Sorry for the delayed fishing report. I have been tied up in work, a hunting trip to Texas and going to the DSC/SCI shows. This report is an overview of the Amazon multi-specie trip and some pointers for anyone wanting to go. A few AR people went to the Acute Angling booth at DSC – enough that I was asked what is AR.

I will post pictures over time as my window has crashed 3 times and I am tired of dealing with AR outdated photo uploading for now.

Trip: Multi Specie Amazon
Outfitter: Acute Angling
Guide: Abel
Time: December 2016
Total Cost: $7,500 everything (tips airfare gear misc) – the package alone was $5,250


Introduction

I saw some of Steve Arhenberg posts on AR about fishing in Brazil and decided to book a trip in May 2016 for December 2016. I have not been fishing much in the last 20 years and have zero interest in fishing gear, boats ect. I just like to catch fish and I would describe myself as a lazy fisherman. I like to catch fish – big fish and I like to fish with bait. Truthfully, I like catching big fish up to 200 pounds – anything bigger is physical torture.

I am a disorganized person and really don’t like packing for hunting or fishing trips. Acute Angling is very organized and sent a packing list (for Africa I use Admiral/Subsailor74 list) and I bought $300 worth of fishing gear from them.

The flight to Manaus Brazil is easy from Orlando. Fly to Miami and then on to Manaus – all in 9 hours. I only fly coach – I am cheap and see little benefit in paying 3X-5X to reach the same destination. Nine hours to Brazil beats 24 hours to Africa.

Miami Airport



$300 bottle sample of Scotch - had to try it at 11 am and email the admiral



Key Biscayne - only place in Miami I like




In the package acute Angling puts you up on a shared basis in a nice hotel in Brazil. The hotel had a small zoo in it and I spent a fair bit of time hanging out with the jaguar. The jaguar tired to attack me a few times but there was a nice cage between us. He was a sneaky fellow I had my back turned to him as I was trying to get a picture of him turning in his cage and he came and slammed the cage, which was like 2 feet from me.



Went out to dinner in Manaus at an all you can eat Brazilian steakhouse and it was excellent. Overall Manaus was nice and just like any other developing country city it is growing. I felt Brazilians to not be the friendliest people but maybe the hotel staff was just slow and bureaucratic.

We had a charter flight out and the pilot had issues with some of our luggage. I had a soft duffel bag but it had wheels and the pilot wanted it emptied. So but all my stuff went into garage bags that were placed in the plane’s floats and the empty duffel went in the plane. The flight in was comfortable and it was fun flying in a floatplane.

Camp Life

We landed and were meet by boats that transferred us to the camp that was a 30-minute boat ride up river. The camp is nice and is located on an island and has 4 elevated cabins. The cabins have power, ac, shows and toilet facilities. I was pretty impressed with the cabins in the middle of nowhere and the fact that they ran the generators all the time. My roommate and fishing mate was Brett who also does some marketing for Acute Angling and is in their booths at DSC and SCI. Brett is a great guy and was good to have as a roommate and boat mate. Brett is also the opposite of me in fishing – he is not a lazy fisherman.

I had met up with Steve Arhenberg at dinner the night before and we spent a good bit of time chatting about hunting Africa. At camp Steve set me and most other people up with rigs and gear for fishing. That was very generous of Steve to gear all of us up with terminal tackle for cat fishing and bait fishing. I used fishing gear that was in camp. Acute Angling provides excellent gear – Shimano reels, Abu Garcia reels, okamus rods and ugly stick rods. I always think the quality of gear provided by outfitters reflects on their business model. Crappy fishing gear or beat up camp rifle to me is negative sign of business that has poor working capital. I also hate when gear rental becomes a profit center - $100 a day rifle rentals for example. Acute Angling had excellent gear and all you had to do was sign a contract for replacement if you damaged the gear. Next time I will take some of my own gear just cause I want to fish with my own gear (I will buy the same gear as the camp gear).

The camp is as remote as any place I have been, including, Alaska. The country is beautiful and something I think most AR members should experience. It was nothing like what I expected. The river we fished on was far closer to an Alaskan river than anything like the Amazon. The water was warm, highly alkaline and tea colored but the river had rapids, small water falls and in most places a lot of rocks and pebbles. The jungle is thick – I don’t think we ever ventured more than 20 yards into the bush. The river is very pictureous with wall of green surrounding you and there is elevation with small hills.

There is some bird and animal activity but not as much as I thought there would be, but maybe that was because we never went into the jungle. There were spiders in camp but little else in bugs or mosquitoes. I never used the bug spray I took. The temperature was not as bad as Florida but I did use plenty of sunscreen. Overall Florida in the summer is much worse.

The camp was really well run. I was surprised that we were not constantly fed fish, as I don’t like to eat fish. I had expected to eat fish but there was always beef or chicken along with fish at dinner. They had a very well stocked bar and they were generous about providing food and alcohol. This place is remote and my last trip to Alaska I starved, so I was very happy with camp life.

We had a good group on eight people fishing which included Paul Reiss the owner of Acute Angling and his daughter. No one was competitive about fishing and I really don’t like competitive activity in hunting and fishing. Takes away from the sport and being in nature if everybody is focused on keeping a scorecard.

The Fishing

Getting out of camp and to the fishing grounds upriver required the crossing of a set of rapids. After day three they moved the boats further up river, as the rapids were getting difficult to cross.

The Indian guide Abel along with other local guides in camp worked their butts off getting the boats across the rapids and thru the rivers. I have never seen anyone work this hard in Africa or anywhere else. These guys were tough and they worked hard and never complained.



Fishing in Amazon is not a highly scripted activity that hunting in Africa is. Wipe away the whole marketing façade and to a large degree in African hunting the client is on a highly scripted and controlled production. The PH, trackers and driver will take the client hunter to the game and put you on the sticks and all the client has to largely do is pull the trigger and stay along with the production to get to the sticks. I will take some heat for saying this but there is little skill the client hunter brings to African hunting other than a checkbook. Now you can get the same thing in fishing. When I fish out of Venice, Louisiana with my buddies I am largely just along for the ride. I get the rod normally when the fish has struck the bait. I have little say in where we fish, what we fish for, running the boat, choosing the bait, setting the spread or any activity till the fish has hit the lure.

Fishing in the Amazon is different in that the guide just runs the boat. Now he knows the river and will tell/indicate to you what type of fish exists at different spots in the river. But he will not choose your bait, lure, technique or anything else to get a fish on your line. It was great having Steve in camp as he has a tremendous knowledge of fishing for catfish. Also there is a learning curve as we are constantly trying to figure out new techniques, tricks, tips and methods to catch fish and we as a group are sharing them. I liked the aspect of evolving and learning to become a better fisherman. There is none of that in African hunting – you will not tell your PH who has hunted the area for 20 years a new technique in hunting Kudu or cats. If your opinion matters in Africa, it is an indicator you have a really bad PH.

There are excellent catfish and payara fishing stops 15 minutes upriver from camp. Only real negative on fishing was due to water temperature and some incorrect fish handling by an earlier group 4/5 large pirabiha catfish died. This really freaked out the Indians and after some discussion it was decided half way thru the trip to stop fishing the catfish hole for pirabiha. I did not like the fish dying or that the fishing for the main fish I came to catch stopped but I took great solace in the fact that the Indians cared about the fish and that Paul Reiss from Acute Angling was also concerned with the survival of the fish and took the decision to stop fishing for them.











I fished the river with my boat mate for everything in it – pirabiha, red tail catfish, other catfish, wolf fish, peacock bass, piranha and anything else that would bite. Here the difference with my boat mate came a little into play. He is a serious peacock bass fisherman and I am a lazy bait fisherman. I get bored with fishing with a lure – after 10 casts I want to move on to important things like tossing bait and drinking beers. He kind of gets bored watching me sit with cut bait and being lazy. Brett gave me a lot of tips about fishing and was a great guy to fish with.

We fished pretty hard each day from sun up to sun down. We were on the water 11-12 hours and primarily confined to the boat. We took a boxed lunch and often ran upriver for 1.5 hrs each way. Lunch was a boxed lunch on the boat. I did not drink a beer till the last day. After a day or fishing I was physically worn out. Our drinking in camp was light and everyone was normally in bed by 9 pm after having a full dinner.

On a given day one could catch 4-5 different types of fish. I liked that. If you want to catch peacock bass Acute Angling has a trip on the Blackwater boat focused on just catching 50-100 peacocks a day. You don’t want to go on this trip to catch peacocks – they are there but it’s not a fishery that is focused on just peacock. This is a catfish and payara trip in my books.







The cat fishing is great. I managed to catch a pirabiha on the second to last day. This was after fishing for pirabiha was closed. I was fishing for payara on light tackle when I got this bite that felt slurping for a second. Now payara just slam your bait this was not a slam but a slurping thud if there is something like it. I then felt like I was stuck on something but after a little while the line started moving. It was a great fight for 15-20 minutes on light tackle and we managed to get the fish to the boat. I decided not to take the fish shore to get a picture. We got the fish to the boat and let him or her go. It was a blast catching a 100-pound plus catfish on light tackle.


URL=http://s1253.photobucket.com/user/nyati123/media/364DAA7E-6747-4D7A-BCE8-53BC1B71955F.jpg.html] [/URL]

Can see the light jig the pirabia was caught on





How would I rate the pirabia compared to other fish? It fights hard and is a blast to catch. I would rate Mekong catfish slight better as a fighting fish but that is biased as the Mekong as always foul hooked. I caught a 200 pound bluefin tuna on a stand up rig and pirabia is no where as brutally hard as the bluefin tuna. I would catch pirabia all day if I could. A memory as cool as catching the pirabiha was watching one breach and jump out of the water. While fishing for peacock bass I decided to have a drink and got a fanta out of the cooler. Right away I wanted to take a picture of the fanta can for Biebs. So I asked the boat to drop me off on some rocks to take a picture for Biebs. As I was setting up for the picture I saw this fat top heavy fish breach out of the river and then have a massive back flop. It was like one of the great white shark breaching videos from South Africa except it was big fat ungraceful catfish. Paul Reiss later told me that pirabia do that once in a while chasing schools of wolf fish.

I caught one wolf fish and it was an amazingly brutal strike. The fish shredded my wire leader. They are normally all over the place but this time very few were caught and I was glad I caught one.



Wolf fish mouth - wont want a figure getting stuck in there



We fished a creek off the main river. This creek was the Hollywood script version of the Amazon. The creek was thick and soupy green. There were fallen trees all over the river. There was a stench of stale stagnant water. Where was stuff in there you wont want to be around – large caiman, electric eels and probably a ton of snakes. The place was also stocked with all types of fish. Only negative was it was 2 hrs from camp. I would like to spike camp in the main river and fish this creek hard but I would never spend the night in the creek – it is plain scary!!!



The creek is also loaded with my favorite fish – the black piranha. These are monster size 8-pound fish with the strongest bite of any creature on earth – 30 times their body weight, more than any crocodile, gator or shark. It actually has a stronger bite than a T-Rex.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sci...esearchers-find.html

The world record is 8 pounds 4 ounces caught in the same creek. I caught one that was 8 pounds. I am pretty sure the world record can be easily broken and I really want to do it. If anyone wants to go fish just for piranha I will be your boat mate in a heartbeat.

8 pounder



So over 6-7 days of fishing I caught everything but a red tail catfish and payara. On the last day Brett decided to go kayak fishing for peacock bass. I was fishing alone with Abel. I decided to let him run the show – he would pick what to fish, where to fish and he would tell me what to fish for.

Abel is one of the gentlest souls I have ever met. The guys is hardworking, honest, does not ever complain, never bitches and works like machine. He is also very sensitive and caring for fish. I noticed that he was generally very uncomfortable in causing any pain to the fish. He preferred to unhook the fish in the water and did not like taking the fish out of the water for pictures. He would kill fish bait but if we did not need bait he was as gentle with a piranha as one would be with a puppy. He was great fun to fish with even if it impacted my fishing. All my fishing pictures mainly have Abel holding the fish as he only took it out of the water for 4 second – enough time for me to take 2-3 pictures of him and the fish. I was fine with that.

Last day I caught and landed 2 payara. I got another 2 to the board and I have another 4-5 bites. On average I think we were landing less than 1 in 5 bites. It is a very difficult fish to hook or land. Pound for pound the best game fish on the trip. It’s actually my favorite game fish – better than my beloved black piranha. I think Steve has developed some new techniques for fishing them using bait fish as indicators. I think over next few trips I want to develop hook-setting techniques to bring the success rate one in three bites.








Second Payara




Also on the last day I had a fun once in a lifetime story/event. We were fishing in the creek for red tail, a large catfish, I did not manage to catch on the trip. I also wanted to cement my reputation as the laziest person fishing in the Amazon and had taken some bobbers with me. I managed to catch a few piranhas on the bobber and I crossed that off the checklist.







We got to our spot in the creek and no one else was there. Steve had gone much deeper into the creek and the other groups were done fishing the creek spot. We set up and had some lunch and tied the boat up. I had put out catfish rod and caught a few catfish, I decided to free line some live baitfish, again playing around trying new stuff and it was catching fish. I took the light-casting rod and put live bait and threw it out. I set the rod between my feet and was on my first or second beer. Suddenly I had a massive bite and the rod went from between my legs to the end on the boat. I dropped my beer went for the rod. I get to it just as it was pulled into the water. I see it in the murky soupy green water slowly sinking. I am about to jump in and then something stops me. Maybe it the electric eels or caimans we saw earlier. I then see the rod take off like one of the jaws buoys. It had gone off into the soupy green water.



I was pissed and embarrassed that I will have to go to camp and pay acute angling $500-$700 bucks for the rod and reel and be the joke of camp for losing a rig. I sulk for a few minutes and then turn to Abel. He says (via sign language) lets go find the rod. I was still very pissed and I say go do something. He goes into the jungle and finds a tree and cuts of a branch. Then we go thru the damn creek trying to find the rod. We do this for 45 minutes and it goes nowhere. Abel gives up and I say lets just try to get back to fishing. But Abel wants to try something else and he signals me to give him the catfish rod and he ties a weight and says lets snags the rod. I think it is a half ass idea. But I am so out of it I do it. I cast it out and promptly snag something in the creek. The line is stuck and then we have a whole production to break the braided line. After this I turn to him and try to tell him its $500-$700 rig – I will pay for it lets get back to fishing. Then I try to explain to him this is my last day of fishing I want to catch a payara lets stop wasting time.





He is trying up some ball of tangled up line and another hook. I get a beer and try and drink away my embarrassment. He then asked me to cast this weird ball of tangled up line. I do it half-heartedly and start reeling it in. I snag again and I am pissed more. Suddenly the snag comes off and I am reeling in something and it feels like a stick. Keep reeling and it comes out of the water 75 feet from us. Look to see what it is and low and behold it a rod tip. Now Abel had tied the boat as he was working on the tangled line ball. We all untying the boat keeping enough pressure on the line to not lose the rod and then start paddling to get to the rod. As soon as get to the tip I hand the catfish rod to Abel and lean out and grab the rod tip. I pull the rod out of the water but there is no reel. But there is line to the reel so I pull the line and get the reed. The spoon is closed. I attach the reel to the rod and start reeling. Initially there is slack but after the line tightens up there is a fish on it. Reel in the fish and it is a 7.75-pound piranha. We take some pictures and let it go. The rod was under water for 45min to an hour. I offered to pay for the rig but Paul Reiss had no issues as the rod and reel functioned. I caught a large payara on the same rod an hour later.







Abel got a nice tip and all my gear when I left the next day. I basically left with a plastic bag as I felt Abel would use everything I had much better than I ever would. The flight back was interesting as the take off weight in the floatplane was on the heavier side but we managed to take off after some passenger rocking. Spent half a day in the hotel in Manaus and took the night flight back. I did not sleep well on the plane and was buried in stuff when I got back. It took me a week to recover form the trip.

Overall it was much better than I expected. I had a blast and it was a great trip. I liked everyone in camp; I liked the fishing, my guide and my boat mate. It was great meeting up with Steve.

Acute Anglings runs a professional operation. I highly recommend them and this trip. I will be doing it again and am looking for a boat mate to focus on piranha.

What I liked

All in package – nothing tacked on - $5,250 - $7,500 with flights, tips, gear, Manaus spending

Professionally run operation – they take credit cards which beats having to wire money around

Great location

Great fishing

Being unconstrained from a package holiday (African hunting)


What I would do differently

Invest in better waterproof gear

Spending a few more days in Manaus

Jim/Joyce and Dr. Dollar – you guys will have a great trip.

Oh man, I can't wait. That looks like my idea of a great trip....You mentioned better rain gear. Did it rain much?

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Oh man, I can't wait. That looks like my idea of a great trip....You mentioned better rain gear. Did it rain much?

Waterproof gear not rain gear.

A Dry bags. To carry stuff in the boat.

A waterproof pouch for smart phone.

I had a waterproof camera Nikon aw130 which was great.

A rod safety harness.

A tied down for gear to the boat - in case boat flips when they re moving it thru a waterfall - client won't be in the boat.

Mike

Gotcha. I have a waterproof pouch I use kayaking for my camera and other items so that should work. Do they have rod butt belts for fighting large fish?

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Gotcha. I have a waterproof pouch I use kayaking for my camera and other items so that should work. Do they have rod butt belts for fighting large fish?

A good dry bag from academy should work.

No they don't have rod butt belts - Steve brings one. I think they are helpful for the really big cats but one can do without it.

Mike

Why is he holding Biebs by the lip?

Mike,

Great report. Thanks for taking the time and making my clock tic slower while I wait for November to arrive.

Cheers
Jim

This is Biebs





Mike

I'll go anywhere for a Fanta! :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
This is Biebs





Mike

I set that one up with a hanging curve ball didn't I?

Doesn't look like catch and release. Did you eat that one? What's the story on the tent? Spike camp?

This was not my fish. It was caught by another group when they were cat fishing, the jaw broke in the hook set and the fishy died. It would be used for bait.

The tent is a spike camp on a small island - 15 minutes upriver from camp. It sits on the big cat fish and payara hole.

Mike

Great report. Fishing costs have really gone up since I fished the Amazon, Negro and Orinoco Rivers back in the 80s and 90s. But then again, factoring in inflation, probably not.

We were always completely concentrated on Peacocks and I've never caught a Payara. Maybe I'll go back on a payara trip.

You mentioned that you didn't get a hook up on a large percentage of your hits on payara. Was that because you failed to get a hookset or because they cut/broke you off?

Gato:

The peacock bass fishing industry seems pretty large. THose trips run around $3500-$3750. I saw there were at least 4 guys selling that trip at sci.

Peacocks would be fun but to me that trip seems a bit like shooting doves in argentina - lots of volume and work.

The payara have a very boney mouth and it is very difficult to set the hook. They are also aggressive in their strike. Just slam the bait and the bite is real but very violent. They also fight very aggressively and jump out of the water like a tarpon. Very pelagic type of fish.

I think the strike and the aggressive fight probably makes it very tough to land one. I guess I must have had 20 bites. Probably hooked 4-5 and landed 2. I also was not using treble hooks.

I think using small high quality treble hooks and a shimano baitrunner reel would increase the odds.

Its a fish worth catching.

Mike

Neat trip Mike! Thanks for sharing!


.

Thomas Hunt of Hunt the World Adventures is trying to get a trip of 8 together for February 2018 with River Plate Anglers. I want to go and if anyone is interested in going let me know. They have a cabin and boat for two people and I need a fishing partner. Will be concentrating on peacock bass a quite a bit. 6 full days of fishing including charter all inclusive for $4990. He needs to have a group of 8 by March 20.