It sounds corny.....but it's like coming home.

This is my third straight year returning to the Amazon.  All three of these trips have been to Agua Boa Lodge.  Here's why.  Agua Boa Lodge is located smack in the middle of a one hundred mile stretch of the Agua Boa river, a stretch they have exclusive right to fish, and that is managed fly fishing only, even requiring barbless hooks.  It's a small river, ranging from a long speycast across in some places, in others, it's several hundred yards wide.  What it generally is, in the middle of the dry season, is clear.  When conditions are right, the guides pole down the white sand flats of the river, and sometimes fish can be spotted fifty yards away as they slide over the flat.  Yes, actually, there are parts of this kind of peacock bass fishing that will remind you of bone fishing.  Agua Boa is known as a numbers fishery, but the previous two trips have show me that there are plenty of larger fish, in fact my wife and I had a day when between us, we put seven 10 pound plus fish in the boat.  And the species diversity is unmatched.  Between  Terri and I, we have landed 26 different species of fish on fly the previous two years.  So, I bascially love it.  Numbers are high enough that a novice can be successful.  The fishing is exciting enough that a highly experienced angler will find plenty of challenges.  The accomodations are good, and the staff is wonderful.  Like I said, I like this place.

As we approached, flying low over the river, and I saw the lodge for the first time, it did really feel kind of like returning home.  I knew who I was going to see, I looked forward to greeting the guides and other staff.  I knew there would be someone greeting us with flutes of champagne when we stepped down from the plane.  I knew the lodge manager Carl, was going to give people opportunity to fish immediately, or take a nap, and fish later.  For the record, if I ever take a nap and fish later, I've been body snatched, I'm a pod person, go ahead and divide up my fishing stuff.

I rush to our cabin.  This year, I'm in a new one, number 3.  Each cabin is named after a fish.  This one is called Pirarara, which is what the natives call redtail catfish, and also, my absolute bucket list fish to catch on fly in this river, now that I've knocked off payaras and arapaimas, and by far the least likely.  Maybe this is a good omen!

A good omen?

There are 12 anglers at full capacity, and six beats of river, and currently seven guides.  The program is, you will fish seven days, fish each guide once, and repeat one of the beats  once.  I'll be fishing with my cabin mate Chris.  Chris is a new fly fisher, but has literally taken a year to get ready for this trip, practicing hard, and at least on the lawn, he looks good.  Today we will be fishing with Bacaba.  Bacaba is one of my favorite guides, very kind, and also curious.  Some of the guides get a little locked into the peacock program, if you want to stray off and look for big piranhas, cichlids, or anything unsual, he's your guy.  He's also a very good fly tyer.

And just like that, we're off.  My expectations are always a little low for the first day.  Because it's a partial day, the guides don't range as far afield, and may not be fishing their regular beat.   I've yet to land a big fish on my first day, (although my wife and I landed 120 fish our first day, two years ago.)  As we leave, I note the water is several feet higher than last year, and considerably dirtier (though not

jacunda

Chris, with his first of the trip, a small butterfly

dirty).  Our first fishing was blind casting a lagoon, and we didn't have to wait long for fish.  I always take a picture of my first of the trip, no matter what it is.  In this case, it's a jacunda, one of my favorites.  I think they're gorgeous.  This one, at a couple pounds, was a nice one.  And I definitely was going to take a picture of the first fish Chris caught, which was a small butterfly peacock of about two pounds.  A little review, the three common types of peacocks we will be catching are the three bar or tememsis, the spotted or paca, and the butterfly or boboleta.  The spotted and three bars are the larger ones, my best is 15, but Ron, one of our returning members, caught a 17.5 lb fish last year.  The butterflies are much smaller, a five pound fish is a real good one, and a six is the biggest I have seen.

Fishing was a little slow by Amazon standards, but the time still flew, and before I knew it, we were headed back to the lodge.  We landed somewhere around 40 fish, and Chris had the best one, a chunky 8.5 pounder.  We were greeted at the docks with a drink and appetizers, and I immediatley went back to my room, grabbed a five weight, and spent a little time at the dock, working the small, but far more choosy fish around the dock.  I caught several pacus, including this neat Marie Antoinette pacu, which looks like it's bleeding, but it's just the deepest red markings you have ever seen.  Also caught several of the zebra striped aracus. We met at

Pacu

Marie Antoinette pacu

Aracu

seven for dinner.  Dinner wasn't disappointing the food was good, and the setting was a little fancier than I was used to.  Everyone dispersed pretty fast after dinner, and I was in bed by 8:30 p.m.  Tomorrow we are fishing Zezinio or Joseph, as he is called.  He has guided for 22 years, knows the river better than anyone, and I couldn't be more excited about hitting the river tomorrow.