Upstream in Paradise

The morning greeted us with hundred Macaws presenting their morning performance in the trees on the other side of the creek. We had kind of a warm breakfast, after we put on our wet fishing clothes we were prepared for new adventures! Off we went to explore the creek upstream. Upstream in paradise! 

Step by step the water became clearer and clearer. Fish were lying in the creek pretending they would be trout. Unbelievable. Magic. Some pools were inhabited by half a dozen or even more Dorados of 15-25lbs. Chances were good but it was not default to catch fish in every pool. We fished very fine small deceiver style flies around size 3/0 without any weight, casting left or right of the head of the fish, if he was in mood, he would turn and take the fly. Very slowly, sometimes, exactly like a trout in NZ. Sometims just smashing it with brute force.

One situation made a long lasting impression as it was kind of absurd. We reached a riffle and above us in the end of a gliding pool were around 5 to 10 very reasonably sized Dorados close to each other facing upstream on the edge of the pool, around 5-10 kg each. I did cast my fly in their direction and immediately all, literally all of them turned around and darted for my fly. As if their heads would bang against each other none of them reached and took my fly! Seeing that was marvelous. 

Sometimes the fish you do not catch are the most memorable. Six years ago I had this on a remote atoll in the Seychelles. We were fishing there for 12 days mainly for Bonefish. One of the last fish I spotted on the flat, I intentionally did not cast to but memorized that dark eye of the flat’s ghost in my visual memory for the rest of my time. That fish, not caught, not harmed, never forgotten.

Fish were abundant (we did not take pics of all caught, but it was not given to catch every fish). The place was magic. Still we only saw part of its potential, as our time was limited and the water still not perfectly clear. I could continue to write here about some trivial details such as the unspoiled nature (it was absolute pristine), the unbelievable Dorado population, the chance to see a Jaguar behind the next corner, the birds, the trees, but as words would not do it justice, I won’t. As words might not do justice, you have to experience it. The strange thing was, that I felt just as comfortable and "at home" as on my backyard river Loisach in the Bavarian Alps. The remote wildernes was just there. I loved it. We loved it.

 

  

With only less than an hour left to fish, Chris managed to catch and land the most magnificant Golden Dorado I saw to date. It was not the largest of that trip but it was the most beautiful Dorado. No marks, no scars, just pristine. It was sheer power and muscles. Nevertheless it was beyond 20lbs.

At around 1:30pm we had to turn around and start the long way downriver to the camp and further on to the lodge. Our way back was comfortably supported by the fascinating dugout canoes of the Tsimane. They are made of just one tree and carved to a wall thickness of something between one and two centimeters. Perfect boats for that location as the wood would easily glide over rocks or sunken trees compared to modern aluminum hulls. 

Floating downriver and wading the shallow sections took around four hours. Even here in that remote place the distance or around 25km we floated showed the difference in the jungle and its structure. The trees and the plants changed as the river reached more flat sections downriver. 

We reached the Lodge without any issues and had a nice last evening with cigars, whiskey and talking fish.

 

Next day, packing, boating down towards Oromomo, passing the junction of Secure and Pluma river and fly out towards Santa Cruz. There our team had a nice farewell dinner at a local restaurant with good filet, lots of salad and plenty of red. That way we ended our nice trip. 

Thank you to Daniel from Fly Fishing Caribe, Chris from The Caddis Fly Shop, Carlos (aka Grandpa), Hernan and Alexis and to Fernando and Carlos and their teams for friendship and the good time!

The highest appreciation and admiration for Fernando and Carlos and their guiding and camp teams for making all that possible!

That was Asunta and Aqua Negra Lodge at Tsimane by Untamed Angling in September 2016!

Fishing was far from easy but overall we all caught our share of fish. We lost a day due to flooding, but that should be expected by every seasoned fly fisher - perfect conditions are not granted. Company of the group, food, (part-time) friendship at the Lodges were outstanding. That is not given as there are some severe fools jumping around on some destinations. Tsimane is THE place to fish in pristine jungle combined with the best and most comfortable service for this crazy golden fish and king of the jungle rivers of Southern America: Golden Dorado. 

This ULTIMATE JUNGLE BLAST ist not yet over - the next stop over will be Rio Marié for Giant Peacock Bass in the Brasilian Amazone. Stay tuned! 

(Before that I might add some art/ cultural insights on that marvelous INHOTIM art and land art exhibition close to Belo Horizonte, Brazil)

Some notes for the memory and packing list: leader 40lbs level with 40lbs or 30lbs wire. Flies very small and light for the creek. Black, violet/ red/ yellow/ orange/ green for the main rivers. Size 4/0 fits all, just vary with the size of the fly. Smaller hooks only for the creek. Weighted with muddler head (could be substituted with modern string material) for the main rivers. Insect and fruit flies (wooden balls) for Pacu. Three to four rods 8 or 9 (the big Dorado was caught on 8# rod with WF-F 9 line and a Alfa Fishing reel from Finland) with warm water WF-F (creek and popper) and WF-I-tip (main river). A WF-S (300 grain or so) might be a good option to have on hand in case the river is high. Take at least one spare of everything. Do not forget stripping gloves or finger protection. Take wet wading gear that does not rub your skin between the legs, NZ-style tights, tight fitting boxers and shorts might be the best way to go wet wading. To avoid slipping around felt and studs would be the best option, or very soft soles. My two year old Simms Vaportread Vibram without studs where a nuisance and their quality is questionable as they are falling apart after just 35 days of fishing. There is a laundry service at the lodges, so do not take to much clothes. Take a real rain jacket and some warm top in case you hit a cold day. Take watertight backpacks such as the ones from Patagonia.

If you have any questions in terms of tackle, advice or booking, feel free to contact me.

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Backcountry Christmas

As two years ago the packing for the chopper flight had to be done pretty quickly. I was lucky that I did not miss any substantial items. Except that I should have taken the pack of toilet paper I had in my hand but did not throw on the pile, thinking that there would be plenty at the hut as experienced before. It turned out that there was nothing at all. So I had to use a workaround in terms of some 50NZ$ bills I packed. Lucky I had some. No just kidding, kitchen paper was the bail out. It worked fine.

Flying solo is a plus as there are no weight restrictions. Lots of stuff - good for three people was loaded to the R44.

The sky was grey and the clouds where very low, thus only a pilot knowing the terrain very well was able to fly the direct line. Wayne knew exactly where to fly so the sneak through over the ridge with close to zero visibility for some meters was perfectly mastered and down we dropped to the river valley and towards the hut.

A big cyclone has hit the slopes around Karamea around Easter, deforesting large areas. All trees on some slopes lay flat on the ground, several houses must have been damaged by that extreme storm.

First evening at the hut. I had it all for myself. Love that calm. Dinner: appetizer, filet, rice, salad, yoghurt with some cold beers with candles lightening the room in a warm light. Reading at candle light. Nice evening. Unfortunately it was much too warm to lighten the fire.

Candle light, that is the word, if you travel to a hut take three things in particular: a pack of long burning candles, toilet paper and insect spray to get rid of the sandflies in case there are too many in the hut (cover food before you spray and then leave the room for some time). And for the joy of the next guest: leave all three left overs at the hut.

 

First day at the system I decided to fish branch A due to the rather high main rivers, which made crossing the confluence section impossible (ABC refers to the three branches according to the old blog post nomenclature two years ago). Out of that reason I had to grass-bash through blossoming grass as tall as I am – hello hay fever... that was the maximum dose possible that day. Every single grass bush exploded to a yellowish cloud of poles. Same did my nose and eyes: they just exploded. 

In one of the early pools I caught an active feeding fish and unfortunately ripped it off. But after a couple of minutes it was back on station and was feeding again. I set up another nymph and caught it again! This time it saw the net and I could remove both flies. Did somebody say NZ fish are supposed to be spooky?

I fished well beyond a gorgy section and beyond smaller forks following the main right arm. Very low numbers of fish even in the highly promising pools only one or none… That was rather disappointing compared to the last visit, back then there were considerable more fish not to say many.

 

In total I caught some 4 fish of around 5 to 6,5 lbs. All browns, all on nymph, all in good shape but not sign of mice at all. Such a low result that I tend to count the double hooked fish twice.

Back at the hut I was surprised to see it full: an elderly tramping couple and a group of four young men on special vehicles, obviously not used to sports as they were all sleeping in their beds – it was just around 8 pm. I felt a little bit unfair to fry my filet second round and having a couple of beers. That night a lot of wood was sawn… by the snoring sleepers.

Next day was the turn of branch B. The whole thing was a little bit limited in terms of fun as my left Simms wading boot for some reason caused awful pain with every single step on the upper inner ankle. No explanation for that never had it before. Now I understood a picture I saw once before of totally intentionally cut Simms boots. I was close to consider the same. After some days I just ended up to tie only the lower part of the lace and keep the upper section open. That made me looking very stylish! It might be the fish did not like that.

Fishing was tough. Very low numbers of fish and low numbers of eels. Lots of walking up until the bush and well into the bush up to a big pool that was the point of return two years ago. Back then there were close to half a dozen fish feeding in that pool. This time I saw three not feeding. Water was clear and dropping, a recent spate had added fresh water, spotting was good, thus perfect conditions. I had no explanation for the low numbers of fish. Catching three fish the whole day. Nevertheless the fish were in very good condition around 5,5 to 7lbs, but no sign of mice died, as the area was heavily covered by 1080 just weeks before.

At night I came back to the hut rather late. And to my surprise it was busy again: this time with two Germans, one relocated a decade ago to NZ, who had a fishing rod and funny nymphs with him. The other one was his tramping buddy. We chatted for a while. I had NZ sausages that night – not too bad at all. 

Next morning we made arrangements to share the fishing. I went to C branch and the two others to another section. I walked for an hour strait on the track to cover previously unknown water later that day. The whole day was starting very slow in terms of fishing. I hooked a first fish close to the bridge that was pulling me through two pools downriver. Strange it did not come to my mind that it might be foul hooked. Exactly that was the case. Landing it, the fly was hooked on the back fin, so this fish did not count. Close to that section I caught one soon afterwards that was regularly hooked. At least that one was a real beauty of something close or around to 6,5-7lbs (think I mentioned before: I am unable to memorize more than three fish a day by weight and details, and after some days most of that is blurred as well). To make a long story short: it was the single one fish of the day. I followed the river a little bit more upstream than before and was happy about the track leading back to the hut. What a strange day celebrating Christmas. It was the 24^th of December. At the hut Tortellini and some red wine I shared with the two folks from Germany. The only reminder of Christmas was unpacking a very generous present from my parents and my thoughts of the usual joyful celebration at home.

No fly out on the First Christmas Holiday or Christmas NZ-style (they celebrate on the 25^th) – thus I had to spend another day on that system. Branch A saw me again. Not so far up this time just below the gorge. More kind of taking pictures as there was not much action in terms of fish walking upstream. Even the always good lower pools and a specific section did not show sign of fish! I ended up blank! It happens, but not often.

On the way back to the hut I had some casts to educated fish on a pool of the main river. After a while I gave up and layed down on the bank. Not much sandflies thus a quick snooze was an inviting option. After a longer while I got back to consciousness and got upright and to my surprise – first thought was “it is a dream?!” – there was a fisherman coming up at the bank. An elephant would have surprised me slightly less. It turned out that this time it was a Swiss tramping couple,  he casting an evening line and she around the hut.

To my surprise he did not ask me thousands of questions about NZ fishing and the local river system but about where I have been traveling the years before. Being in NZ I would use every slight chance to gain more on site information about fishing before I would ask somebody about his international travel experiences. His high visibility orange fly line, the experience the days before and some other experiences made me silently thinking: folks if you travel to NZ to fly fish then DO your bloody homework. Read books, internet, collect information on fishing, do your preparation thoroughly and behave accordingly! It just improves your chances to catch the odd fish massively.

Nevertheless the conversation that night was nice and I shared the next bottle of wine with my “guests”, this time it was a rather young but still pleasant Cabernet/Merlot from The Mission / Napier. In Napier Tobias made his very first steps three days after his first birthday. Back then he was so unbelievable proud and excited about what he just achieved.

10:30 the next morning – it was Friday the 26^th December – the chopper flew me out to Karamea. Farewell River – take care and get the fish back!

On the way out I made an aerial shot of a house close to the water, a house where I wanted to say hello to the residents after being back out of the bush…