Darth-Baiter

Souvenirs. No hat from my layover in Panama, although very tempting. I wanted one thing to bring back with me. I elected to hit a tackle shop and buy a Brazilian lure called the Perversa. It smoked many peacocks. It darts side to side subsurface. Probable 12 -18” deep. I think it might be effective darting it over submerged grass. I’m hoping a domestic LMB smokes it. I am changing the hooks first. Peacock hooks are burly and heavy and not that sharp. I’ll find a properly sized Owner hook and change them out. I sought out the most natural color. Most Perversa were so brightly colored. Like parade floats.

I used him last time. Reel came back a bit loud, if I’m being honest. Performance was fine tho. spreading the love.

@Buzzbaiter no comparison. A peacock surges. And they go airborne all the time.

I flip my Outback to get the wheels in. OP..you broke a Hobie wheel-set while using the scupper holes?! how?

I get too nervous I will kill a bass pulling it up from way down deep I got smallmouth at 60 with a drop shot. never gone much deeper.

I'll start by saying if there is a next time for me, it won't be with the same outfitter unless he is the only person on this particular river section. the guy is the jankiest business person ever. no invoices for down payments, the final invoice was sent via text message and it was simply a photo of my invoice on his dinner table. hahah..his website is dated and full of info no longer applicable. for example: he instructed us to bring $150 cash to buy a bracelet we have to wear/display while fishing. nope!! he said that expired 10 years ago. he also said the boat had USA electrical plugs. nope, an adapter was needed..etc. whatever. and he was there with us. once he settled in, he was more of a fishing client that a guide. he was an awesome fisherman, willing to tell us how well he did, but he rarely asked us about our day out. weird. weird as off!! and he said his guides spoke English. not even close. thankfully I practiced the heck out of Portuguese and hand signals to get by. my guide was awesome. okay the trip. I was told it was good fishing if the water was low. hence the reason we go in the dry season. typically people fish in Nov/Dec. we went in October. the dry season is creeping forward. the was was TOOOO LOW. the best fish cover was out and up on the beaches. if the water was 6-8 feet higher, we would have killed it. we heard stories of 2000+ fish trips. nope, not us. I bet we were closer to 1000 fish total among 8 fishermen. my brother and I had a great 55 fish day. mostly the right fish. big ones. truth be told, I SKUNKED the first evening out. but we fished bad waters by the village waiting for a traveler that missed his flight. everyone else seemed to manage a fish or two. tiny ones. I am also the only person to only catch peacock bass. everyone else tapped into the cornucopia of fish of the amazon. piranha, arowana, pike, etc. the Peacock. I am ruined. I think my excitement for LMB is tarnished. diminished. a peacock hits and fights like nothing I have ever experienced. if you had an aquarium as a kid, you would know. remember when you put a pinch of food in the tank? how the fish dive bomb the fish food rabidly? well,, they do the same thing to a topwater plug. the best plug was the Woodchopper. a whopper popper type bait you can yank on violently to elicit bites. the fish would knock the plug out of the water, knock the plug out of each other mouths, etc. it was exciting as heck. multiple hits. they took a miss hit personally and would slam it repeatedly like a fish game of rugby. the tiny tick of a LMB sucking in a worm won't have the same "wow factor" for me as before. sad but true. back to the fishing. pre exercise if you can. crossfit would be the best. or run marathons. or maybe Thai kickboxing might be good prep. oh, do all your exercise in a hot box. haha..the fishing is brutal. the fish only bite, fast moving baits. jerky baits. yanking a woodchopper is like setting a hook on a big fish over and over and over again. reel reel YANK! reel reel yank!. you are pouring sweat. my heart rate monitor looked like I was jogging fast. I had 6 back to back fish fights and my HR got up to 146. I layed down on the boat deck more than once. fishing 8 hours straight is soul crushing. you can't fart because there is so much sweat. you feel like you pooped yourself. next time I will exercise just as much as I studied Portuguese. Gear: I used the guide rods. short 6 foot or less heavy and med-heavy rods. his rod sucked and were very heavy. light is better because of the exertion working the baits. I come in with my own rods next time. maybe not. the rods are so Peacock specific, I wouldn't use them locally. the short rods were a Godsend because you yank down towards your feet. and the tiny boats would suck with longer rods. I could cast a Woodchopper 80 yards. I emptied my MGL spool 66% on each cast. I brought two "too light" reels. Shimano MGL 150 and Daiwa Tatula SVTW. both got abused. both were 7:1 ration and I think 8:1 would be better. I can't speak about the torque. the 7:1 was adequate. on full drag. I mean cinched tight, the fish still pull line. 65lb braid was fine for us. I could have gone 50, but my 65 bit into the spool on the occasional big fish fight. 65 would go with me next time. my first sentence above? pffttt...yea, I am going back for sure. I know how to pack and what to bring now. we had daily laundry service. I only needed airport clothing and two complete fishing outfits. rotate as needed. I'll try to put up a crappy youtube where my plug got punted about and finally swallowed my a 9 pounder. this is my best trip out ever. by a mile and we got regular fishing in...no 2000 fish trip for us. it was on the slower side. not sure I could physically taken repeated beatings. Oh

I’ll PM you tomorrow. Hope we can talk. im going to bed early. Like now.

When I get home. There is some sifting required

Shimano 150 MGL and Daiwa Tatula SVTW. both performed awesome. I used the MGL yanking giant WOODCHOPPERS. casting as far as I could. It’s started to slip drag yanking on those thing. When a fish hit , line would scream off in protest. I kept cinching down the drag as the day progressed. I did not bird nest once. The Daiwa was my subsurface rig. Jigs and something called a Perversa. A lipless jerk bait. Lighter workload. But the fast cranking repeatedly left the reel very noises. It rattles at the crank. Next time I go big game hunting. I’m bringing heavy drag reels. But dang both reels performed. I just asked a bit too much I think. I’m glad I brought them. The guides reels sucked. I could cast them down to the spool knot. And they would sometime free spool on their own.

I’m still out in the Amazon. Came in early because we caught enough today. and it’s hot as Africa. one more fishing day left.

i cant believe i am taking a break from largemouth bass fishing. the Spring/Summer of 2023 has been very generous to me. lots of 5 and 6 lb fish in my memory to think about and relive. tough year as well in some respects. broke a good rod recently, lots of lost lures, some fishing friendships have atrophied. some minor fishing heartbreaks, like loosing that giant on a popper, and finally some mysterios fish grabbed my BFS bait, only break me off without so much as letting me see it. i heard some great fun (and funny) discussion here on the forum. despite making some good friends i'll never meet, i will also take a break from this forum. how long will my break from LMB fishing be? oh, that's easy. two weeks! 14 long days of no LMB chasing. i'm packed and headed to Brazil to harass some exotic PEACOCK BASS!! hopefully some other weird and toothy fish grabs on. GoPro cards formatted, batteries charged. Passport ready. foreign walking around money in my wallet, and key Portuguese phrases memoried and practiced...fresh braid on my reels. let's do this thing!! i'll report back in a few weeks. i am officially on Vacation.. then when i am home, i will click "buy now" on all that hovershot stuff in my shopping cart. have fun folks..hope you all catch that biggun in the fall jamboree. oh. Obrigado. Boa tarde. (thank you, and good afternoon) <--i hope.

The Alberto is my best knot, that i can tie. therefore, i use it most often. the double uni, it the opposite. i am all thumbs. Ease of going through rod guides ? i reel it all the way back to the reel sometimes on my spinning rods. baitcasters, i always use short leader and i keep it out of the guides. - Strength ? crazy strong! - Long Lasting ? long long lasting. i usually change it, when i am running short of length on the leader - Shock resistance ? i use Flouro, so i think the shock resistance on the line itself is suspect, and i try to avoid it beyond my awesome hooksets for the camera.

dude. you are killing me!! hahahha...

I only feel confident talking about my own experiences. I just havent had the same one as you. I often hear, "if spooled correctly". true. but that is only the first instance for me. after a day of casual pitching, casting, any spool I loaded up best I can, will be at any varying level of tautness throughout the day. I sometimes pitch and do fine, then see a blow up behind me and turn and fling one only to get a mild backlash because the line has done wierd things while I was pitching. I dont pinch and make sure the line is rolling up into my spool perfectly every time. just me.

that is different.

I was in a cooking forum that was awesome. they kept taking my post and editing them to fit their overall style. I didnt have fatal flaws like spelling or grammar. they just wanted it to look "a way". I thanked them and bailed. I hated it.

hahaha...I worked it out @ironbjorn. that stuff I avoid like kryptonite..but no denying they made a killing by fishing.

I spent way too many hours last night watching and reading about the Hovershot. not entirely clear if it goes by any other name. mid-strolling? whatever. I am gonna order up some gear and harass some bass. it looks KILLER!! that side to side wiggle is gonna work.

@ironbjorn thanks bud. I was brought up to speed on the inner workings... hahahaha and now I'll spend the day trying to figure out what rhymes with Poopin God.

I like that!!

yup Catt. for the OP. a visual of my suggestion.

..safety Third!

Finesse jig would get better fish in my opinion. nice!!

you dont mention the technique you are presenting the Brush hog on..TExas rig? since the bottom is clean and you seem to come out unscathed with respect to snags..like on the Ned. I would keep it simple. rig something like an OSP Milar minnow up on a garden-variety ball head. lights out!

I can't wait until Glenn calls me to review the new Suzuki 200HP motor...of course I'll need a boat to do a proper review..thanks Glenn! I'll be super honest! I like reviews, but I keep them at arms-length. even my own.