RIO TAPANA, Brazil – The river is more like a lake with large alleys that get you from one area to the next. There are no inhabitants, and the only sounds come from the many species of birds that live in the Amazon.
The sun comes up with a vengeance putting out a blanket of heat that is oppressive. My guide this day is Arnoldo, a man of few words whose one important movement is pointing a finger in the direction he wants you to cast.
I threw the speckled woodchopper lure in the intended direction and instantly the water erupted as if someone had lit a fuse. There was no mistaking that this was a big fish, a 20-pounder, said Arnoldo. I was using a heavy bait casting rod with braided line, yet the big bass took me around the boat and made some very strong dives. We were in an open area and I was lucky enough to fight the fish without getting tangled. It was 21 pounds. I made the peacock bass 20-pound club.
These bass hang around structure, usually downed trees or small islands, also points that define inlets. It was a single, small dead tree sticking out of the lake that produced my biggest fish. My heart stopped when the water exploded in a fury of anger, I had another big peacock on in the space of 45 minutes. The rod was bent in half, my arms ached and my hands hurt from holding on to this fish. It jumped once and its colors were extraordinary – green and orange and red were distinctive against the dark colored water. The peacock was just shy of 24 pounds – I had two 20-pounders and it wasn’t even 9 a.m.
Rio Tapana, an area protect by the government, was a hot spot for peacocks, everyone scoring with big fish, but on this day I was the only one who broke the 20-pound mark, and I did it twice.
This is hard fishing. You leave the mother boat every morning at 6 a.m., setting out on small bass boats and you don’t return until 5 p.m. You cast big lures some 700-800 times a day by the calculations of the anglers on this trip. This is a pure fishing trip from morning to night, and by the time you hit the sack you have no problems sleeping. Accommodations aboard the big yacht Santana I are comfortable and include AC in the sleeping and dining rooms.
You can learn more about fishing the Amazon by going to the web site at http://www.wetaline.com or call them at (888) 295-4665.
Some of the sights and sounds distract you from your task at hand. River dolphins are everywhere and we even spotted a rare pink dolphin. Macaws and tucans send songs from the trees, caymans (a cousin to the crocodile) dot the banks, and we even spotted jaguar tracks one afternoon while sitting on a bank having lunch.
The sad part is that you see the destruction of the Amazon as people looking to make a life for themselves burn the forest for farm land.
The Amazon is a magnificent place, I just hope it remains for future generations.
