Amazon 2025 Day Six, The Best and Worst Thing About Fishing!

 As always here, I woke up before my 5:30 alarm, dressed quietly in the dark in the clothes I had set out the night before, grabbed the three weight and stepped outside.  The sun was just beginning to peak out, all the birds were calling, and when I looked out at the river, literally thousands and thousands of pacu were rising in the main flow, picking off seeds and insects.  Many of the fish this morning were a thin, silvery pacu species, known in the aquarium trade as silver dollars.  They literally hit on every cast for a full fifteen minutes.

This day was a day I had been looking forward to all week, because we were fishing with Caboclo, or as my friend, Stephen Ruiz calls him, Big Fish Caboclo.  We call him this because he has a single minded focus on big fish.  A five pound fish swims by the boat, and Caboclo won't even call it out.  He doesnt want you casting to it.  The beat that Caboclo fished lends itself to his predilections.  He fishes a huge lagoon, minutes from the lodge, that is a big fish magnet.  Hence, even though there are seven guides, and seven sections of river, the biggest fish of the week is highly likely to be caught with Caboclo.  Fishing with  him is predictably spectacular.  Last year, it was so good that I caught double figures of double figure fish, more than ten fish of ten or more pounds, including two of 17 and 17.5 pounds.  As an additional bonus, I put a 120 pound arapaima in the air.  So, one can certainly see why I was anticipating the day!

But the best and worst of fishing is that it is, if nothing else, unpredictable.  That is good, because who would want to know exactly what is going to happen during the day?  It's bad, because sometimes you anticipate things that don't happen, and with the wrong attitude, this can be a giant letdown.  I have six previous days fishing with Caboclo, where I've been led to expect a steady stream of giant fish.  This would not be that day.  

We started out fishing a small lagoon, and the fishing was extraordinary.  More for what we saw, than what we caught.  We did immediately hit several quality peacocks, including this beautifully marked fish from Steve.

This lagoon was about variety.  We spotted a large school of arawana moving along the bank, and got several shots.  Steve, of course, lost one. We saw peacocks.  I was in the bow and got to cast to a redtail catfish that took my breath away, at least 40 pounds.  Redtail catfish may be the most difficult fish to catch on fly at Agua Boa, I'm grateful to have landed one, but I really wanted that giant!  We saw the striped, suribim catfish, mostly as they were spooked by the boat.  Arapaima were rolling, and we got several good shots where we were able to put the fly in the spot they just rolled.  When all was said and done, we had half a dozen nice peacocks, and had literally seen all the major gamefish that Agua Boa has to offer in one lagoon!

We then spent some time drifting the flats of the main river.  As has been the case this year, the fish were spooky and very aware of the boat, often blowing out before we could cast.  But we did pick off a few, and had an exciting moment where a school of fish in the 7-10 pound range allowed us to work them a bit, and Steve and I doubled up!  Here is Steve, intently looking for fish from the bow, and the next pic, shows some of the water we were fishing to the schooling fish.

Finally, it was time to close out our day at the Land of the Giants, Caboclos famous lagoon.  We poled and hunted for active fish on the surface, but found none, and soon we were making long blind casts to the deeper water, both Steve from the bow and me from the middle.  In two hours, Steve caught two small butterfly peacocks, and I missed one strike.  We were down to our last 30 minutes, and Cabloclo suggested a little more blind casting.  He was sure there was at least one big fish waiting.  There wasn't time to go look anywhere else, so what was our option?  We starting casting.  That's when I got a big grab, and when I came tight, there wasn't any doubt this was good fish.  Got a nice jump, and soon had a stout 12.5 pound fish at the boat.

Almost as soon as I released it, barely got my fly back in the water and was on again!  This fish dug for bottom like a snapper on the reef!  Could barely raise it.  When I finally got a look at it, was actually a little disappointed it wasn't the 17-18 pound fish I thought it was, but who can be that disappointed with a 13.5 lb colored up beauty!  This fish took a bit longer to land than I would like, so we took it over to the shallows to revive it.  There are a lot of piranha in this particular lagoon, and if you release a fish too soon, the piranha will kill it.  So, we took our time reviving and then released in the shallows, further from the piranha.

Even the slow days with Caboclo are pretty good.  A few minutes later, it was time to head back to the lodge.  A tradition at Agua Boa is that Thursday night is piranha night, when we turn the tables and have them for dinner.  They are actually quite delicious!  Then to bed early to rest up, because like it or not, tomorrow is our last day on the water.

 Amazon 2025  Day 5, Revenge of the Nerds

Another day, another beautiful sunrise, blue skies, and looks like temperatures in the eighties.  It will be nearly 100 degrees warmer today here than it is at home.  Suffering in the Amazon.  Started the morning with some dry fly pacu action, although they were a bit shy, and thne returned to the cabin to rig up and jump in the boat.  Today, we were on another upriver beat, with Daniel, on beat five.  

This is Daniels fifth year at Agua Boa.  Like many of us, he has improved rapidly at his job.  He is enthusiastic, a good communicator from the poling platform, and loves to get his clients into a good arapaima.  Coincidentally, I also enjoy a good arapaima myself, so it's a good match.

Today we parked the boat on the beach at the edge of the river, and walked a good bit to get to an isolated lagoon where a boat was stored.  The spot we stopped at on the beach itself looked like good water, fallen trees, deep water, and bunch of pacu showing bright red colors rising by the boat, but I have learned to pick my spots, and didn't say anything.

We reached the main body of the lagoon, it was long and narrow, with one shallow arm, and we pretty much worked the whole thing without a hit.  I had something I thought was grab, but the fight was strange, and I found out I had a freshwater stingray snagged in the back.  This was exciting in the not good way, and after trying to figure out how we could remove the fly without our guide being incapacitated and our day ending, we cut the leader.  Not proud of this one, and it doesn't count because it was fouled, but here he is.

Once we finished the lagoon, we went back up to the top, and started to work it again.  Things had changed.  Large fish were suddenly popping up on the margins of the lagoon, and although we had many refusals, we also put  a few good fish in the boat.  Arapaima were also beginning to make an appearance.  They are air breathers, and reveal their presence this way.  Although most were far away, a few rolled up within casting distance, and we were able to drop flies on them.  We also saw large muds where arapaima were disturbing the bottom and blind cast into these.  This can be tough as you are often casting to where a fish was, and don't even necessarily know what direction they are facing/headed.

We set up for a third time through, and then a fourth.  The sun got higher and things started getting even better!  I cast to an arapaima roll, dropped the fly on it, stripped slowwwwly, and got grabbed.  It was quickly apparent that this fish was not an arapaima, but a hefty peacock.  Not turning it down.

Steve than got a good one in a more traditional manner, spot, cast, watch the fish crush it.  Here it is.

Steve even hooked up an arawana by blindcasting.  Of course, since his destiny is never to land one of these creatures, it came off,  We ended up catching several peacocks between 10-12 pounds, but the most excitement came from fish we didn't even hook.  We started to see several free swimming arapaima, and actually got to drop flies to sighted fish.  This is fairly uncommon.  These fish ranged from about 40-100 pounds, and we got shots at a half dozen of them.  It seemed none of them showed the slightest interest in the fly, but blood was flowing and hearts were racing.  To see these giants causally swimming in waist deep water was wild.  Have I mentioned I love it here?

Eventually, on our fifth pass, Daniel asked if we were ready to try something different.  I said, lets give it 20 more minutes.  We got one more decent peacock, and the arapaima still eluded us, so we made the long walk back to the boat.  

Here's where it pays to remember sometimes that you're the client.  The guides pick lunch spots that are in shade, which makes sense.  The spot our boat was in, was not in the shade, but was swarming with fish.  I told Daniel I would like ten minutes with the three weight here.  One of the fish I could see swimming was a double banded leporinus species that I had not had shots at before.  One to add to list.  A funny thing happened.  As I was dropping a bead head hares ear around the sunken tree by the boat, our guide got into it.  He figured out which fish I wanted and which I didn't, and started excitedly calling them out and instructing me when not to set the hook on a pacu or piranha.  I started out (between numerous fish I have landed before) by landing this new leporinus species, which I found out later is the scissor tailed leporinus.

Then, I cast to one of the beautiful red pacus, and got it to grab.  I have landed a couple of these before, but will never turn down a shot at them.  In the aquarium trade, they are called disc pacu.

And no, this fish is not photoshopped.  It's just wild!  Here was the highlight.  Daniel had been pointing out a different leporinus species, one with spots instead of stripes, one I had never seen before.  Finally, I hooked up, the fish promptly took me into the tree branches and wrapped me.  I stepped gingerly into the water, looked for stingrays, and ended up wading up to my chest and grabbing the fish.  Hoisted it into the boat, and got the pic.  So, here is where the fish nerd in me comes out.  I sent the pic to a Brazilian ichthyologist (dudes who study fish) and he had never seen one before.  He sent it to another fish scientist, who specialized in the leporinus family.  He had never seen one either, and they both believe this to be a fish undiscovered by science.  I didnt know, or I should have thrown it in a jar of formaldehyde, and maybe it would now by Leporinus Richterii, but alas.  Still, for a species chaser, pretty cool.  And I believe #342 on fly.

After this, we finally did hit a lunch spot, where hilarity ensued with multiple other species on the three weight.  Finally, we spent the last couple hours drifting the main river channel.  Mostly uneventful, we caught a few peacocks and I caught this Gouldings Piranha.

But not completely uneventful!  A fish I have a great desire to land is the suribim catfish, otherwise known as a shovelnose or tiger catfish.  They love the shallow sand flats of the river.  The largest problem is you are drifting in the boat, and by the time you see them, you don't have time to sink a fly to their level before you spook them.  Like most cats, the fly needs to be in their face.  I told Daniel I would really like to catch one of these and he had an idea.  As we approached a spot in the boat, he said he expected to find cats here.  He slowed the boat to a crawl, and boy, were there cats!  In about a fifty yard stretch of sand, there were no less than 150 catfish from 5 to 15 pounds, laying in small pods.  I started to work them, and while some became aware of the boat, others made small turns at the fly, and near the end of the group, I had a fish turn and track the fly for about ten feet, and then put his lips literally on the tail of the fly.  Not really a strike, more like a nibble!  Then, our time was up, and it was time to go back to the lodge.  I believe if I could have waded, and had fifteen more minutes, I would have gotten one.

Day five in the books!  Did I mention I love it here?

Brazil 2025, Day Four  You know it's a tough neighborhood when the fish jump out of the water and catch birds!

Another restful night, with maybe a bit of help from a dose of Nyquil.  Awake before the alarm went off, and surprise, slipped down to the dock to catch some pacu and watch the sun rise.  

Today, we were on our first upriver beat, beat 4, with long time Agua Boa guide, Preto.  He is a bit hard to describe, but Preto has been with the lodge for 17 years, and perhaps the best way to describe him is intrepid.  Need your guide to stop in a pouring rainstorm, and get you back to the lodge late, just so you can catch a few more fish.  He's your guy.  Need someone to capture a caiman with his bare hands, or show you the spots where the turtles lay their eggs.  Again, Preto is your guy.  Always funny, and always on point, his guiding skills are fantastic, and I have had some of my best days, and clearest memories on his beat.

With that said, today was the slowest day on the water I have ever spent with Preto.  We started the morning at the mouth of a lagoon, and were pretty instantly into fish.  I landed a mid size spotted right away, and we picked away and landed several more, what I would call mid size fish, quite quickly.  

We spotted a large fish laying up at the spot where the lagoon emptied into the river, but after several casts with no response, the fish, which was well over ten pounds, just drifted off and disappeared.  We then fished the lagoon proper pretty hard, with only a couple of smaller fish to hand.

 The main event was a larger lagoon, and although we worked it for several hours, it was reluctant to give up it's secrets.  We did get some shots at arawanas.  These eel like fish are often seen traveling in small schools, moving languidly near the surface.  They even eat flies languidly.  It is necessary to strip the fly quite slowly, but when they eat it, things change, exactly what you would expect from a fish that has been known to leap from the water and eat birds!  First, you have to strip set more firmly than you might believe possible, the mouth of the arawana is very hard.  Then the fish usually puts on an aerial show, jumps interspersed with quick runs.  Ideally, it is good to have a six weight on hand specifically rigged for them, with a terrestrial like a Chernoybl ant.  But today, as is often the case, I was standing in front of the boat with an eight weight and a large peacock fly in hand, when suddenly a group of 3 appeared near the bank, about forty feet off the bow.  I put a cast on them, stripped slowly, could see one drifting up behind the fly, and suddenly got jolted.  Surprisingly, everything held together, I survived the jumps and soon had my first arawana of the trip in hand.  Love them.  Check out the scale patterns on this dude.  

Later, after a slow period, Steve had been in the bow for awhile, so we prepared to make a switch, but before we did, Preto spotted a big fish.  Steve made a perfect cast, fought the fish like a true Iowan, and soon we had it on the boga.  This fish was long, skinny, and had a huge head.  He didn't exactly look malnourished, but he wasn't in prime condition, it was apparent conditions in the lagoon weren't perfect for him.  He weighed 13 pounds, Preto mentioned that in great condition he should be 17-18 pounds and I agree with this assessment.

We spent some time searching the main river channel, but only turned up a couple of smaller, butterfly peacocks.  So ladies and gentlemen, this is what a slow day on the river looks like here.  We probably landed about 15 peacocks and a few other assorted species, and somehow, it was still a full and fulfilling day.

 

At the dock that night, I landed a leporinus species that I have only seen a couple of other times, the Brazilians refer to them as fat heads.  Cabeza gorda.  Even with their fat heads, they are pullers on the three weight.  I also down sized my flies and landed a couple of these red tailed tetras.  I've got the Latin, but I won't burden you with it.  Big news today is that Craig has landed a giant, an 18 pound fish.  Can't wait until tomorrow.

Rumble in the Jungle 2025  Day Three

Going to the gym.....the peacock gym.

I like mornings.  It's when I think the clearest, and feel the best.  But there's nothing like Amazon mornings.  The alarm goes off and I spring out of bed.  The horizon is just starting to lighten up.  Unfamiliar bird calls are music to my ears.  I can see the pacu rising down at the dock.  Who needs coffee when you have this!  And the best part, I have an entire day of fishing ahead at perhaps my favorite place on the planet.

Our guide today is Bacaba.  Our beat will be beat three, another downriver beat.  We had a quick consultation, the original plan was to start in a larger lagoon, but that would have been mostly blind casting, so today we opted for another day of floating the stunning lower river, alternating between fishing the flats on the main channel, and fishing the edges where these spots deepened up.

Again, we fished two different styles.  The person in the bow had a larger peacock fly tied on.  This was mostly a sight fishing game, where the guide would call out fish that he spotted, and you would make the cast, following directions as best you could.  Note, the guide will almost always spot these fish before you, but it is tremendously helpful if you can eventually see them.  I started in the middle of the boat and grabbed a six weight, adding a small trace of wire, and fishing whatever small streamer came out of the box. I would blind cast to any pocket of slightly deeper water, or to any of the log jams.  This resulted in a grab, not every cast, but never went more than a few minutes without something.

The first fish of the day was a bicuda, one of the two species here.  These are aggressive fish, built like the saltwater fish that their name evokes, the barracuda.  They are fast and quick to the fly, and once hooked are glad to show off with some acrobatics.  They don't get large here, and this one is about as big as I see.

Note Steve in the background landing a peacock.  I also landing plenty of matrinxa.  Another fine gamefish.  They look like shad, crush any fly that will fit in their mouths, can reach four to five pounds, jump like maniacs when hooked, and have a mouthful of teeth that can easily sever heavy tippet.  On this day I easily caught a dozen of these dudes.

I also caught a couple of Gouldings piranhas, the other bicuda species, and a bunch of small spotted peacocks.  The spotted peacocks are the no doubt the "pound for pound" award winner, pulling the hardest of the peacocks.  Steve started off his time on the bow with this one, and several others like it.

When it was my time on the bow, it was also my time to go the gym.  The guide spotted a fish that I just couldn't see, but I followed his directions, and dropped a cast in an indentation in the shoreline, sidearming it to get it under the tree branches.  Nothing.  He said "again".  I felt dubious, but dropped it in again, and there was an immediate explosion before I started stripping.  The fish ran parallel to the bank and made for a log jam.  I stripped down on it (under no circumstances try to get these fish on the reel) and pulled as hard as I could using the butt of the rod.  There was plenty of body english, certainly some inarticulate noises on my part, and although the fish still hit the edge of the log jam, somehow didn't get into the worst of it, and was free and running for the channel.  Wow!  Fishing for these things is so intense.  Landed the fish, and decided not to weighh it, but it was very stout, and likely in the 12 pound range somewhere, maybe pushing 13.

We stopped for lunch, and while people napped, I played with a school of pacus and lobetoothed piranhas, somehow landing several on beadheads.  Here is a typical sized lobed-tooth.

 

Then I waded into the main channel, and cast to some deep water.  This is typically home to some of the larger species of piranhas and that was the case.  Unfortunately, I had run out of wire, and sacrificed about a dozen flies.  I did however land three nice peacocks while the guide and Steve napped in the boat.

In the afternoon, we floated the main river channel, fishing the flats.  We were once again plagued by spooky fish, mostly bolting before you could get a cast.  Steve did catch the fish that was absolutely beautiful, with very dark, wide bars.  They don't get more stunning really.

Back at the lodge, it was drinks, shower, a little dock fishing.  I decided to sink a beadhead hares ear, in a size #16 on a the three weight, when I did this, this happened on the first cast.  Extremely fortunate not to get cut off, and honestly a lot of hard pulling on the small rod.

Did I mention I love this place?  So much.  Can't wait for tomorrow.  If you are interested in possibly joining me on this trip, I am putting together a group for January 10-17, 2026.  Reach out at randyrichter@ruhlhomes.com.

Rumble in the Jungle 2025   Day Two

Pirapitinga translated means, "A lot of fun on a six weight"

Another glorious day in the jungle!  The last time I fished here, we had cloud cover and some rain every day.  Not this week!  Set the alarm for 5:30, and was out on the dock in time to see a beautiful sunrise.  Pacu were rising by the hundreds.  Fortunately, I planned for this, had a three weight with a foam beetle pattern, and the fish were more than happy to hammer this on nearly every cast.  I understand we are here for the big peacocks.  But I may never understand why none of the other 13 people on this trip aren't taking more advantage of this.  Amazon panfishing is the best.

We left the dock at seven, today we are fishing with Lucas.  Lucas has beat 2, the second longest run down the river.  Mist rose off the water.  Birds, including the massive jabiru storks, cruised the sandbars.  Black caiman were everywhere, trying to catch the first of the suns rays.

We started the morning by hiking into a lagoon, where the lodge had a boat stashed, as they do in dozens of lagoons up and down the river.  Fishing was somewhat slow, or maybe I should say, fishing was somewhat slow for me.  Steve was finding some truly big fish.  In several hours of slowly cruising the lagoon, he landed fish of 10, 12, and 15 pounds!  The nice thing about all these fish is that they all got some air.  This isn't always the case, the bigger fish sometimes are happy to slug it out deep, but even the fifteen pound fish went airborne a couple of times.  Here is a happy Iowan with the biggest two bass of his life.

I did land one fish in the ten pound range that I did not take a picture of, but Day 2 was mostly Steves show. 

Following lunch, we did some fishing in the main river channel.  This is my favorite style of fishing here when the water is low.  The main channel looks like bonefish water right now, shallow flats interspersed with occasional deep cuts.  The boat slowly drifted, the guide mostly used the push pole to keep the boat positioned properly.  The biggest challenge this year is the low water.  The fish were very aware of the boat, even though we were being stealthy, fish were blowing out a hundred feet in front of the boat.  Occasionally, we would find one that was less wary, and a good cast would pick it off.

We also found sections where there was deeper water along the banks, still clear, full of fallen trees.  In these sections, the person on the bow would throw big flies for sighted peacocks.  If I was in the middle, I had a six weight, rigged with wire, and I threw small flies at the trees and sunken logs.  There were two fish that we had eyes on.  Steve was looking for his first arawana, an eel like fish with a beautiful scale pattern, that has been known to leap out of the water and eat birds.  I was looking for a black piranha, the largest of the piranha species, it can hit eight pounds and has the most impressive set of teeth you will see this side of a tiger shark.  While I managed to pick away at numerous other panfish type species, matrinxa, bicuda, Gouldings piranha, the black piranha eluded me.  I hooked several, but just wasn't getting the hook into a spot where it didn't bounce off teeth.  Here is one of bicuda species that came out from a sunken tree and ate a bone fish fly.

We also saw decent numbers of arawana, Steve had four grab the fly, and briefly hooked two.  Arawana have a very, very hard mouth.  They require a strong strip set, and some luck.  Today we weren't lucky.  Or maybe we were!

As most people know, I love to catch new species on fly.  And here on the Agua Boa, one exists that I have heard of, but never actually seen, despite fishing here for five weeks, accumulated over the previous years.  The pirapitinga, or red bellied pacu.  Most of the pacu species in the Agua Boa are small, a couple of pounds is a nice one.  The pirapitinga is much larger fish, but again, I have never really encountered them.  Suddenly, Lucas left the shoreline and began poling us out to the middle of deep channel in the river.  He had seen something.  I was in the bow, and I was told I was now fishing for pirapitinga.  I was using a large, 3/0 EP baitfish, which didn't seem like the right fly.  But, we didn't have time to change out, and always listen to your guide.  I made a long cast where he told me, let the fly settle, and made long, slow strips.  I got a grab, set up, and it seemed that I had hooked a pickup truck.  The fish made long, deliberate runs along the bottom, and Lucas confirmed this was definitely a pirapitinga.  Then it was suddenly off, and when I stripped in, I found my #40 tippet had been cleanly cut.  Steve jumped into the bow, and I decided to blindcast from the middle, with my six weight and a small Clouser.  Perhaps I would find that black piranha!  But as Lucas was giving Steve instructions, I came tight again!  Same fight, same implacable power, but on a six weight this time, with #16 instead of an eight with #40.  Nothing spectacular about the fight, but I put as much pressure on as I could, and even more once the black piranha showed up.  This time, they were there for my pirapitinga.  I got his head up as quickly as I could, we grabbed the leader, and had him the boat, but not before one of the piranha took a small chunk out of his side.  I couldn't stop looking at this fish.  So amazing!  

After this, we made the long run back to camp.  The staff met us with drinks at the dock.  (Suffering in the Amazon).  I wandered back with the three weight for a few traditional evening pacus off the dock, under the watchful eye of Rex, the fifteen foot black caiman who oversees the dock fishing.  At dinner, got to listen as everyone shared about their day, plenty of great fish, but most noticeable was a rarely caught on fly redtail catfish, caught by Ryan Krager when he was actually targeting arapaima. Congratulations Ryan!  Can't wait for tomorrow!

 

 Rumble in the jungle, 2025, Day One

Past performance does NOT guarantee future results.

We're here!  I am hosting a trip through Yellow Dog Fly Fishing to Agua Boa Lodge, on the Agua Boa River.  I have a group of fourteen this year!  8 from Oklahoma, 4 Michigan guys, and myself and my boat partner Steve Austin from here in Iowa.  As a group, we have overcome mechanical issues on the plane, flight delays and cancellations due to weather, the necessary stay in Manaus on Friday, and a few  people who are already a bit under the weather.  But at 6:00 a.m. this morning, we hopped in two small planes and made the short (two hours) flight to Agua Boa Lodge.

This is my sixth trip here.  But to look out the window of the plane as we descend, seeing the river, its exposed sandbars and clear water, and to imagine what is lurking there, always gives me the chills.  The plane finally taxied down the runaway, slowed to stop, and there were all the guides, kitchen staff, and of course, Carlos, the long time lodge manager gathered to greet us.  Hot breakfast was available, and as the rest of my group headed to eat, I did what I always do, and and made my way to dock, to look at fish.  I remain fascinated by fish.  And this year, I got a show.  The water is low.  The fish are concentrated, and around the dock was a school of pacus that comprised thousands and thousands of fish.  The school passing by the dock was wide, deep, and fifty feet long.  I can't begin to guess how many fish.  I bypassed breakfast, ran to my room, and threw my three weight together.  

The dock session had to be short.  I knew that I needed to get back to my group.  I felt a little irresponsible.  And yet...   A couple of quick casts, and I landed a banded leporinus.  This fish is fairly common on the river, but not a common fly catch, in my previous five weeks I have only landed a few.  It was apparent many things about this year would be different!  Leoprinus actually are a strong fish on the three weight, lots of bending and twisting and powerful short runs back under the dock.  But here he is, not a giant peacock, but a lovely first fish of the week.

The next fish would be different story.  The first powerful run towards the middle of the river told me that I had probably hooked a large pacu.  The biggest worry here is that they will bite through the twelve pound tippet, their jaws are extremely sharp.  I was fortunate the fish was hooked in a way that the leader didn't rub over the teeth, and soon enough I had landed a true prize, I've only managed also to land a few of these in the past.  But it appears this year is going to be different.

A quick visit to the peeps in the dining area, packed my lunch, and headed to my room to quickly assemble my tackle.  I usually bring an eight and a nine for the larger peacocks, a six with a Chernoybl ant, in case we encounter arawana, and a three weight for fishing the smaller fish at lunch.  We headed down to the dock and got in our assigned boat for the day.  Agua Boa has seven fishing guides and seven beats.   You switch guides and beats each day, so you get to see the entire river.  On arrival day, since the day isn't as long, the guides stick a bit closer to the lodge, and beats/assignments are a little different.  Today, our guide was Renato, a guide in training, filling in for guide Booyo, who was in the hospital.  

We turned up a small creek barely out of sight of the lodge.  I knew we were on our way to a lagoon, which I had fished many times.  And I knew the drill.  I told Steve that we were going to see lots of fish, great variety, but most likely no big ones.  I was confident about this.  On my very first day, of my first trip, my wife and I had a 140 fish day, much of it in this same lagoon, but no fish over six pounds.  But as we poled our way up the small creek, we saw numerous fish blowing up along the banks, pushed by the boat.  They were not small.  Most appeared to be in the 5-8 pound range, some of them larger.  Anticipation grew!

Finally, the creek widened into a true lagoon.  Steve fished from the bow, and was shortly into his very first Amazonian fish, the beautiful butterfly peacock.  I snapped a pic,(you have to snap a pic of someones first fish) and I was shortly into a butterfly peacock as well.  

Soon Steve hooked a fish that was a bit more substantial, and after a battle, landed his first three bar peacock (tenmensis) which although he didn't weigh it, was probably around nine pounds.  He followed that with two more, which he did weigh on a certified boga, that were both around 10.5 pounds!  Here at Agua Boa, although they are fairly common, ten pounds is the mark where peacocks are considered "big", or worth weighing.  I don't love hanging fish from Boga grips and after fishing here quite a bit, have become fairly accurate at guessing weights, so unless it's truly a giant, we will weigh less and less fish through the week.  I'll look at the guide, hold up a fish, say 11?, they will nod, or disagree, and say ten, or 12, and the fish goes right back in.  But to the original point, I expected all small fish and Steve was already into two double figure fish.

And then it happened!  As I was lifting my fly from the water to cast again, a fish came from under the boat and smoked it!  It was very apparent that this was a different class of fish, and then, so we could be sure, it gave us a sweet end over end cartwheel about 20 feet from the boat.  For the first minute, peacocks feel like the most powerful fish on the planet, if you win that minute, they turn into just another big fish. I won the first minute, and soon we had a very stocky, perfectly conditioned tank next to the boat.  This fish was weighed, and came in at slightly over fifteen pounds!  I think it couldn't be more lovely!

After some more action, Renato pulled the boat up under some trees, and out came the lunch.  But when he threw a little bread in water, we were surrounded by fish.  A new one for me, bright silver scaled fish with pink tails, about 12-15 inches long.  Out came the three weight.  Soon I had fish on that was leaping like crazy, and landed the Pink tail Chalceus, a new species for me.  In fact, I landed a bunch.  Bringing the three weight to the jungle is something not many people do, but it always provides memorable moments for me.  

I don't want to say the afternoon was uneventful.  We were in a beautiful place.  Things slowed after we exited "there are only small fish here" lagoon, but we battled numerous, hard fighting butterfly peacocks, some of them quite large, up to six pounds or so.  Then back to the lodge, for drinks, appetizers some dry fly pacu chasing off the dock (successful), a leporinus double,  a delicious meal, and bed.

Day one in the books, can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!