Hernán have almost 20 years of experience like fishing guide and lodge manager, more like a fisherman, he is master in full skills of fishing, specially in fly fishing tecniques for trout and recently years also approach reliefe depurate tecniques to catch King Salmon. The Chucao Lodges Manager is responsible to design and produce all fishing trips and forming the fishing guide team, managing the lodges operations and service customers, with one great target “the fisherman satisfaction”. 

GERMAN PANICHINI:
German about thirty was born in the town of Chaiten, Chile, located on the Pacific Ocean about forty five minutes drive from the Chucao Fishing Lodge.  He lives in Chaiten with his family.  He has been guiding his homewaters of Yelcho since 1996.  A very hard working young man, he is an expert boatman, excellent caster and remarkable fisherman. 

He is quiet, friendly and competent and will offer appropriate help and assistance so you can fully enjoy your fishing experience at Chucao. 
When the fly fishing season is finished, he owns and operates his own commercial fishing boat.  He loves diving in the ocean near Chaiten and collects and sells  the exquisite varieties of sea food the beautiful Pacific offers abundantly. 
German, is a certificated fishing guide of Universidad de Gabriela Mistral.  He has a good working command of English and communicates well with all of Chucao’s clients.

DANILO SANCHEZ:
Danilo, a warm, friendly and charming young man of about thirty is also from the southern part of Chile, where he grew up in the town of Temuco.
He has a passion for Patagonia and several years ago decided to move to Chaitenwith his family. He always loved to fish and began his guiding work in the Yelcho area in 1999. 

He loves and knows well how to successfully fly fish the Yelcho area. Gonzalo Cortes, lodge owner has been happy to have Danilo’s help in some of his other fishing operations.  Danilo loves tying flies and presents some remarkable patterns that produce wonderful results. 

He has great casting abilities and has also developed his skill as a strong boatman. One of his strongest qualities is his intuitive sense of where a fish might rise and many of his clients have been happily amazed with the resulting landing and release of a nice trout when they presented their flies as he directed.  Danilo speaks fly fishing English perfectly and is committed to providing Chucao’s clients a great fly fishing and lodge experience during their stay.

GONZALO CORTES:
Gonzalo founded the Chucao fishing lodge in 2005, after having fished in Patagonia since he was twenty.  Gonzalo fished all over Patagonia and carefully and specifically chose his lodge location at lake Yelcho.  He has taken many fly fishers to the area and decided that he needed to make his own lodge so that his clients could enjoy the greatest comfort and hospitality available. Gonzalo said he considers this to be the finest location for a lodge in all of Patagonia.In 1961, he was born in Santiago, Chile.  He was educated in an English school called St. George and speaks and writes English fluently. 

A dedicated family man, Gonzalo lives with and enjoys being with his beautiful wife and children in Chile. Professionally trained in Chile, the US and Germany as an optician, Gonzalo still owns and operates one of the best known optical business in Chile. In the mid 70’s during his teen years, Gonzalo cast his first fly, after having fished many other styles.  Passionately hooked, from that time on he has exclusively fished with flies.  An amazing caster and incredible fly fisher, he understands the passion that brings his guests all the way to Patagonia to fish at his beautiful Chucao Fishing Lodge.  He is the type of fly fisherman who will start early and not stop until it is dark…

 In 1986, Gonzalo began selling fly tying materials and quickly opened his other business, The Fly Shop. This is the most complete and successful fly shop anywhere in South America.  The Fly Shop is the exclusive distributor for Sage Fly Rods and Simms Products for all of Chile and Argentina.  Always planning his next fishing trip, so far, he has fly fished for more than thirty different species in 27 different countries from Tierra del Fuego to Russia.    Gonzalo is the author of the famous book,  Fly Fishing in Patagonia, Chile. 

This is the most excellent book written on the subject and it is filled with exquisite photographs and his beautiful writing describing the fly fishing in Patagonia.   He has appeared in several television programs and videos about fly fishing.  He has extensive experience in having been an advisor and partner  to some of the other quality fly fishing operations in Chile.  Simply said, Gonzalo Cortes is the most well known and respected fly fishing professional in Chile, and is committed to the preservation and improvement of the sport of fishing in his country.