Rumble in Jungle Day 3 - Fear and Loathing in Amazonia

 I've been fascinated with arapaimas for a long time.  They are the largest, scaled, freshwater fish in the world, reaching 9 feet long and over 300 pounds.  They breath air.  They have giant scales so hard that the locals use them as nail files.  And they eat flies!  What they are not, is a reasonable target at Agua Boa.  Usually catching one is akin to winning the lottery.  But not this year.  This year, they have appeared in unprecedented numbers.  Only a couple are being caught a week, but that's a chance.  So you're saying there's a chance!

Caimen looking into your soul

On Tuesday, we were headed out with Josef, the head guide at Agua Boa.  The way it works, is each guide has a section, or beat in the river, they
specialize in.  In one of the lagoons Josef fishes,

Muscovy ducks

Giant river otter

numerous arapaima had been spotted.  We decided to give up on the peacock fishing, and see if we could make a dream come true.  You fish for arapaima in two ways, you cast to mud, the fish are so large that when they travel through shallower water they stir up mud clouds, or you cast to fish that roll up on the top when they breath air.  Soon we were in a lagoon, Josef would spot mud, and direct my cast.  I would let the fly sink, and then slowlllly draw it across the bottom.  The first time I did this, I caught a nine pound peacock bass!  The second time, an eight pounder.  Then a bunch of fives  and sixes.  Peacock bass were eating flies they weren't supposed to eat, retrieved in ways that weren't supposed to appeal to them.  They were quickly becoming pests.  Then it happened.  A 60 pound arapaima rolled twenty feet from the boat.  I dropped the fly in the middle of the boil, let it sink, and had a powerful grab.  I held the fly line tightly in my left hand, and yanked it as hard as I could while pointing the rod directly at the fish.  Then I did it again, like I was trying to hammer home a nail.  Arapaima have mouths like cement.  Then, the hook simply fell out.  The guide looked at me and said, "Set harder!"

That was our only arapaima opportunity.  We gave up around lunch time.  We stopped in the shade of nice tree, and I took the bread from my sandwich, threw it in the water, where it was instantly swarmed by fish.  I tied on a fly that looked like a piece of bread, held it above the water, and they were actually leaping out of the water to get it.

Spoonbill and egrets

In the afternoon, we fished the main channel of the river.  It was a little rough.  It was extremely windy, making casting challenging, and when you did get the fly where you wanted, they were a little moody, not typical of peacock bass.  I did manage another 20 fish or so, including some nice fish in the five to six pound class, I realized I hadn't taken any fish photos, so we took a quick one!  I also posted a pic of a fish Ron Smith of Florida caught yesterday, a monster 17.5 lb pound fish, his fishing buddy, Jim Chell landed a 15 lb fish, so the Sunshine State held up well.

Saw tons of wildlife has always, the birds were amazing, the caimens were everywhere, and in one of the lagoons we spotted giant Amazon river otters.
Even the slower days on the Amazon are still wonderful days.

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17.5 lb giant

Rumble in the jungle- Day Two (Attack of the killer peacocks)

Ready to start the day!

Jacunda

Big caimen, but not the one I hooked

 So, yesterday was slow...we deserved a great day right?  Well, we sure got one.  I'll make this part brief.  We caught lots of peacocks.  We caught big peacocks.  We caught peacocks until our muscles were puddles of goo.  I'm guessing we probably caught around 100 fish, and Terri didn't fish the whole day.  Terri got a beautiful 13 pound fish, her biggest ever, (last years big fish for her was 11), and then followed it up with a 12lb pound fish.  My biggest of the day was 11, but the incredible part was the number of large, what I'll call mid-size fish, six to nine pounds that we caught.    A six to nine pound peacock will try to pull your arm off.  I probably caught at least 40 this size, and had one stretch where I made six casts, and landed five seven to nine pound fish.  We landed many, many doubles, Terri had always wanted a picture with us with a big double, by the end of the day we weren't bothering with pictures.  It was surreal, one of the most action packed days of my life.

There were a few moments that stood out.  At lunch, when the guide pulls the boat up on the bank, I pulled out the tiny flies, and caught an aracu, a fish I have been wanting to catch since last year.  It probably weighed half a pound.  It still pulled hard.  Everything here does.  Also gorgeous, check out the pic at the bottom of the page!

At the first spot we stopped at, I had been landing fish steadily, when a large caimen set up about 10 feet from the boat.  I wasn't too concerned.  They're not that fast.  I hooked a decent fish, and it took off, and somehow wrapped the leader around the caimen.  So it couldn't get away.  I was trying to free the fish, the caimen was turning in circles trying to get it, and eventually it did.  But after it swallowed it, I was still hooked to the fish.  Ever tried to break 40lb line?  I was pulling for all I was worth trying to break off, a 400 pound caimen was thrashing it's head, finally I hit a tooth or something and the line broke.  Good times.

On the way home, we made two stops.  Preto, our guide for the day spotted a turtle nest, and stopped the boat so we could see it, even briefly digging with his hands to uncover the eggs and show us.  Then, it started to pour.  But even though it was pouring, and even though we were already going to be late, Preto stopped at a sandbar where we got out of the boat and were able to fish and wade.  We hooked a fish each on our first cast, and our second cast, and our third cast, as soon as the fly hit the water it was eaten.  An amazing finish to an amazing day.  On the way back downriver, we got dumped on, in the way only the rainforest can.  Despite the photographic evidence, it didn't wipe the smile off my face for very long!  Looking back, I'm guessing we landed somewhere around a quarter of  a ton of peacock bass today!

 Terri and her 13

Speckled Double   11 and 6 lbs

Another big double, 12 and 8.

Aracu

Dogfish

Rumble in the Jungle - Day One

Azul peacock

What a wonderful view!

Morning couldn't come soon enough!  Met my blearly eyed partners in the lobby, and soon enough, we were in the air.  Since the planes only seat 6, our group of ten (our eight, and two other guys) were split in to two planes.

You don't realize just how vast the Amazon jungle is, until you are in a low flying plane, and flying over nothing but thousands of square miles of dense vegatation for a couple hours.  Then we saw the familiar sandbars of the Agua Boa, (not pictured) and we were on the the runway, rolling up to the lodge.

We were met with a host offering us each a flute of champagne, and then we went to main lodge, where we ate breakfast, got the orientation, and were given a choice.  Jump in the boats now, or take a nap, and fish in the afternoon.  If I ever choose the second option, you can be sure I've been bodysnatched.  The program at the Agua Boa Lodge is that you fish with a different guide every day, except your first day and last day are the same.  We happened to draw Samuel, who is now a Facebook friend.  The one downside of this draw, was that Samuels beat is 1.5 hours down the river.  Because it's so far, and it's a shortened day, Sam had to stay closer to home, and also fish areas that were not his really his water, so the fishing was a bit slower, that being a relative term.

Although I've caught five species of peacocks on the Agua Boa, the main three varieties you can expect are the Azul, the speckeled or paca, and the butterfly.  The Azul are the large, golden, three barred peacocks, the biggest fish on the river.  The speckeled are more gray in tone, with white speckles, and they are the strongest fish in the river.  All peacock are brutes, but the speckled ones will dish out extra punishment.  The most common peacock to catch is the butterfly, the smallest of the peacocks, typically running one to three pounds, but the most beautful, and they can still pull.  Butterflies will often attack your fly in swarms.

Fishing on day one was a bit slow by Agua Boa standards.  We probably landed about 40 fish, and my biggest was probably 5-6 pounds.  Terri got the best one, a nice 8lb speckled peacock.

Speckled peacock

Before we were ready, it was time to head back.  Back at the lodge, we were met at the dock by lodge manager Carlos, who waits at the dock for each boat to come in.  A staff person met us with a cool refreshing drink and a plate of appetizers.  Most of the guys hit the pool, or went to shower up before dinner.  But in the evening, as the sun falls, something happens that is irresistable to me. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of pacus begin to rise in front of the dock, and although they are difficult, they can be coaxed with a small terrestial pattern.  Out came the five weight, and picked up a pacu on my second cast, the only one of the night.

Day one is in the books, tomorrow is going to be one of the most amazing, action packed days of my fishing life.  I just don't know it yet!

Butterfly Peacock

Terri with 8 pound speckled

The welcoming committe

Dry fly pacu

Rumble in Jungle - Manaus

 Manaus is a city of two million, and most importantly, is the hub for peacock bass fishing in the Amazon.  Five of us, myself and Terri, Ron, Jim, and Stephen arrived a day early, and were taken on the guided tour of Manaus.

We started at the fruit and fish market.  This is a must see, and it's hard to really describe.  The fruit market is comprised of hundreds of booths, and acres and acres of space.  It's ten times the size of any Walmart you have ever seen.  The fish market is packed with literally just about every species the Amazon has to offer.  Tables piled high with peacock bass, oscars, surbim catfish, and the two fish that I think are the favorites in this part of Brazil, tambaqui and arapaima, or as the locals call it, piraracu.

After the fish market, we got back on the van and were taken to the Manaus opera house.  Terri, being the cultured one, was the one that wanted to see this the most, but we were all glad we went.  It was spectacular.  I would recommend going to Wikipedia to read about, but it was built in 1896, with the intent that it would be the jewel of the Amazon.  It seats 700, has 198 chandeliers imported from Italy, it's dome is covered with 36,000 ceramic tiles.  It took 15 years to complete.  See it!

 We then took a boat out to the Meeting of Waters, where the pale Amazon river meets the dark Rio Negro river.  The two rivers are very different temperatures, causing them to run side by side for six kilometers.  You could dip your hand in the water, then dip it just a few feet over and feel a tremendous temperature difference.

We then went to my personal favorite, the arapaima farm.  Arapaimas are a large, primitive fish, that can grow to immense sizes, nine feet or so, they are the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world.  We were taken to a large pen, where we were handed a thick piece of wood, with a rope tied to the end, and a fish was tied to the rope.  When we lowered it into the pen, arapaimas
in the 150 to 200 pound range would come get it, followed by a wrestling match that we always lost.  Lots of full grown dudes giggling like kids.  Super fun.

Back to the hotel.  Most of the group went out to a Brazilian steak house to stuff themselves, but I don't always handle super heavy evening meals well.  Terri and I enjoyed a nice fish dinner at the hotel, and went to bed early.  We are being picked up at the lobby at 6:30 in the morning, we will be on a small plane by 7:30, and land in the middle of the Amazon jungle around 9:30 or so.
Hard to sleep knowing what's coming.  Tomorrow, fishing.

Rumble in the Jungle - Antcipation and Tactical Planning

Last year, I fulfilled a nearly lifelong dream, spending a week at Agua Boa Lodge and fly fishing the Amazon jungle.  When I went, I was sure it would be a once in a lifetime trip.  Now, thirteen months later, I'm back, with seven other anglers in tow, in the role of a trip host.  A first for me!  Our group consists of myself, my wife Terri, Ron Smith and Jim Chell from Floridas east coast, and four Oklahomans, Steve Hale, Brett Kramer, Stephen Ruiz, and Joel Katnor.

It's interesting, I usually am the not the most organized person in the world.  It's likely I'll show up at a destination, and forget to pack something fairly essential, like pants.  But I've been anticipating this trip for months.  It's turned me into an over-preparer!  I have three large boxes of flies I've tied, containing well over 300 flies.  I know this is too many.  And yet, a week before we left, I was still ordering materials to tie just a few more.  An intervention was definitely needed!

For the fly tying geeks, here's a quick rundown of what I tied.  Last year, large EP baitfish killed it, so I tied lots of EP baitfish, about 8 inches long, in size 4/0.  Brown over white, blue over white, chartruese over white, and all white, to imitate a fish called a matrincha, which is a peacock staple.  I also tied the same pattern in a four inch size, on a 2/0 hook.  There is a lead eye pattern called a Dan Blantons flashtail whistler, I had about 3 dozen of these tied in chartreuse and white and pink and white.  My wife, Terri, loves to fish the pink flies and usually does really well.  Lots of poppers and few terrestials and nymphs to sample some of the smaller species the Amazon offers and I was ready to go.

There's one other fish that I had hopes for.  The infamous arapaima.  Catching one at Agua Boa is usually like winning the lottery.  But this year, there are more, and a couple are being caught a week.  So, I have a couple of 6/0 baitfish patterns with a 5 inch lycra tail added.  We'll see if I can actually cast them.

As far as tackle, I'm bringing two eight weights, two nine weights, a ten weight, and a five and a six for the little guys.  The peacock reels are all loaded with Rio Outbound Short Intermediate lines, and I have four spare fly lines, in case a piranha chops a fly line in half.  This actually happened to me last year, I got to fish a new $100  line for two hours. 

We fly from Chicago to Panama to Manaus.  Last year we arrived in Manaus on Friday night, got a few hours of sleep and then headed to lodge.  This year, we will arrive a full day early and spend a day as tourists.  Can't wait!