ISLA PACIFICO ECO LODGE/ ROBINSON CRUSOE ISLAND CHILE APRIL 2024

 

On April 12, I along with 5 friends from Argentina and 1 friend from the USA fished with waters outside Isla Pacifico Eco Lodge which is located on the Juan Fernandez Archipelago in Valparaiso, Chile.  This was my first trip to Chile. Robinson Crusoe Island is famous for producing some of the largest yellowfin kingfish on earth.  We flew into Santiago and spent the night before boarding a charter flight for our 3-hour excursion to the Island.  Once landing, we noticed thousands of seals sunning on the beach.

We were picked up by a boat taxi service for our 45-minute drive to the lodge.  The lodge has 4 rooms.  They provide all rods including popping, speed jigging and slow pitch jigging.  The lodge has 2 boats for hire.  Our first day was a day of jigging.  Some chose speed jigging while other tried slow pitch jigging.  Fishing was good for most of the day.  Lots of silver trevally would be landed throughout the day and a few yellowtail kingfish.  Javi's brother landed the first trophy and kingfish probably pushing the scales around 60 lbs.

He was on fire for most of the trip and landed many trophies.  On the 2nd day, I l hooked into something big.  After a few drag burning runs a huge grouper was landed.  The guides were extremely excited as this type of grouper was exceptionally large.  It was great sushi!  

Fishing continued to be excellent throughout the trip.  I came down with some virus and missed the last three days of fishing of which I was extremely disappointed.  Javi landed the largest kingfish of the trip with a monster weighing around 70 lbs.  The largest few afternoons, the guides set up trolling gear in hopes of landing some striped marlin which are abundant in these waters.  A few marlins were landed with the largest caught by friend Cornell which pushed the scales to around 200 lbs.

  The total experience was outstanding.  The meals and accommodations are 5 stars.  The guides, boats, and gear are top notch.  Since I missed a few days, I hope to return next year. If interested in battling monster yellowfin kingfish on Robinson Crusoe, get in touch with Javi Kollar who is on Facebook or reach out to me.  Javi runs a fishing booking agency to destinations in South America at extremely discounted rates!