Third day we were
assigned to Paulo the head guide of the team. All of us headed up the main
river Rio Marié as Untamed Amazon would follow us during the day. What did we
do? Fishing! Casting, casting, casting, …
To shorten the day a little: Once of
a sudden close to noon I had a strong pull on my line. I was always wondering how
it would be to be connected to one of those realt big GPBs. I was expecting not
to be able to stop such a +20lbs Asu/ GPB as the much smaller Butterfly Bass
were so strong. Now I was attached to a good fish on my line (a 300 grain sink
tip), it was strong but far from unstoppable, it was not such a freight train I
would have expected.
On 60lbs tippet and a 9# rod you can pretty much hold the
fish on a short line and it might do several darts but a long run in to your backing
is not the norm. After a few hard but kind of short pulls that fish was safely
landed. Compared to the normal behavior of a fish of that size I must have caught
it in its siesta.
Weighting on IGFA approved scales showed 23lbs and 84cm.
Yahoo! I was in the +20lbs Giant Peacock Bass Club, the community most of the
serious GPB-fishermen seek to be part of. Did it make a difference? At that
very moment yes. To illustrate the quality of Marié and the chance to catch a
+20lba GPB: this very day two other GPBs beyond that magical mark were caught.
The largest was 24lbs.
What kind of flies did
we use? Barbless, strictly barbless, as only barbless fish count and as
barbless is the way to treat the fish in the best possible way. Assuming that
you are a good fisherman, the likelihood to lose a decent fish due to barbless
is very low.
Again, what kind of
flies did we use? Pretty much anything that can be tied. Mostly we fished
deceiver stile flies with sinking line (WF-8/9 300-350 Grain due to the rather
high water, later in the season intermediate tip might be the appropriate) in
yellow, green, orange and even white/blue. Some flash is good. Not much action
on surface flies as water level was rather high in our last week of September
2016. I tied a lot of flies and some big poppers before the trip and only used
them very little. Later in the season popper and poledancer are said to be the way
to go. We lost very few flies, less than three to five per week. As long as
your line, connection and leader are 100% good there is only the chance to lose
a fly to one of the odd Piranhas or on a snack that cannot be retrieved. In
case you need some, the lodge has some flies as backup to buy.
Besides the once in a
while Giant Peacock Bass - that was introduced to us by Paulo on the first
evening with this comment “you will have zero to two chances a day to catch a
Giant Peacock Bass” (he was right with that) – you and your fishing partner in
the boat might catch anything between zero and fifty Butterfly Bass during a
day. These fish in the range of 2-7 lbs fight the best pound by pound of all
the fish in the river. They will keep you motivated and make your fingers wet
once in a while. If your fishing buddy catches one of these, cast close to that
spot as you might catch another Butterfly or even a GPB, as they tend to follow
the action. Besides fighting well the Butterflies look really awesome. Nice
colors!
Weather during the day
was slightly different every day. Sometimes we got just a short spell,
sometimes a thunderstorm in the afternoon, some days just heat and melting in
the sun. It is obvious to cover your skin by appropriate clothes and to use sun
blocker for face, hands and in case you fish barefoot (which is the best way) a
heavy layer of sunscreen on your feet. Stripping guards (take one backup!) or
gloves are mandatory! The constant stripping and the fight will cut and shred
your fingers in no time.
In case you handle
limes for alcoholic drinks (better stay to lots of water and soft
drinks!) or the once in a while fish barbecue, take very good care not to spill
any lime juice drops on your skin and clean possible areas after lunch thoroughly
with water. Otherwise you will experience what lime juice and sun can do: it
will just burn your skin to stage 2 or even 3 injuries!
