Rumble In The Jungle 2023 Day 5 It's DeJa Vu all over again!

 So. lots to be thankful for as we eat breakfast, and contemplate Day Five.  Our guide today is Joseph.  Joseph has been guiding, literally forever.  He claims to be the first fly fishing guide in Brazil.  This is probably true.  He also is just an incredibly fishy dude, knows the river better than anyone else, and every year, I never fail to have an incredibly productive day with Joseph.  When you hear you are fishing with him, the anticipation soars!  Plus, Greyson looks like he is feeling good, and it's not raining!

Joseph has a new beat this year, farther upriver than we have ever traveled before.  In fact, we burned figurative rubber for two hours and thirty five minutes before we slowed.  The river is narrower here, and we can see a mountain range that I have never seen before.  I began to wonder if we were still actually in Brazil!  So, if you travel this far, the fishing has to be good, right?

We finally slowed, and left the main river channel, detouring through the jungle to get to a lagoon.  As we went, I mentioned to Greyson that his big fish of the week was a 14, and that I was fully expecting that he would get a fifteen today.  We entered a fairly small, non-descript lagoon.  It wasn't far off the main river channel, so the water was still very discolored.  To be honest, not very promising.  I walked up to the bow of the boat, and I was stripping out line, Greyson took his first cast of the day.  I heard some shuffling, and Joseph said, "Big fish!" and turned to see Greysons rod with the kind of serious bend that big peacocks tend to put in rods.  I took a cast, and as I was lifting my fly out of the water to cast again, a large fish exploded on it, but the fly was already in the air.  So...maybe this lagoon might work out.  Greyson worked his fish to the boat, a large male with a knot on its head, and we weighed it, 15 pounds!  My prediction took one cast to come to fruition.

And then it got better from there!  We slowly worked our way around the small lagoon, making long casts, and then stripping through the dirty water.  Occasionally, one of us would come tight to a small fish.  Occasionally, one of us would come tight to a medium size fish.  But mostly, we came tight to big fish.  Sometimes, we came tight to big fish at the same time.  By the time we were done, I landed fish of 15.5, 14, and three other fish fish between 10 and 12 pounds, and Greyson landed several other double figure fish as well.  We even had  double figure double, with 12 and 10 pound fish.  It was extraordinary!  It was truly Deja Vu all over again, as this was so much like my last experience with Joseph last year.

Check out the black bars on this dude!  He's gorgeous

Double figure Double!

Just another 16 pound fish.

Unfortunately, the long run up and back left us very little time to fish.  We did fish one other lagoon.  The most memorable part of this lagoon wasn't even a hooked a fish.  Greyson had a fish hooked, I happened to look right over the side of the boat, and a huge arapaima, well over 100 pounds, was two feet under the surface, right beside the boat, looking straight up at me.  I jigged the fly in front of it, with only a couple feet of leader out the rod tip, it completely ignored the fly and just drifted off.  But wow!  What a fish!  Not long after, I had a powerful strike, and after a pitched battle landed one more giant peacock of 16 pounds!  It took me three trips to Agua Boa before I broke the 16 pound mark, this is my fourth fish of 16 or better this week.

It was a long, but dry trip back to the lodge.  When we got there, we received amazing news!  One of our

group, Eric, has landed a 19 pound fish!  Mostly happy for him, a little jealous.  Another unforgettable day on the Agua Boa!

Rumble in the Jungle Amazon 2023 Day Four Sometimes, it just comes down to one cast

 Today, we woke up to rain BEATING on the roof of the cabin.  It's dark, overcast, and there doesn't seem to be much hope of it letting up any time soon.  So, let's fish!  Greyson is feeling....better.  Not good, I don't think, but he says he is fishing.  I don't blame him.  I can't imagine even missing one day, much less two.  

Our guide today is Daniel, who is in his third year.  Daniel works hard, has good fish spotting skills, is very tuned in to hunting for arapaima, but the one thing I wish I could change, is that he is extremely soft spoken.  Sometimes the person in the middle of the boat has to act as an interpreter, because the person on the bow can't hear him at all.  Daniels beat is one of the lower upriver beats, about a 45 minute run from the lodge.  

Did I mention it was pouring?  We arrived upriver and our first stop was a huge lagoon.  I've fished it many times before.  It never seems to be the place for big numbers, but it always seems to crank out some double figure fish.  It was raining so hard, everything was soaked, sunglasses were fogged up, cell phone cameras were instantly smudgy.  So, not many pics, partly because of the weather, partly because it was a pretty slow day.

We started picking away at fish right away on the first shoreline.  About every ten minutes, one of us would get a grab, and we landed eight to ten what I call mid size fish, in the six to eight pound range.  Fish of this size are a riot on a fly rod, and Greyson then nailed a nice 13 pound fish.  And immediately after that, it went DEAD.  The caps are to emphasize how dead it really was.

We poled our way slowly around the lagoon, throwing long blind casts up to the bank, and then working the fly back with medium speed, long strips.  After a while, when one good cast after another is answered with nothing, it gets to be a little bit of grind.  Attention flags.  Some people even start to feel a little sorry for themselves.  And then it happened.  We were poling along a small stand of flooded trees quite a ways out from the bank.  I made a cast just like my last 200 casts, and just a few strips in got absolutely crushed.  This fish pulled like it weighed 100 pounds.  It surged for the trees, and I actually grabbed the fly line with both hands, bent my knees, and braced my feet on the sides of the boat.  For a little while, it was very touch and go, but then the fish just gave a little, and I was able to get its head turned from the brush.  Could it be my sought after eighteen pounder?  A few minutes later it was at the boat, and while it was both chunky and long, it came out a shade above 17 pounds.  But one of the strongest fish I've found.

Me, and my foggy seventeen pound stud!

Greyson with his oversized Amazon dogfish, some big leaps!

After that, it was back to long blindcasts, and very, very few grabs.  Finally, we arrived back at the entrance to the lagoon.  There was a small pool, filled with logs that we hadn't worked, Greyson threw the fly in, it was smoked instantly by a five pound butterfly.  I threw mine, and got the same reaction.  Not sure how many we caught.  I kept saying, one more cast, and then we will move on, but I couldn't, on a slow day, bring myself to move on.  These fish were smacking flies, tearing up the pool, and fish were chasing every hooked fish back to the boat.  And for butterflies, they were huge, we caught numerous fish between five and six pounds.  Finally, someone, OK me, snagged a log at the back of the pool, and ended our fun. 

Turned out that was mostly it for the day.  We fished one more lagoon.  Greyson picked up a hard pulling eight pound "paca".  No more fish for me.  When we got back, it seemed as always, everyone had lots of highlights to share, the most important, the other Randy, fishing with Caboclo, picked up an 18.5 lb fish.  I saw Caboclo that night, and asked him how it was someone else had caught my fish!  Agua Boa.  It's the best.

Randy Cleveland with a good one!

                                                         Kelly Henn showing how it's done.

Rumble in the Jungle Amazon 2023 "If you don't ask, the answer is always no."

 So, bummer.  My roomie coughed, hacked, tossed and turned all night, and looks awful, like death warmed over this morning.  There's a chill in the air, it's raining hard, and he won't be fishing today.  It's bad to lose a day in the Amazon, but today is possibly the worst one to miss.

Today, we (more correctly, I ) will be fishing Caboclo.  He's been on guiding here for over a  decade, he's singly focused on hunting for big fish, and he has a lagoon on his beat that is, year in and year out, a giant fish magnet.  There's seven guides and seven beats, but there is about a 75% chance that you are going to get your biggest fish of the week when Caboclo is in the back of the boat.

So, when I met Caboclo at the dock, I just told him.  I said, "Today, I would like an 18 pound peacock AND a 100 pound arapaima.  I was joking.  But Caboclo just looked me in the eye, and said, "OK!"  And off we went.  

The normal routine with Caboclo, is he takes you to several other B list spots, and then around 1:30 p.m., you get taken to the lagoon of the giants for the last few hours.  So it was today.  We pulled into a long, narrow lagoon, and began the blind casting routine that is the drill this week.  I landed a nicely marked 12 pound fish at the lagoon entrance, and then picked away at six to eight pound fish for a bit.  We turned the corner in the lagoon, and then Caboclo began poling us straight across to the water we had just covered.  I raised an eyebrow, and he said, "Arapaima".  We basically staked out a bank where had spotted one, and waited it out.  Ten minutes later, a very large fish rolled about 50 feet off the bow.  I dropped a fly on it, crept the fly back, and then dropped it again.  About halfway back, I got the tiniest pluck, and then the line got heavy.  I instantly tightened up, and used my whole body to strip set several times as hard as I could.  There was a huge boil and the fish slowly headed out for the middle of the lagoon, swam around a bit, and the line slowly started to rise.  Cabloclo said, "jumping", and moments later the fish exploded from the water with the most violent head shakes I've ever seen.  Unfortunately, this is where I saw my fly flip out of it's mouth.  As it crashed back to the service, Caboclo said, "Fifty kilos" or around 110 pounds.  I was laughing, and literally shaking, the whole encounter had just charged me with adrenaline.  One of the coolest moments I've ever had, I've hooked some other large arapaima, but this is the first one I've got up in the air.  Just wonderful.

12 lb  fish at lagoon entrance

Really hard pulling 16

We worked over the rest of the lagoon, and again, right at the entrance, I hooked an incredibly strong fish.  I had a hard time catching up to it after the set.  Caboclo says, "Big fish?"  I said, No.....maybe.....YEP!.  All the good peacock stuff with the fish pulling for the bank, me laying the rod sideways and holding the line with both hands and feeling like everything is going to explode.  When landed, a fat, strong, 16 pound fish.  

We then spent several hours working other spots, and it was quite slow.  I did land a jacunda, one of my favorite fish.  They are a species of pike cichlid, and gorgeous.  No real way to target them, but you always seem to run a cross a few over the course of the week. At 1:30, we headed over to what is literally one of my favorite fishing spots in the world.

Jacunda!

17.5!

Same fish, different shot

We actually poled for some time, and the first 90 minutes were slow.  But then, towards the middle of the lagoon, I got a grab, landed a nice 10 pound fish, and after that began to pick away at them.  As we made the turn, I got smashed, and had a fish that was both large, and had attitude.  I just couldn't get it's head up so we could actually see it.  Finally, it rolled on top and it was amazing fish.  Big, and the most striking black bars you can imagine.  When I finally boated it, we quickly weighed it, 17 .5 lbs, my best.  A few quick pics, and it was back on it's way.  We then hit a small island, and as we poled around it, I just started hitting one double digit size fish after another.  In ten minutes landed a couple of 12 pound fish, and then hooked up one that 15.  A big fish was following it, and told Caboclo, "It's the end of the day, jump off that poling platform, grab a fly rod, and hook up that big fish!"  So, he did, and he did.  Unfortunately, his fish came off, and we didn't what would have been a very unique photo opportunity.

Ended the day with what was surely one of my best days ever.  9 fish over 10 pounds, including fish of 15, 15.5 , 16 and 17.5 lbs, plus a giant arapaima that I got to battle for a bit.  Carlos, the lodge manager met us back at the dock, and I said, "I'd like to register a complaint.  I asked for an 18 lb peacock and a 100 pound arapaima, and I lost the arapaima and only got a 17.5 lb peacock.  :)  It was an unforgettable day on the water, hopefully, Greysons day off will have him ready to fish again tomorrow.

                                                                   Look at that dorsal!

                                                        15 caught in the flurry right at the end.

Rumble in the Jungle 2023 Amazon Day Two: When the Rumble really is, In the Jungle.

 Was very excited when we found out over breakfast that our assigned guide was Preto, for many reasons.  Mostly, it's Preto himself.  He is the Amazonian version of a redneck from the USA.  He'll chase caimans through the jungle, and then wrestle them.  He looks like he could bench press a car.  And he has a fabulous sense of humor, just a great dude to spend a day with.  He also has beat #6, which is an upriver beat where maybe we can find some clearer water.

We got in the boat and headed straight upriver, and didn't stop for well over and hour and a half.  When we finally pulled into a lagoon, I actually recognized it, I had fished it last year on the final day of the trip.  We pulled through this lagoon into a narrow channel and popped out into a second, much larger lagoon.  We spent several hours fishing this one.

It wasn't long before Greyson got baptized into the ways of larger peacocks.  While peacocks aren't much for stamina, the first minute or so hooked to a big one can be a bit terrifying.  They start out pulling hard, and just when you wonder if you can possibly stop them before they wrap you around every stick in the lagoon, they crank it up a notch and pull even harder.  For the most part, you're not putting them on the reel, you are grabbing the fly line and putting every ounce of pressure you can on them.  

Greyson had a grab, and was soon in the "position", bent over the rail, half the rod in the water, feeling like you are hooked to the bottom itself, but soon enough, the fish relented and we had a beautiful 13 pound fish at the boat.  I felt the relief that comes when your fishing partner scores his first "big one" and Greyson felt the joy that comes with landing a dreamed of fish.  Fortunately for us, this scenario was repeated multiple times!   Greyson ended up landing fish of 12,13 and 14 lbs, and I also landed three good ones, of 10, 12, and 13 lbs.  We also had a couple of shots at cruising arapaima.  A great morning!

A nice 13lb temensis, best so far!

A beautifully marked ten pounder.

Early afternoon, we pulled up the boat in the flooded timber for lunch.  I had an immediate flash back to last year.  Sometimes, it's dangerous to try and replicate experiences from the past.  But, if it was like last year, all the little potholes and bathtub sized spaces between the trees, would be chock full of fish.  So, while the guide ate lunch, I grabbed a six weight, knotted a small beadleech to it, waded in and bow and arrow cast in to the first dark pocket I could find.  I jiggled the fly, there was a bronze flash, and then pandemonium!  It was a close quarters brawl that I lost!  Over the next twenty minutes, I landed 8 fish, 6 butterflies anywhere from three to six pounds, a pacu, and a matrinxa.  And I got broken off in the trees four times!   Maybe more importantly, I was laughing and giggling out loud!  If the goal in fishing is ultimately that it's fun, which is my belief, I was meeting and and exceeding goals.

Unfortunately, Greyson wasn't feeling well, and was feeling worse and worse as the day went.  By the time we hit our afternoon session, he was spending about half the time resting, which I've learned isn't like him at all.  Hopefully it will be one day bug.

Six weight mayhem!

We hit two more lagoons in the afternoon, and fishing was slow in both of these.    We did hit a pod arawana, an eel shaped, topwater junkie fish, when you hook them they jump like crazy.  I happened to have a large peacock streamer in hand when we saw them, so that's what I threw, not ideal

                                                                         Arawana!

                                                        Jim and his arapaima on a nine weight!

                                                     Cool looking pacu off the dock.
, but I was lucky enough to hook and land one.  Greyson had several strikes, but didn't connect.

We headed back to the lodge with a good day in our rearview.  Six double digit fish.  When we reached the dock, we found out one of our group had stuck a nice arapaima on a nine weight and landed it.  90 pounds!  Decided to swing the six weight a bit off the dock, and caught this gorgeous pacu, all bars and orange splotches.   Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Rumble in the Jungle, Amazon Day 1 Where #30 is too light!

We made it! We're off the plane, we've grabbed our flutes of champagne and our crew of ten is gathered in the dining area of the lodge.  The excitement is palpable.  We are really at Agua Boa Lodge, on the Agua Boa River.  One of us is too hyped up to even sit down and eat breakfast.  That would be me.  I'm too hyped up to sit down and eat breakfast.  Our group consists of first timers, Randy and Kelli from Florida.  My boat and cabin partner for the week, Greyson, from Oklahoma City, and two West Coast Military/spey rod steelhead guys Steve and Eric.    Veterans of several trips with me include Ron and Jim, from the east coast of Florida, and Bruce and Stephen, from Oklahoma.  

Our first day will be what the lodge calls a "half day".  The normal fishing day consists of leaving the dock at 7:00 a.m., and returning at 5:00 p.m.  The river consists of about 100 miles of water that the lodge uses, split into seven beats.  Each angling team fishes with a different guide, on a different beat each day.  On Saturday, things are a little different.  We don't get on the water until 10:00, and all the guides fish relatively close to the lodge,  since there really isn't time to make some of the long runs that comprise the normal beats.  

Today, Greyson and I are fishing with Lucas, a new guide, in his very first year at Agua Boa.  His normal beat is Beat #2, which is the middle downriver beat.  As we get in the boat, the first thing I notice is the river is extremely high.  Perhaps four to six feet higher than would be typical in January, which is late dry season.  Abnormally high water, presents some difficulties.  It limits sight fishing opportunities.  It takes away some truly wonderful fishing in the main river channel, where typically fish meander over white sand flats.  It means that you are going to be doing much more blind casting than would be normal.  It does allow you to access some lagoons you would not normally be able to access.  And it seems to bring out the large fish.  Last year was also a high water year, and my boat partner and I landed close to 500 fish, and plenty of larger ones.  So, let's go.

We turned the corner, and headed into the first lagoon barely five minutes from the dock.  The blind casting drill is this.  The boats are set up so both fishers can, if they chose, fish together.  Pick out a larger profile fly, look for likely looking spots on the shoreline, drop your fly there, let it sink a few seconds, and then rip it back.  After ten minutes, the spoiled Amazon angler in me began to wonder what was wrong.  And then it happened.  A good pull, a prompt strip set, and that wonderful surge that every single peacock, whether they weigh two pounds, or twenty makes.  And then....off.  And so it went with the next four fish I hooked.  Now, I truly did believe that eventually this trip that I would land a fish.  And so I finally did, a two pound spotted peacock, what the locals call a paca.  This particular iteration is the undisputed "pound for pound" champion among the various peacock species.  And with the dam burst, we started to pick away at the spotted and butterfly peacocks.  Here I am with an  average size butterfly peacock, and here is Greyson and his hot pink hat, with a hard pulling spotted peacock, his first fish of the trip.

Yours truly, with a hard pulling butterfly.

The  fishing was generally uneventful, with the two of us landing 30 to 40 fish, nothing bigger than five pounds, before we headed back.  But it wasn't totally uneventful.  I managed to break off two larger fish, the first I broke off when I just set up a little too hard on it, (it broke the #40 at the loop knot), and the second when it instantly found some submerged sticks.  A little bit of rough start, since I typically make it through the week without breaking off ANY fish.  But good to make contact, even brief contact with one of the better ones.

                                            Greyson and his first "paca"

Greyson was the one who ended the day with a story to tell.  The second lagoon we fished had numerous arapaima rolling.  Arapaima are the largest scaled fish in the world.  At Agua Boa, they used to be an uncommon catch, but it seems that there are more and more every year.  Arapaima are air breathers, they come up, roll, displace lots of water, stop hearts.  Try to drop your fly quickly on the fish, let it sink, and strip back impossibly slowly.  If you feel anything, strip set harder than you have ever set in your life  Arapaima have the hardest mouth I've ever experienced with a fish, and yes, I've done some tarpon fishing.  When we finally reached the shoreline where we were seeing the majority of the fish rolling, I suggested Greyson tie on a black fly, and told him as the honored Amazon rookie, that he would get the first arapaima shot.  And not five minutes in, a big fish rolled fifty feet from the boat.  Greyson made a nice cast, and on about his second strip, unbelievably, his line went tight, He set hard twice, and huge bow wave moved from left to right, and all of the sudden the fish was off.  Consternation and questions ensued, it turned out the line was broken.  It didn't seem like undue pressure had been applied.  But, further questioning revealed that Greyson had started out with #30, not #40, since "it's much harder to tie knots with #40".  Amazon lesson number one.  Arapaima demand at least #40.

Decent first day, and when we got back to the dock, we found out that literally everyone in our group had gotten off to good start.  Plenty of fish were caught, some large fish were caught, including a 16lb fish, and everyone was happy.  Love this place, and can't wait for tomorrow.