Amazon fishing in Brazil

payara

When people think about the Amazon their thoughts are naturally drawn to Brazil, but from a fishing point of view, there are thousands of miles of river running through several countries which make up the Amazon watershed.

It could now be argued that the best multi species fishing is no longer in Brazil but in the neighbouring countries of Guyana,Suriname Bolivia and Venezuela.

Usually  you would opt for either an multi species trip (like I did) or go for a purely peacock bass trip which target the giant peacock bass of the Amazon the Cicla Temensis.

various species of peacock bass

1

Cicla Temensis

A trip of this type revolves around offloading 30 like minded anglers on to what amounts to a floating gin palace moored up in Manaus, then, plowing on down the good old rio negro.

Saying that, these safaris are often productive and popular with American anglers.
They usually involve a lot of booze and loudness.

If you are looking for a more jungle type experience then go for a multi species camping safari. 

You will stand a good chance of still catching a bass but maybe one of the many types of peacock rather than a temensis.
As the Amazon is one of the most diverse habitats for fish I prefer to concentrate on species count rather than the pursuit of just one fish ,from piranha to piraiba.

 Gin Anyone?

wolf fish

You normally fly from London to Lisbon, then direct to Manaus,from there you will normally take a float plane to your destination river.

I arrived a day early and had a bundle of fun fishing for small Amazon species off a jetty that ran off a beach owned by the hotel.

There is an anecdote of the happenings of this day which I will relate.

In what follows I took a little artistic license , however not much and the majority of the story holds true.

I'll leave you to decide on which bits!!

Saturday Late Morning ..the Rio Negro;

She looked the outdoorsy type, I could tell because she had lots of spots and sores round her mouth... probably from the sun. 

I was feeling friendly so I took her a can of Coke .

I also noticed a small pink flower between the joints in the jetty.

I picked this and as I thrust the can of coke, urgently, yet gently, into her hand,I reached over and placed the flower seductively behind one ear, whilst whispering" I have a twelve inch cock... but I never use it as a rule".

 I could tell language was no barrier. She looked at me with smouldering Brazilian eyes as her lips parted with a sigh of gratitude. I could smell passion on her breath.... and raw onion salsa.

 My minds eye opened and I pictured my strong masculine arms softly enfolding her gently yielding body.

 I was aware that i had not had sex for at least 3 hours.. that's if you count the ham shank I had in the mile high club with a 60 yr old hostess.

 My reverie was  suddenly broken! She Farted !! loudly! and moved away , fragrantly, to the other side of the jetty. 

 I was left... heart torn asunder gazing listlessly at the paint peeling and bubbling from the very spot she had left me her parting gift!.....

excerpt from " She was only a fishmongers daughter... but she lay on the slab and said fillet"

By Captain Cookson.

A Brazilian Lady

To be honest I did over embellish the bit about the paint peeling off..it was more of an acid like effect and I was glad I was wearing sandals.

After a tasty meal of Brazilian beef home reared from the bare bones of a ravaged rainforest.. It was off to bed.. My dreams figured a bronzed Brazilian girl, me in a tuxedo with a rose between my teeth and my old Chemistry teacher. the above picture is of a barred sorubim. An excellent Amazonian game fish that will take bait and also lures.

Once you have reached your destination and got your bearings the next stumbling block is usually your boat partner. If you find yourself with a partner who is either easy going or like minded you are a lucky person indeed. Often one member wants for example to fish with lures whilst you want to fish with bait. Situations can often get out of hand when someone thinks they are not getting their fair share. 

This ranges from mild annoyance to total belligerence. 

Normally I usually highlight a few days fishing sort of diary style where I will narrate the happenings of the day in a different stye of prose.

First Day. 

I literally could not wait to start fishing, my  boat partner was 20 years my senior and not as enthusiastic as I so I virtually had to shoehorn him into a boat.. I had spotted several very fishy looking spots on our journey by boat to the camp. 

I rushed out with rods and lures pushed L, my partner into the boat and started casting from the off.

After 3 hours I had not even had a bite!

All my preconceptions, these often bolstered by the outfitter, were up in smoke.. I expected fish from the word go...both L and I never saw a fish. 

I thought I was going to get a fish a cast and catch all my dream fish in the first day. 

This was not at all what I was expecting.. After all I can catch nothing in the UK for a much cheaper price. 

Also the downside of being over exuberant was now showing. We had left with no water on board and I with no hat. A very stupid thing to do. 

The Brazilian sun had pounded me for three hours no drink and no reprieve. Now I had to either force L to go in early.. Or stick it out til dark, catching sunstroke and dehydrating.

Fortunately for me after a small suicidal redtail jumped onto the end of L s line he suggested an early bath. 

I arrived back at camp with my tail between my legs and not a bit disappointed.

First thing I did was ask the outfitter what was up with the fishing.. He said its never like this.. Waters too low... I was waiting for him to say.. You should have been here last week.. But he didn't. 

In my hammock that night I was contemplative. 

These fish were obviously not going to be easy and I would have to very seriously adjust my expectations of what... If anything.. I was to expect to catch. 

So.. It was either moan about it.. Or man up and catch them fish. 

THE NEXT DAY. 

We set off early and began fishing. I had a few taps on lures and spinners from small piranha until at lunch we found our first few peacock bass. 

Caught casting to rocks and riverbank holes from the boat.. I was using a spinner bait L using flies. 

We caught about four or five which really bolstered the spirits and carried on catching nothing else but losing a fish as the light faded.

THE NEXT FEW DAYS

We spent a ratio of about 60 per cent travelling to and from spots and about 30 per cent fishing 10 percent getting the boat unstuck or out of shallow water. 

But we did catch fish.. Not many, but wolf fish, sorubim catfish, piranha and peacock bass made the bulk of it. 

The problem was the water was very low and eve though we had miles of river, fish holding spots were few and far between. 

On the way back to the camp we discovered a pod of feeding payara. 

L tryed on the fly whilst I tried a 13 cm deep diving minnow. 

We both caught some really super payara and we went back elated.. Or I did. L was a complete void of emotion. 

In fact the only thing that got a smile was python sketches.. No not drawings of a snake.. Monty python.. And I knew loads. 

In fact, In the dark of the evening, braving the creepy crawlies, I snuck out from my hammock and found two twigs and stuck them to my hat on each side to resemble antlers and wrapped a large beach towel round myself and crept up to his hammock and said.. .. Ni! Ni.. Ni.

. 

Being an American he thought I was bonkers.. Got a few laughs from the others though.. Turns out he preferred life of Brian to the Holy Grail.. Which considering he was Jewish was hilarious. 

I had to be content with writing" property of the peoples front of judea "on his hat, in sharpie. 

I'm not sure if he ever spoke to me again on the trip.. Can't think why, but when you mix cultures you can ever guarantee to get it right all the time. 

The majority of the larger fish and catfish came not from the main river but from a creek that took almost half a day by boat to get too. There were fish there but only an hour or twos worth of fish able time out of the whole day. 

All to soon it was time to pack up and go home.. Yes we did catch some memorable fish, yes we got stung by wasps, ants and just about everything else. Yes we did see tapiers, snakes, bats, caiman, macaws, parrots and lots of other wildlife. Yes we did have a great time... but No it was not anywhere near what was portrayed to us.. I mean on the fishing front. They said it was lack of water levels but the truth was even though this river was massive there were only a dozen or so fishable spots as I have previously mentioned and these had, as you would expect, received a lot of fishing pressure from previous guests.

Of course there were apologies and and excuses from the camp owners etc etc. Apparently they had never had it fish so poorly. 

As a final thought.. I stupidly took them at their word and after a few months of looking back wearing rose coloured spectacles, I rebooked to go back the next year. Maybe they were right.. My trip was just a one off..? 

It was considerably worse. 

The place was obviously just fished out

The second time I knew a bit more but there were just less fish.. I dread to think what it's like now.. Barren probably. 

Moral of the story.. never believe your outfitter unless you have full back up from, and have spoke to, people who have done the trips with him. 

Looking back he was just a liar, and from talking to other travelling anglers not the only one  in the business and maybe nowhere near the worst!!! 

After giving you expectations of a dream trip only to hide behind the phrase that "nothings guaranteed in fishing you know"

 I think is a dirty trick.. Especially for those who parted with a good chunk of their life savings to do do.