Just returned from two trips in Brazil, back to back. First one was a boat based, Peacock only trip. "Homebase" boat departs from Barcelos. Fishing was slow first two days. High water sends the fish into the jungle to forage. Boat moved to lower water tributaries and fishing improves. Caught 15 fish first day, 70 last day. Biggest fish was 18 pound and is pictured





Second trip is a "Tented" affair, more of a camping trip. Many more species offered here. A completely different species of Peacock, Huge catfish up to 300 pounds and many species of them. Piraña here get up to 10 pounds. Very exotic trip. Float plane access to remote northern Brazil waters. Still tribes of Indians here living the old way, Contact strictly forbidden via the Govt of Brazil. My favorite international fishing destination.


22# Piyara


216# Piraiba


12 pound Peacock of a yet un-named Taxonomy.

Both trips are great, Peacock only trip is more comfortable, A/C in every cabin, food is a bit better. Maybe better for wives.

Camping trip is more authentic, higher diversity of species. Tents are fine, nighttime temps are cooler because of being in the foothills.

Looking at perhaps an AR trip next year.

Steve

Beautiful & exotic fish. Sounds like a blast. I'd like to do both of them!

Great report steve - i need to do this next year.

Mike

looks like fun but i am not sure i would be sitting in waist deep water in a river with piranhas! if you put together a group AR trip next year, i would definitely be interested.

Looks like you guys had a great time...my grandson will be doing this trip in Dec. this year..hope he has as good of a trip as you guys did and that he picked a good time to go..

Looks like you had a great trip Steve. The tented trip looks awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
looks like fun but i am not sure i would be sitting in waist deep water in a river with piranhas! if you put together a group AR trip next year, i would definitely be interested.

Hi Jerry,
Piranhas are docile fish. We swam all the time. They get to about 10 pounds here, great gamefish and you can catch them anytime you want or are bored. The only thing to worry about in the water is the Sting Rays. You learn how to walk in the sand in the Amazon, you shuffle your feet, not step.

JCOOK: December wil be fine, his gear selection is paramount. If you want, I would be happy to speak with him.

If we can get 6 AR members, we can get the camp to ourselves. SO if there is interest, Count yourself and lets see if we can make it happen. It is roughly 5K, plus international airfare to Manaus, Brazil.

is that 5K for each of the trips or is one more expensive than the other? and is it all inclusive( other than hotels in Manaus and int. airfare)? sounds like a good deal.

Jerry,
The boat trip is a little less. I don't know what he is getting right now. It follows the relationship between the dollar and the Brazilian real.

But yes, "about" 5K for the camping trip and 4700 plus or minus for the boat trip. I think he was running a show special during DSC and LV.

As far as all inclusive, yes. You get a room the night of arrival in Manaus and a day room the departure day. All the flights seem to arrive and depart at zero dark thirty.

The day you fly out, their pick up guy will take the group on a nice tour. The fish market, the meeting of the waters and the opera house are all really cool stuff.

I was in Manaus for Friday Saturday and Sunday between both trips. We did some more in depth touring. Went to a mall and a couple fishing shops. Nice city in an emerging economy. Lots of American plants there HP, Yamaha, HD and many others.

As far as international sporting trips go, this one is easy. Only four and one half hours flight from Miami.

If there is adequate interest, I can block out some time.

Regards,

Steve

is about now generally the best time??

Steve - count me in if you are doing a ar trip

mike

Those are some amazing fish!

Well done mate and some fantastic looking fish.

What line / lures did you do best with for the Peacock? When I lived and fished in Venezuela we used a lot of 7/8 oz. to 1 1/8 oz. shallow divers, like the Bomber Long-A, and 20 to 30 lb. mono line.

I'm hearing now they use a lot of spinnerbaits and jigs on 65 lb. braided. I associate that combination more with Payara; particularly the spinnerbaits.

Which brings up another question. I was talking peacock bass with two friends today and they asked me what knot was best to splice mono to braided line. I asked them why that came up. They told me a sales rep at a sporting goods store told them they needed to lay the bottom layers on the reel with mono then lay braided over that to keep the line from cutting into itself causing backlashes. That is news to me. I just go braided top to bottom. Am I missing something?

Hi Kensco,

Acute Angling uses almost exclusively, a hand made jig. The jig was developed by Paul Reiss, the owner of the company and an PHD'd Ichthyologist. It is red/yellow or red/white. I personally think the red/yellow is more effective. I used a yo-zuri once this year and actually caught my biggest fish on it 18#.

Throwing lures & woodchoppers is hard work, really hard work. The jigs are pretty heavy, I don't even want to guess at how heavy but you can throw them a mile. They are brought back fast and jerked or twitched just below the surface. 1000 casts a day.

We were in a cove fishing, down one side and a boat from Captain Peacock was fishing the other side. They were throwing some type surface lure. We caught 13 going down our side. We came to the end of the cove about the same time. They left, we fished the side they did, they never caught a fish and we put another 15 (I think) in the boat.

Acute Angling has figured it out. Fish count is higher.

As far as line, I use ONLY 30# green braid. never got broke off on a fish.

For the cats on the other river, 100# braid. Got spooled last year by a big Piraiba. A guy from Texas was sitting in a boat next to us this year (from our group) he hooked a big Piraiba on 85 pound braid (I think) and I watched him loose all his line in less than 10 seconds.

Knots? hell, I don't even know what the one I tie is called, Go through here a couple times, twist it a few, go back through the hole and tighten it up. Never had a knot failure.

Be happy to give you any info you might want.

Steve

I'm interested in getting a few of those jigs in red/yellow. I notice the Acute Angling website indicates three versions of PayPal as the only means of purchase. Did I misread that? I intended to make a credit card purchase.

Just call them, their number is on the website.

In a high Piranha area, allow 5 jigs a day. They ruin the jig in one hit. They bite all the hair off.

Steve

Simply inceredible....wow!!! Any fly fishing?

I have a 9' 9 weight TFO rod. Just learning, I did a bit but, it was too windy for a neophyte to even try. I'm a danger to be around still.

Looks incredible, muito bom. I have been in the Sao Paulo area, would love to see the Amazon and hook up those exotic fish too.

Steve

I'm going after Peacocks in Venezuela this year. All my gear on previous trips have been baitcasting reels with 20lb. mono line. I'm going to try 65lb. braided this time, and plan to buy another reel, which has me thinking about a spinning rod/reel set-up. Do you use baitcasters only, or do you have a spinning reel recommendation you care to make? We're probably looking at some fish in the 15lb class; perhaps larger.

Here's my take. Fishing for Peacocks is a grind. I throw nothing but jigs. An average day is 1,000 casts, your hand get sore as hell. You need to throw gear that will not tire you out.

I use ONLY a Shimano Stradic 2500 spinning reel, with 30# green Spiderwire. I have never lost a fish due to line weight. The rod is also very important, you just cannot throw a heavy rig all day. I use a TFO (old Loomis GL2)

The only break-offs I ever have had in 5 trips are when a fish nails it so close to the boat there is virtually no line out. Those fish can also break rods. The last trip I did, I lost no fish in cover.

When you hook into a real toad (you will know it)if it is steaming for cover, you need to lower your rod, hold the fish. No option. My biggest this last trip was 18# (an honest 18).

Your hands and wrist are the weak link.

Be happy to answer any and all questions to assist in your success.

Steve

Amazing fishing trip Steve , thanks for sharing.
Now I have 2 teenage boys saying " yes dad , that's what we wanna do next ! " The catfish , bass and bream in the back yard are dulling somewhat in comparison . Thanks a lot ! Cheers

Getting my gear together. Got a dozen of the yellow/red, white/red, jigs from Acute.

I ended-up buying a spinning set-up; Shimano Saros 3000FA, and a 6'6" Abu Garcia, Veritas MH rod that was on sale. I'll use 40# braided line. (Most of my fishing after this trip is going to be right behind the house. I think this rig will be a good compromise.) I'll throw jigs and topwaters with this combination.

I'll be carrying an Ambassadeur 6000 and Falcon heavy action 6'6" rod for bait casting. I've had them for a while. They've caught peacocks on Venezuelan reservoirs. I think I have 65# braid on that reel.

I'm curious to see how the jigs work on Peacock, but will throw whatever is catching fish. The one lure I swear that doesn't work is the Luhr Jensen Big Game Woodchopper in 6 3/4". I've never gotten a strike, and it wears me out in about fifteen minutes. I don't argue that big baits catch big fish, but there is a limit to how much abuse I'll put myself through. I've only got one of them, and frankly I don't care if I lose it.

The jigs always work. On ALL the trips I've been on, there have been guys show up, telling everyone that woodchoppers and Zara Spooks are the way to go. Every single one of them have wound up using jigs.

The correct retrieve is the key, fast (very fast) jerks, all the way back. They work about 2-3 feet under the surface.

Woodchoppers have their place. If there is a fish working bait in the cover in the shallows, they can be used effectively. But they are in fact damn heavy and very tiring to fish.

Jigs really don't have downside. They fish easy, you can throw them 100 yards, you can aim them accurately and they catch fish.

Be sure to put up a report when you get back.

Steve.

Sounds like El Nino or something is affecting weather patterns in eastern Venezuela. They tell me the rains haven't come yet, projected to be a few months late, and lake levels are still dropping. Word is topwater has been pretty lousy. Sounds like jigs, divers, rattle traps, etc. may be the only way to go. Do you have much luck catching peacock deep (15'-20')?

Kensco,
Sorry for the late reply, been off racing bicycles for the last couple weeks.

I think the low water is exactly what you want. The high water allows the fish access to the jungle and the fishing is generally slow. Acute moves their boats up and down the system, just looking for low water. When it's found, you're on fish. Big daily catches too. 50-60 per angler, over a hundred fish per boat per day are normal.

Stick with the jigs, fish catches of 8:1 are normal jig over topwater.

Regards,

Steve

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
looks like fun but i am not sure i would be sitting in waist deep water in a river with piranhas! if you put together a group AR trip next year, i would definitely be interested.

Whoops