Sunday
It just occurred to me that a good time to start this blog is as it happens.. At the moment I’m sat in the departure lounge.. If it could be called that.. In Ogle Airport, Georgetown, Guyana awaiting my flight to Iwokrama airstrip.
It’s a curious place of coming and going.. Clocks do not exist and the concept of time is a loose one. .. Only a barrage of local commodity in the form of diverse items ranging from electrical cables through outboard motor parts to cases of eggs.
Its 8 am local time and already the shirt I’m wearing is stuck to my back and have droplets of sweat dropping onto my tablet screen.
Lots of people on phones being busy.. I’m the odd one out here.. Purely for pleasure.. Seems indulgent I know but no doubt I will face Guyanas domestic shortcomings soon enough.
A word worth mentioning here is Navin. My outfitter has been superb.Never late and always fully organised.
I was picked up late Friday night by his team and placed in a nice hotel by the sea, for a free day in Georgetown on Saturday.
A trip to Katieur falls did not materialise so I got acquainted with banks beer and was soon hilariously drunk.
I digress.
The 8.30am flight to Iwokrama airstrip will not be as punctual, So I settle myself into the local idiom.
The ladies here are in full makeup, Sunday dress and considering the heat and humidity have turned out looking quite presentable. Accompanied by many super well behaved children in brightly coloured day glow clothes and shoes, hair done in a selection of styles, each attempting to out do the next.
9.00 am... Dum de dum....
9.20 is a call to board.. Now this is strictly unheard of.. Only 45 minutes late!.. That’s on time!
Soon I was ushered out onto the blistering tarmac to the plane, where I was met by a couple of familiar faces... It was none other than Fiona Bruce and Eric Knowles from the antiques roadshow.. Yes.. I couldn’t believe it either.. They had come to put a rough value on the plane, which delayed departure a little.
I was informed the value was £100.00ukp.which I thought a little alarming as the pilot told me he had just put £200.00 worth of fuel in the tank..
Engine started after five attempts. This had a bizarre effect on the local wildlife.Whilst scaring the majority into oblivion, the local snakes came out in force to investigate all the strange rattling noises.. Maybe the plane was a parseltongue.. Who knows..
After a quick grope of Ms Bruces bottom it was time to board.
Soon we were off the ground heading to Iwokrama airstrip.
Upon landing all the wheels fell off the plane.
Only joking, but I’m sure they were only held on with bits of silver foil and sellotape.
Upon reaching the river it was evident that the water levels were higher than I expected, this did not bode well for the fishing.
I spent the majority of the boat journey setting up my rods.. Still seemed to take forever to reach the camp though.
The scenery is simply stunning,this being a mountainous region of the Amazon rainforest.
I was fishing by 12.30 and soon into peacock bass.. Had several.. Then decided to do a spot of catfishing.
Bait was taken within minutes and upon strike I was broken off.
After a swift re rig up we cast out again and the bait was picked up within ten minutes.. I struck and the rod snapped!!!!
Managed a reasonable temporary repair on the rod.
As brief sideline I sometimes get people asking me why I inflict pain on fish.. Often in stronger terms than that, but here is an example of a fish clearly hooked in the mouth ten minutes ago.. The hook remaining in its mouth, actively feeding, as if nothing was wrong.
By this time the weather had turned threatening and we headed back to the lodge catching a few peacocks and piranhas on the way..
By the way it is not big or clever to fish in an electrical storm with carbon fishing rods.
By way of evening entertainment, well, the storm struck hard, so I spent a pleasant few hours wrapped up in a hammock listening to rain and jungle sounds. The lightning providing the visual effects.
Later sound effects were supplied by a snoring Russian.
Monday
Jet lag caught up with me at about 4 am. As such I was drinking coffee by headtorch, mooning around the camp and generally making a nuisance of myself by being noisy.
The Russian couple introduced themselves at breakfast(don’t mention Chernobyl, don’t mention Chernobyl.... Chernobyl..... Chernobyl).. As Mr and Mrs Chernobyl... No..Sergei and Ivannna Shitcztincz Very pleasant too they were for Russian types..April 26 1986, reactor 4, 1.30am.
They gave me stick about brexit so I replied that they gave Europe caesium 137.
Set off for fishing at 5.30am
I hoped I would be able to get a little fly fishing in and so I did..I had ummed and arred about taking the fly rod but ended up really enjoying it.
My homemade white flies catching peacock bass and 2 lovely big bicuda.
Jundia catfish (pronounced Jan gee arr)
Redtail catfish
stingray
Red, pacu
Peacock bass
Black tail characin
Leporinus
Aimara
Piranha
Arowana
Bicuda.
Quite pleased finished the day with a nice red tail. Not massive but good enough
No really big fish today. Managed to hook myself a few times though. My hands are already in such a mess.
About mid afternoon I develop a headache.. And a right stinker... Had to put up with it without pain relief till I got back to camp at 6pm.
The only time I forget to pack headache tablets.
Early night I think.. No rain today. Water levels dropping. Head minging.
Tuesday
4.22am.........BING!!!!!! I’m awake and ready to rock and roll... Only rock and roll does not exist in the Amazon.
The nearest you get is Bob Marley.
Guyana has a very Caribbean feel to it as opposed to Brazil.
I had a much better night, I was really tired yesterday so maybe I needed it.
5.30am start and we’re heading down steam today, after about an hour of unsuccessfully trying to get some bait we finally arrived at a “pond”.
If you have read my previous blog, I explained a “pond”is a local term for a body of river water that’s been trapped by a piece of low level land.
When the forest floods in the rainy season these a are Haven to fish and wildlife.
The pond was full of fish and we soon had bait and caught a new species to boot, a dogfish, a small pike characin.
Leonard noticed an arapaima in the pond we cast a bait to it and were soon hooked up.. After a strong and spectacular, though short, battle we landed the fish of about 80lbs.
It was stunning.. The condition of these wild fish are a cut above what you would get in Thailand.. Colours simply gorgeous.
Unfortunately Leonard is, amongst other things, no great photographer so I think the pics were taken from the wrong angle.
As care for the fish was paramount, I did not mess on.. Just a quick few pics and away he or she swam.
Arapaima are probably the one fish that every Amazon angler wants to catch, and many just visit for this reason alone.. I think they are overrated.
The trip further down brought us to a rock. Whilst standing on said rock I cast a top water bait to bicuda..I had a fantastic hour landing five or six and losing as many, it was an explosive top water strike every cast.
Rest of the morning was quiet except for a small sorubim.
I developed an attack of wind.. And in a small boat there is no hiding it. The aluminium Hull sort of acting as a sound amplifier.
I blamed it on the local monkeys.
Lunch was inedible.
Which may or may not have been monkey.
The way back up was hastened by us trying to outrun an electrical storm which we didn’t, and ended up drenched.
Every cloud has a silver lining, pardon the pun and this cooled everything down and put the fish back on the feed.
Had a massive peacock bass then stopped at the bicuda rock and caught about six more.
I had a stronger than normal strike which turned out to be a payara which I lost.
Caught a few more bicuda then hooked another payara which was landed... Yay.
Payara like many Amazon fish, have a mouth full of teeth and very hard maxillary. This means trying to get the hooks to penetrate can be an absolute nightmare. Six strikes to one landed is a realistic average.
Plague of massive biting flies today.. Hope I don’t swell up like Augustus Gloop.
Catfishing had been slow all day but in the last half hour ten minutes from the lodge I hooked a massive jau.
Hard to estimate but maybe 60 to 70 lb
Attached to this fishes gills was a candiru..
Got it to a beach, landed it successfully and headed off back to camp smiling.
Species count for the day:
Arapaima
Jau
Pacu
Payara
Peacock bass
Piranha
Dogfish
Sorobim
Bicuda
Haven’t counted the candiru as this came free with the jau.. By the way if you don’t know what a candiru is you had best Google it.
Individual species count now up to 16
At times a little hard work.. But turned out to be a really memorable day.
Wed
On the back of yesterday I was up early and eager to get going.
We travelled upstream in hope of trying to get a few more bicuda on the fly.. Checked in at the desired spot but couldn’t get one to take a fly.
I did manage to get an Arowana on a fly though which I was chuffed to bits with.
It was one of three Arowana caught today, the other two on skitter pops.
Cats were really slow today and the day was really hot.
Lunch was really bad too.
They could improve the flavour of the food by fifty percent just by adding salt and pepper.
You usually pick up your packed lunch first thing.. Ie 5.30 am and it’s usually some indiscriminate meat.. And rice.
This comes in a plastic tub wrapped in a black plastic bin liner type bag.
This is then left in 90 degree sun for at least 5 hours.
How I haven’t shit through the eye of a needle I’ll never know.. To be fair I’ve tried not to eat it but the cooking lady Rita is like Shorlock Hermes and examines the left over food tubs for uneaten scraps and if you ain’t ate up, there is much sucking of teeth and black looks.
In the final hour the day redeemed itself.
The line peeled of the reel and the fight was on with what would be the biggest catfish of the trip so far.
A jau of about sixty five plus pounds. Bigger than the one caught yesterday.
When I got back to the lodge I found out I had been breakfast lunch and tea to just about every carnivorous insect in the Amazon.
Some of these are persistent to the point of madness and big enough to make grown men cry.I am certain one particular bug that took a chunk out me had tattoos on its legs!!!!! I hate insects!
After several unsuccessful attempts at extermination, I gave up and subjected myself to the form of self abuse that was dinner.
Suitably unrefreshed, I retired.
Thursday,
After a relatively slow Wednesday I was not too looking forward to Thursday. I ended up sleeping late and it took me a while to get going.
Still fishing for ten past six though.
And by six thirty had found a pod of feeding bicuda, had twenty minutes of top water action. Almost a strike or two every cast.
This lifted my mood immediately.
Plenty of fish today, the biggest two being huge retail catfish, caught a couple of big peacocks, lost a few, and hooked what I thought was a catfish that turned out to be an electric eel.
I foolishly attempted to unhook this ugly monster only to get 600 volts up my left arm. Wow, did I Jump!!!
I can honestly saw I have never felt a shock like that.
It was however another new species.
So I have added today:
Electric eel
Sunfish
That brings the overall species count to 18
Also caught a nice sorubim catfish.
Spent a couple of hours at lunch time fishing for pacu. Now I have caught piripatinga pacu in Thailand and they pull hard, however,these red pacu live in fast water and are caught on spinners as opposed to bait and use the current to their full advantage.
Pound for pound I would say these are the strongest fish caught to date.
The first one I hooked broke me off.. The second turned downstream and poor Leonard had to swim after it..
By the third one I’d just about got the hang of them.. You just got to try to turn them straight away.. Real shit or bust stuff.
Then spent three quarters of an hour drifting downstream casting.. And caught loads of fish.. I really love this type of fishing as you just don’t know what will take the lure next.
I finished the day with a 40 lb plus retail which broke th
They had made me a special dinner this evening.... I had been dreading it all day and it did not disappoint.
It was chicken rice and peas.. A Caribbean staple.
The chicken must of had a bloody long neck... Like a frigging anaconda.. Just sections of chicken neck.. With rice and black eye peas..
I did a rearrangement of my plate Tracy Ermin would have been proud of and sulked off to my hammock.
Round about this time I was beginning to think of home.
FRIDAY
A change of plan today early start downstream back to the lodge for twelve, attempt at eating lunch, nanna nap then fish til about eight pm into the dark.
The fishing was starting to follow a bit of a8 routine by now, ie: catch bait, fish for catfish until bait ran out, then catch more bait.
The morning gave us two retails and an assortment of peacocks bicuda and piranhas.
At quarter to twelve the line screamed off the reel and a twenty minute tussle landed me another enormous jau.. The biggest of seven jau caught this trip.
A guestimate would be seventy pounds
I slept like baby in my hammock in the afternoon and awoke as zombies awake.
This had such an effect on my casting that Leonard was convinced that I was fishing for birds as I managed to snag my lure in every available tree and Bush in Amazonia.
We also had a few lost catfish and a few dropped runs.
At six pm the line screamed from the reel and I knew I was onto to a big one.
Knowing what to expect I was a little more savvy playing the fish.
Experience is always helpful, or so my wife keeps telling me, and after some tugging(by me) and some pulling (by the fish) an extremely big LauLau catfish was landed, well over one hundred pounds in weight.
Leonard said it was one fifty easy.. I said it wasn’t bloody easy and that I was getting to old for this.
I decided to call it a night as I was unlikely to best this fish today, so headed back to camp to brave dinner which could have been Cherubim and Seraphim for all I knew.
Today I have seen eagles, hawks, snakes, otter, spiders, mantises, crocs(caiman) and pirahnas and I’m more scared of Rita’s cooking.
It was a noisy night in camp tonight lots of goings on.. I was awoke at one am to the same song playing over and over again and a bizarre thumping noise,which curiously reminded me of the dufflepuds from C S Lewis’s Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Out of politeness I ignored this for half an hour until l could stand it no longer.
There was a type of Dawn Treading going on,but not by dufflepuds.
Just two guides intoxicated on Eldorado five star Guyana rum.
So I joined in the dance..
It was noted.. I have da moves.
SATURDAY
To follow roughly the same format as yesterday we would go upriver instead of down.
As a precaution I told Rita I would cook my own lunch today.
This was taken with mixed reaction, however I insisted, and reached for a knife to press my point and eliminate further argument,and utilising leftover potatoes managed a passable Spanish omelette.
Morning fishing was mostly for catfish and added a new species to the list :
A Zemora.. Its a sort of Amazon equivalent to a pangasius type catfish, that’s the stuff sold in the shops as panga, It’s a midwater swimmer and predatory.
More importantly this took the species total to twenty.
The evening session gave up a massive pond peacock a black tail and just as it was about to get dark finished off with a medium sized jau catfish.
Dinner was beefsteak and potatoes... Don’t know how they managed to get that steak so tough.. After major surgery I converted one pound of beefsteak into one ounce of just chewable meat.
On the whole I was pleased with my choice as I was offered monkey!
I said I wouldn’t give one for either but this went over their heads.
Thankfully I was spared the sight of the dead and partly butchered monkey, which having seen one before is a bit too close to comfort.
Sunday
Last day
Feeling a bit down and lonely.
It’s okay doing this boys own stuff etc etc. But. I think I could have quite easily finished yesterday.
The fishometer is literally breaking the needle and I’m not sure I can do another day’s fishing.
I think when you travel on your own, when it comes to missing things you don’t just miss certain things like you would when you are away with someone. You miss everything..
Anyway its five thirty am... Fish o clock
Sticking to the seven centimeter yo zuri Crystal minnow I quickly managed to secure three peacocks in quick succession until a piranha bit it in two, and were soon headed off to a catfish spot.
This revealed two retails a baby one about five pounds and one about fifteen.
Subsequent spots yielded nothing other than sunburn. As I’d forgot my hat.. This is a major screw up out on the river all day.
Time to do some lure fishing and caught a bicuda, two peacocks and a surprise red pacu. Illustrating the fact that for me the seven cm minnow is the go to lure for Amazon fishing. The one I’m using at the moment Rachael bought me for Christmas.
Ate lunch... Two breakfast pancakes with peanut butter between....... Not bad.
Looking for a bathing spot I cast a spinner into a pool and had a Zemora take it.. I thought it was a payara but it didn’t jump.
This turned out to be excellent bait.
Found a sort of natural swimming pool and took time out for a swim and a good cool off.
The afternoon I spent chasing catfish:
Upon reading this I make no mention of fish hooked and lost and fish missed..
I would say that I missed a good fifty percent of catfish runs, by missing I mean failing to connect and would say that of all fish hooked at least fifty percent either threw the hook themselves or managed to snag me to the point where I could not retrieve them.
The substrate of the Essequibo river is littered with dead trees, bushes and rocks the size of cars.
Certain fish ran me through rocks and parted the line.. Others just went off at a hundred miles an hour and simply snapped the line.
A small but perfectly formed jau and a jundia or leopard catfish made a appearance followed by a small jau and another small red tail.
It was back to camp for a cold shower, a lukewarm cup of nescafe, and chicken portion.
I’m sure it was the same chicken portion I had the other day. I looked for scars as to where I had attempted to cut into it but only found partly cooked feathers.
Spent the rest of the evening fishing for crocodiles with a washing line and an old fish with a pop bottle as a float.
We got a biggie too.. About 250 pounds and really aggressive.. Maybe we should not have tried to pull him out of his environment naturale.
So the journey back must begin today.
Breakfast was served at six am in the form of a piece of cake. As cake I’d give it three out of ten. As an anchor it scored an easy ten.
After breakfast I was approached by Leonard and presented with a preserved piranha skull. It was one I’d caught last Monday that he had prepared the traditional way by skinning, sun drying and salting.
Forgive my contemplative mood, its not that I will miss Guyana, or Rita’s cooking, it’s just I hate travelling.
At about now I am saying for the first time, I won’t be doing this again in a hurry and though I have had a wonderful time the journey home is awful.
The boat journey downstream put me in a pensive mood.
Even feeling pensive, I am feeling overall, somewhat refreshed in spirt.
My mind and body are calm and at peace and except for the half house brick that is residing in my stomach, things could be worse.
There is so much to the Amazon.
Not so much a river system more of a geological and biological concept where anything is and could be possible:
Seeing a flight of blue macaws, hooded eagles, attacks by killer insects, bat’s, crabs, (not from Rita), the threat of a candiru swimming up your private parts.
I remember feeling almost surreal in the fact that every new day would reveal wonders.
Always something new, sometimes good sometimes not so good. The one constant, being Rita’s culinary skills!
Next job on the list is to stop off at a local village, visit the shop and buy Rachael a bottle of rum.
In true Guyanese spirit this turned out to be no easy task, involving a Bush walk and trek through a swamp. Rum was purchased eventually.
I hope Rachael appreciates it as I tried my best to get this from the most remote location I could.
At the airstrip I was directed to the departure lounge:
This is a rough hewn, ant infested six foot bench.
Further inspection reveals the carvings of many a hot sweat soaked wait.
Apparently Oksana and Valda were here in 2018, hope they didn’t need to be Russian home...
Its nine forty six and I’m writing this in real time.. I have plenty to do keeping the ants off my feet,and the insects off my head and face.
I foolishly asked what time the plane was due, only to be told “today”.
I wish I had some of Rita’s cake, as I am sure a piece laid out would at first entice the ants and subsequently overload them. Therefore freeing me from their pester age.
Ten thirty....
Ten thirty one...
Ten thirty one and forty two seconds....
Eleven......
Eleven thirty and no sign of a plane, the day is now hot, I’ve got a shirt stuck to me and I am getting an impending sense of deja vu.
After a previous trip experience waiting on or for Bush planes not being a good one, I now dread to think when this one will arrive.
Meanwhile the bugs continue to feed...... On me.
Twelve thirty reveals a plane.. Of sorts... After a quick load up of the luggage, me and a thousand refugee ants boarded the aircraft.
Dozed a bit and soon landed in Ogle Airport to the sight of miserable faces on the check through and internal customs.
No one smiles..
At the hotel I was greeted by not a sea view from my window, but two pairs of red Brazilian panties pinned to wall.. Not sure what this would signify..
I’ll let you form your own opinion.
I decided not to go out much today as the previous evening there had been a shooting at a local petrol station.. One man shot in the foot one in the head.. One dead.. One with a bad foot.. It’s a dangerous place is Georgetown.. This is sadly not an isolated occurrence.
With no social safety net crime is rife and life is cheap.
Couple this with being close to the cocaine producing capital of the world you get a next to lawless society where bribes and bullets talk louder than police and courts.
Soon I was ready to be picked up and escorted to the airport, I won’t miss the food but I have had a very memorable trip.
Next year I wonder if I will revisit Guyana.... Or look to pastures new.
If I come back here I’m bringing some pot noodles.
An arduous voyage home included a 14 hour wait in Miami airport.. You could not tell you were in America.. Just about everyone is speaking Spanish.. Apparently its the Cuban influence.. Florida is choked full with Cuban refugees.
Arrival home is somewhat sobering, but at the same time comforting.
Glad to be back I set off for Thornaby.
Finis.
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