Amazon Adventure Day 6 - Fishing at Last

My Catch of the Day - A Big Piranha

"The piranha is a short, deep-bodied fish, with a blunt face and a heavily undershot or projecting lower jaw which gapes widely. The razor-edged teeth are wedge-shaped like a shark’s, and the jaw muscles possess great power. The rabid, furious snaps drive the teeth through flesh and bone. The head with its short muzzle, staring malignant eyes, and gaping, cruelly armed jaws, is the embodiment of evil ferocity; and the actions of the fish exactly match its looks. I never witnessed an exhibition of such impotent, savage fury as was shown by the piranhas as they flapped on deck... The only redeeming feature about them is that they are themselves fairly good to eat, although with too many bones." - Teddy Roosevelt, "Through the Brazilian Wilderness"

The official itinerary for 27-July to 01-August:

"Each day individual team (2 anglers) will head out for the day, fishing downstream the Iriri River, its channels and tributaries. Each two anglers will share a fluent English speaking fly fishing guide along with a local native guide in an aluminum boat. Both anglers are able to constantly fish all day long. That allows anglers to access an amazing new area neve fished before by guests and also optimize fishing days with less navigation and more fishing hours. The outcomes are planned for two anglers. 

Typical Day 

5:30 AM - Coffee is hot

7:00 AM - Breakfast

8:00 AM - Head to fishing grounds

12:00 to 1:00 PM - Anglers will have a picnic style lunch on the river.

1:00 PM - After lunch, fishing will resume until late afternoon when the

guides will deliver anglers back to the camp around 5:30 PM

6:30 PM - Cocktails and appetizers will be served

7:30 PM - Dinner will be served"

The challenge is to try to summarize some of our wild fishing and extraordinary experiences on the Irini River over the next six days. We'll start with the daily drill: 

Two anglers are paired with an Untamed Angling Fishing Guide and two Native Guides who drive, paddle, and wrestle the aluminum skiff around one of four designated fishing "beats" or sections on the river. The sections are large with many different options to fish in each "beat". Eight anglers means four boats, one per "beat" each day. We'll each see all four guides, two days each with the first two guides, then one day each for the remaining guides on the last two days.  

DISCLOSURE: Harlan and I are paired for the entire trip so obviously our direct experience is most of what we can describe in this journal. Anything we include about the other anglers should be treated as second hand uncorroborated fish stories. 

I should also note that, while I consider myself a good fisherman, I was clearly outclassed by everyone else on this trip. The other seven anglers have all had much more experience than me, as evidenced by the fish stories they told and the gear they brought. Everyone had a large selection of lures and/or flies and at least two or three rod /reel combinations.  I purchased a new spinning rod and reel just for the trip (based on cousin Danny's recommendation) and borrowed a fly rod from my brother-in-law, Jeff. I brought seven lures that were purchased for me by my brother Harlan based on cousin Larry's recommendation. I carried my lures in a ziplock plastic bag - a source of some amusement and sympathy from my fellow anglers who all carried backpacks full of flies and lures. 

Fishing Day 1

Guide: Ezekiel
Native Guides: Menhmro, Bepayre
Fishing Beat: 4
QOD (Quote of the Day): "Talk to me when you still have seven lures." - Jared

Before heading for the boats, we have another opportunity for a fun aspect of the trip - a local artist applying decorative body designs. You tell her the general area you want painted and she applies the design as she sees fit. The patterns are supposed to help protect you from the Amazon dangers or help you catch fish, or both, or neither. Don't know. In any case, Jared was the first to volunteer, setting the bar pretty high for the rest of us. 

Back to the fishing, When fishing at home in Big Shag Lake with visiting friends and family, we will often track First Fish, Most Fish, and Biggest Fish honors. Other additional categories than could be applied at Kendjam might include Most Species, Toughest Catch and Weirdest Catch. 

As the saying goes - "It's called fishing, not catching." You never know what to expect when you hit the water. But for us this first day - the action started early.  I caught the first fish in our boat. A piranha...

First Fish - A Piranha

I doubt anyone else in the other boats were even thinking about tracking the first fish of the trip, BUT... we had a short ride on our beat, this one came quickly, and the photo has a time stamp of 8:59 AM Sunday, July 27. Which was pretty early after we put the boats in the water. So, unless someone else documents an earlier time stamp, I'm claiming First Fish honors for the group.

The fish soon started coming fast and furious. We both lost a few hooked fish as we needed to unlearn the way we fish in the Midwest. There, you strike a fish too hard and you might yank the hook out it's mouth. Here the mouth of the fish is so tough that if you don't strike hard and frequently, the hook won't set and you'll lose it. 

We each managed to land a few small Peacock Bass and I got a Bicuda. My big catch before lunch was the big Piranha at the top of the page and here: 

The native guides were sufficiently impressed that they kept the piranha to bring back to the family for a meal. As I already determined in a previous post, piranha are good eating. 

We pulled ashore for lunch at a peaceful shaded spot and enjoyed the sandwiches and other foodstuffs we each selected this morning.

 Then back on the river. Significant catches after lunch include:

Harlan caught a nice Matrinxa...

... and I caught another nice bicuda.

My count for the day: 5 - Piranhas, 2 - Peacock Bass, 2 - Bicuda.  Harlan had a similar total with different mix. We were both pretty happy with our first day on the River. 

Back at the Lodge, the Angling Eight gravitated to the Lodge for a drink and to exchange stories. Everyone had a good day. Brian caught seven different species, Dave hooked six Wolf fish. The Hellers took too many fish to count (by their count), apparently aided by Danny's innovative new chumming technique. 

Everyone was exhausted after dinner, but Larry wanted to play cards. This invoked a discussion of whether we should play Euchre (which Harlan and I never played) or Hearts (which the Hellers never played). The discussion precipitated the OQOD (Other Quote of the Day) by your humble Blogger:

"I've never lost a game of Hearts." - Mike 

So Mike, Harlan, Larry and Jared played Hearts. 

And I won. 

On to day two.