My Amazon Peacock fishing trip is over. fishing/trip report is below

[Darth-Baiter]

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  hahah..his website is dated and full of info no longer applicable.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

 

 

[Dwight Hottle]

Capt. Shane Procell is down there right now with his 2nd consecutive group. He is dealing with record low water levels like you just experienced. Shane also guides in south Florida for bass & peas in the everglades. He has an excellent reputation. He posts results frequently on Facebook & Instagram. 

[J._Bricker]

Thanks for the account of your trip DB and taking a bow for landing the peacock in that second picture was well deserved! 

[Skunkmaster-k]

Wow that sounds like a lot of fun !

[Buzzbaiter]

Sounds like a lot of fun. How hard do peacocks pull compared to striped bass?

[Darth-Baiter]

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

[islandbass]

Great report! Dang that sounded like a blast of a trip. 

[Darth-Baiter]

The travel sucked.  I got a mild cold for starters, and I slept 10-11 hours every night this weekend.  Nuts. Fell pretty great now. 
 

I’ll break up travel days if I do this again. No more marathon travel. 

[Bazoo]

Wow! Thanks for sharing. Very interesting hearing about fishing in other parts of the world. I'm not familiar with it at all. 

 

I assume the folks down there fish primarily for food rather than sport?

 

I'll have to go read up on Peacocks now.

[geo g]

On 10/13/2023 at 3:33 PM, Dwight Hottle said:

Capt. Shane Procell is down there right now with his 2nd consecutive group. He is dealing with record low water levels like you just experienced. Shane also guides in south Florida for bass & peas in the everglades. He has an excellent reputation. He posts results frequently on Facebook & Instagram. 

Dwight I know Shane from fishing south Florida all these years.  A great guide and a funny guy!  We catch Peas almost everyday in Broward County, Fl., but not quite as big as the one in that picture.  The pitbulls of the fresh water world, fun to catch, and you know immediately the thing on the end of your line is something special.