received and well treated by the entire staff of about 40 or so people who make the place run. And run it does and very well too.
Our guide for the week was a young Chilean gentleman who spoke Spanish and a little English, and looked Chilean, but whose name was Ronnie Hans Hillmann. His grandfather emigrated there from Germany many years before.Ronnie knows his waters and proved it to us by guiding us to good fishing.
The rivers and lakes are plentiful in this region of Chile, but we concentrated on just a few, most notably Lago Todos Los Santos (All Saints Lake), the Maullin river, and of course, the Petrohue river. Oddly enough though our lodging was literally on the shore of Lake Llanquihue, we did not fish in this Lake. Mr. Darland informed us that he felt that perhaps they should fish the lake more, but that there was already a large contingent of “Pescadores” (fishermen) who practice their skills upon these waters. It was his
intention to put his clients on water that they could have pretty much to themselves. He was most successful in this desire where we were concerned. Since Mike only allows eight rods on the water at during any given week, we saw few other fishermen in the waters we fished. Catch and release fishing is a requirement for guests at Yan Kee Way.
The Petrohue River was our primary water and is a wide and brawny river with big shoulders, emerald green in color and with a clarity that allows you to see 20 feet down in most pools. It is a huge freestone type salmon river wider than the Delaware by more than half, with immensely deep pools and strong currents even at the height of the Chilean summer. It runs from Lago Todos Los Santos at its source down to the tidal estuary of Reloncavi. The weather during our stay was unseasonably warm (80 and 90 degree days) and as a result the water temperature was up driving the fish deep. But we fared pretty well despite the heat wave and hooked about 55 fish and landed and released 36 for the week between us. I landed a lovely 24 inch hooked jawed rainbow and Mr. Snyder landed a similar brown trout. During the week we were there, a 46 inch, 48 pound Chinook Salmon was taken by a spin caster who was a novice fisherman fifteen years of age. Talk about beginners luck! These were sentinel fish in the river before the run in March. I tried my luck for these giants with flies, but they were in a 30 foot plus pool of the Petrohue and untouchable except with a 500 plus grain line and even then were a difficult proposition. We were however, privileged to see some 30 pound plus fish leap out of the water directly before us, but no takers.
We saw many large trout in the Petrohue some in the 25 to 30 inch variety, but they were sullen and sluggish due to the lack of oxygen in the tepid waters and refused all that we threw at them. Still it was a great experience. We fished several stages of the Petrohue, from the headwaters, portaging around the falls, to the middle stages. Most of the fishing there at this time of year is sinking line streamer fishing of weighted Muddler Minnows and such. Not exactly my favorite kind of fly fishing, but when in Rome…
The Maullin River, (pronounced Mowyeen) which runs southwest of Puerto Varas and down to the Pacific, presented a completely different set of opportunities for us to puzzle out. It also is a large river that is more nutrient rich limestone creek in quality, surrounded by trees and laural bushes submerged at its banks providing much cover for fish. It proved more difficult to fish than the Petrohue, but it is full of big big browns and Atlantic Salmon. The Salmon were taking short that day and although stung by the hook once or twice, remained hidden from view. Rodrigo, our guide du tour, tried very hard to put us into big fish, but the day proved futile. The following day one of our fellow guests floated the Maullin and hooked many fish using the same flies and line. What a difference a day makes.