Tsimane and Secure here we come!

Saturday in the morning our adventure was supposed to start! Via two small planes our group took off from the tiny national airport of Santa Cruz for the two hours flight north northwest towards Tsimane area and Secure river system. After a while the landscape becomes greener and more natural as the pastoral land is left behind. One can only wonder how many Coca plantations for cocaine production pass beneath the plane. In Bolivia Coca is legally grown for traditional chewing of the leaves, but production for cocaine is illegal. Flying over that area in a fixed wing plane is ok as long as some areas are avoided, a helicopter would cause panic and possibly flying bullets from the illegal plantations below.

Our flight went safe and the bumpy grass landing strip at Asunta was visible as light green patch in the jungle canopy. Touch down and we were back on the ground safely. Don’t be fooled, that is not controlled double and triple checked air traffic such as we might be used to in our “western states”, that is basic air traffic with accidents unfortunately happening and very sad stories. But in the same way the passenger want’s a save touch down, the pilot is motivated to fly save.  

We and our gear got out of the plane and the group before us went in to end their trip and fly back to Santa Cruz. Carrying the bags to the large wooden motor boats and ten minutes transfer upstream to the new Asunta camp. I got goose bumps motoring upriver – it felt so good to be back! The first time I was at Tsimane I regularly had to remember to close my mouth.  

The new camp is located in a safer location high above the river, compared to the old (first) camp that was magnificently located close to a rapid overlooking the river, unfortunately it was washed away in heavy floods three years ago (no humans injured as it was during off season). New Asunta camp consists of a large main house for meals and hanging out with the fishing mates and four comfortable safari stile tent-huts with bathroom for two anglers each all linked with a huge construction of boardwalk. Plus a couple of huts and constructions for staff, kitchen and supply. For the clients everything is well organized and as comfortable as reasonable for such a location, you might even call it kind of luxurious. 

I was happy to see Fernando Beltran as camp manager of Asunta camp. Four years ago when I first visited Tsimane he was working at the camp, in the meantime he became camp manager. An enthusiastic, jungle loving and care taking manager and guide every operation could only wish to have! His interest and passion for the Tsimane connects the whole venue well to the Tsimane’s activities and their passion to hunt and to explore. Tsimane guides enjoy being on the river to observe and to hunt as those funny white men enjoy this fly fishing thing. And once in a while they take their bow and arrow and hunt for Sabalo which are so abundant in the system that at times you might think to walk over the river on this mass of fish. A good number of Dorados follow the annual upriver spawning run of Sabalo. Besides these migratory Dorado there are resident Dorado in the system. A other fish to target is the highly regarded and challenging Pacu (Pirapitinga, a relative of the Piranha, a fish that eats fruits and fish alike), the Surubi (a big catfish, very hard to catch on the fly) and Yatorana (the best fighter pound by pound).

That first evening Hernan, Chris and I fished the "home pool" without much success. Hernan and Chris got some pulls but nothing lasting. Dorado were just not into feeding mode. We saw a couple roling which is a very bad sign, most likely they will not take and are aware of the fishermen. Was that a sign for the week to come?

First full day fishing, Chris and I went upriver towards upper Secure. A section I could not fish in 2012 due to rain and high river level. Thus every corner was new. We went up a considerable stretch of river without fishing to leave that untouched for our mates before we eventually started to fish. Secure becomes smaller and smaller the further up you go, we took the right river arm three times and finally were fishing a mere creek. Marvelous! Dorado in a tiny creek like that – wow! We took turns and caught our share of fish each. Typical Dorado flies with muddler head, weighted eyes in black combined with some color did the job. Nothing fancy - as often it is more about presentation than the precise color of the fly.

  

 

Upper Secure can provide very good opportunities for the highly regarded Pacu. We saw a couple but did not get real shots on them. Pacu - this challenging to catch and hard fighting fish is still on my list.

As I am very bad on counting number of fish or even remembering single “average” fish, I have no idea how many we caught. But size was medium and numbers were rather low, nothing overwhelming in terms of fish, though we saw a couple of good ones. Nice to start again with the Dorados! There was only one bad thing to mention: I broke a rod handling a fish while landing, it might have been typical high sticking aka stupid angler behavior. What is striking though, I only broke three rods up to now in 25 years of fly fishing, all on their very first day of fishing. Thus the engineer in me tells me, that some material issues might not be totally unlikely. On trips like that with big aggressive fish, always, I say always, take plenty of rods with you. As mentioned, for Tsimane I would propose two 8# and two 9#, with WF-F 9, WF-I (tip) 9 and possibly a sink tip line of 300 grains and two or three reels that provide enough power to reel in a 30lbs Dorado. T&T Solar or Exocett, Sage Salt or TCX are good options. Add some (cheap) backup.

Counting and remembering fish - the astonishing ability that seems to be mandatory for most fishing guides. I am very bad on that. As long as I have the impression that something is happening and I catch fish once in a while and kind of regularly, everything is good. And most of the time fishing everything is good. I might remember the outstanding fish such as a Trophy trout in NZ SI or the very big Dorado I caught 2012 or some other special fish (of that trip). But some guides even remember fish that we caught years ago, recalling the fly and precise spot where it happened. Unbelievable. 

Some annotations to clarify on the following posts and pictures. I love to take pictures and try to make them well, but I am an amateur that loves fishing (PS back home now, doing the post production, I came to the conclusion that I should repeat the trip: the yield of ok-pictures is horrifying low). Thus I usually do not take pictures of every fish I land but only of some. Sometimes that comes with lost chances, as you might expect you would continue to catch and once of a sudden it is off. In terms of picture style a special angle on a fish or a good composition are nice to look at and I like them, but pics that intentionally over exaggerate the size of a fish are more a sign of low self-confidence. Such as holding the fish with long arms right in the 10mm ultra wide lens with the fisherman’s head (aka brain) dwarfed behind a 15lbs Dorado to make the fish looking like 30lbs. E.g. a really huge Dorado can be judged by the size of the eyes in relation to the remaining head, if the eyes look very small, the fish most likely is huge. Or by the fisherman’s hand (considering its size as well) holding the fish’s tail. If the tight hand is not closed around the tail, it is most likely a big fish. If the size of the fish is still obvious from the picture it might be ok. It is a thin line between documenting a good moment or telling myth about huge fish that were kind of average.

During that trip I met a professional photographer who very clearly expressed: "I hate exaggerated hero shots."

As a fly fisher you - at least that is valid for me - once in a while might love to have a picture of yourself holding that special fish or just catching a moment with you in the scene. In those situations friends, fishing mates or guides with a good eye and a steady hand are the friends to treat well. As most of us can not afford to bring their own private Norwegian photographer on such a trip. To all the guides, especially to Breno and Chris my fishing mates and friends who took pictures that have a level horizon, provide some area to crop (in case they were off angled), with no changes to the camera setup, pictures that are kind of sharp and are plenty to select the ones without funny faces: Thank you so much! 

To all the others: you would have the chance to make everybody happy (yourself, your company and the client) if that killer shot of your client would be taken by you! 

Enough about those ethics and oppionions for today.

If you like what you read, like the honest and sometimes ironic narrations and get the "nothing is serious" between the lines, or appreciate the first hand insights for the traveling fisherman or just some of the pictures - you might consider to share it among your friends.

 

  

Another day in Paradise and relocation to Paradise II.

Third day fishing... Can not remember well anymore. It’s the same with counting fish caught, after the first hand (five) I usually louse count. Think we went upriver towards more structure and had a good day, as all of the days at Iriri River were good. Above the main camp (as of 2015 exploration season) the river shows more structure. In the lower part that is fished, long slow runs dominate and interesting rapids are much further apart.

Some thoughts about tossing poppers all day: Personally, that is kind of boring after a while especially if action is low. To maximize your hook up rate make your fly fish the most time by casting it quickly and efficiently as close to the structure as possible. One meter away is not close, 10cm are good. Avoid false casting, one or two hauls/false casts and then let the line shoot. No need to strip all the way back to the boat, watch if a fish follows and if not recast quickly when there is still enough line on the water to load your rod quickly. Casting nicely is good for the person watching you, but you want to catch fish. Over gun your rod by one number heavier line, which will transport even sailfish popper kind of efficient.

 

 

 

To cover more water and to give the fished water a rest, the fourth day meant to move downstream in an out-camp. Normally moving is related to work and effort, in that case it is related to fishing as we fished the way downstream to the out-camp. As mentioned, further downriver the river shows less structure, but that offers for a change and still provides good fishing. Depending on the water level it might be related to more drift fishing and less wading. It is pretty obvious that the wading stile is comparable to saltwater flats: wet wading in very warm water but combined with big Granit rocks, thus decent wading boots and neoprene socks are the way to go. Actually wading is a good change after a hot drift in the sun. The sting rays can usually be spotted easily, still care should be taken to avoid them.

 

Iriri River is the garden of the Kayapó, it is even more, it is their main road and supply of food. So we shared their resource of food. We ate their fish and we shared their turtle eggs. Right. As it was turtle egg season, they went to sandy beaches to test the hardness of the sand with their feet and started to dig at some kind of soft patches, digging more than a dozen turtle eggs per nest. The eggs pretty much consisted only of egg yellow. They liked to beat them up with (lots of) sugar, add some rather hard manioc and eat it. The taste was good, only the very junky manioc was irritating. Another day we asked for turtle scrambled eggs. Their texture and taste was bewildering as it was more similar to polenta than to scrambled eggs. Not bad but just unfamiliar.  

On our late last kilometers downriver towards the out-camp, the sun already very low, we discovered a Tapir crossing the river. We followed it and came very close providing us up close contact and shots of that characteristic South American animal. Our boat, so Breno and my boat (we were changing guides and boats every day back and force) was very lucky as we saw around four Tapir during that week. Later on the last Tapir would cross our way as we went back to Kendjam, thus the "other boat" had their first Tapir sighting at the very last call as well. 

The out-camp is beautifully situated on an island tucked in the trees, smaller single sleeping tents but no compromise on comfort such as camp shower, outhouse and eating tent.

 

That night Guiermo with some support from the Kayapó tried to hand-line some catfish. The whole camp was sitting on the beach and watching with big loughs. Piranha after piranha came to the beach some were feed right to the Cayman that patrolled around attracted by the action. Some of these Caymans came very close to the beach waiting for their share. After close to a dozen fish finally a small redtail catfish came to the beach. Making funny noises that small catfish went back to the water after a big hello from the spectators.

A new morning in paradise dawned. Beautiful early morning light over the steaming river. The night before I removed the fly of my tent and was using only the inner layer of the tent allowing for a well-tempered sleep under the trees and the southern sky with its thousand stars.

Based on the island of the out-camp we fished the fifth day from there downriver. Long glides with low structure are typical for the lower section below the out-camp. Still there could be some action found from Peacocks or Matrinxas with fruit flies or popper flies fished from the drifting boat close to the banks, structure and trees.

After lunch, that as usual consisted of a couple of freshly caught Bass, Pacu and Matrinxa, with rice and some vegetables (carrots aka “yellow wood”) and water (you might probably imagine that I was sick of fish after that week and was looking forward to some decent beef!), one of the Kayapó guides, his name was Kokoti showed us a special natural source of good taste. A walk of around 10 minutes following a path through the jungle lead us to a giant tree that produced a very special fruit: Brazilian nuts or more commonly known sometimes as Para nuts. A large solitary tree under which we found big hard balls around 12cm in diameter that could only be opened by a machete or other powerful means. The big fruits/nuts contained around 15-20 seeds/nuts that again where within a hard shell hiding a big peace of junky nut protein. To keep the natural process of seeding going, there is one mammal that opens these super hard big balls and allows the single seeds to do their job. Absolutely fascinating. These nuts are one of the few trading goods of the Kayapó.

During the lunch break, Kokoti was carving a club out of a piece of very heavy wood (Brazilwood) that would turn read within days. These clubs in various forms are used to hunt pigs. A very strenuous hunt as the Kayapó pretty much search for the pigs and then hunt them down and club them. 

These clubs later on get a handle cover made of woven strings adding some kind of "decorative touch" to them.

Brazilwood gave Brazil it’s name. When Portuguese ships discovered these trees on the coast of South America they called the trees “pau brasil” as they produced red dye, ‘pau’ means wood and ‘brazil’ red/ember-like. These trees are on dangerously low levels as their wood was highly regarded due to their dye wood in the past and today because no other wood is better suited for violin bows.

Back at the camp on "our island" the huge spinner fall under the camp lamp repeated again, the ground beneath the lamp was covered with thousands of dead mayflies, so much that even the Cayman took a mouthful of them. And the catfish session was continued. This evening with higher success as Ramiro caught a decent sized redtail catfish of around 30-40lbs with its hand-line and bait.