Amazon Adventure Day 11 - Last Dance, Last Chance, Last Cast

Catch of the Day (and Week and Year) - HW with Wolf Fish

 Fishing Day 6:

Guide: Ciru
Native Guides: Nee, Bep bu Di
Fishing Beat: 2
Quote of the Day: "It's the dry season. But it's also the Amazon Rain Forest."  - Brian
Other Quote of the Day: "The wolf fish is the stupidest fish." - Ciru
Other Other Quote of the Day:"I told you." - MW 

Rainbow over the Iriri River

Our last day fishing was ushered in with thunder, lightning and a driving rain overnight. By morning the rain subsided. A few light showers gave way to a spectacular rainbow over the boats, a mystical gateway to our last day on the river.   

Ciru was our guide today. We told him the same story we've told every guide the last few days. More wading and less fishing from the boat. And we'd like to get a wolf fish. 

This clip was supposed to end with me catching a fish. It didn't. 

Ciru tried. Anywhere a wolf fish might be found on our beat, he put us in a position to catch one. With some of the most spectacular river scenery yet. We did catch more fish. More peacock bass. More piranha. But no wolf fish. Until...

It was late afternoon. Time was running out. Last day. Last afternoon. Ciru guided me to a spot where a feeder stream flowed into the Iriri. I was casting across the stream to a rock face under a tree. Another likely wolf fish lair. Harlan was wading upriver with the native guides.  Far enough away that we could barely hear the commotion. I saw Nee running back and shouting. Ciru looked at me and said "He has a wolf fish!".  I said "Go get the picture!" There was no way I could get across the stream and to Harlan's location in time. "Wait. Do you have a camera?" Ciru shook his head no. I knew Harlan left his in the boat. "Here..." I tossed my phone to him. "If it locks out, the pin is [REDACTED]". Ciru was across the stream and out of sight in seconds, heading to Harlan's location, carrying my phone with my entire life on it, and with the pin that accessed everything. No matter. Getting the picture was the only thing that mattered now. 

He got the picture. A lot of them.

Harlan later described what I did not see: 

"We spent 7 days at the Kendjam Camp fishing on the Iriri River. Caught 8 species of fish I’d never seen before but the Amazonian Wolf Fish had evaded me. On the last day, in the last hour, on my last cast before heading back to camp I caught this beast. The native Kayapo warrior behind me, Bep bu Di, jumped in to the neck-deep water to net this fish. An amazing experience all around." - HW

Amazing indeed. What a way to finish. Almost mystical. 

With the magicians: L to R - MW, Nee, Ciru, HW, Bep bu Di

Our last dinner at the lodge tasted particularly good. 

A magical day. A magical week. A magical trip. 

All that's left to say is  "I told you."

Oh wait. Almost forgot. The Requisite Daily Token Heller Fish Pic...

Larry also caught a Wolf Fish.

Amazon Adventure Day 9 - "Arise Fishers of Iriri! A Flyrod Day! A Red Day! A Pacu Day!"

Catch of the Day - Harlan Catches Pacu

 Fishing Day 4:

Guide: Joao (JV)
Native Guides: Foguinho, Pebcue
Fishing Beat: 1
QOD (Quote of the Day): "We'll get a Wolf Fish on the last afternoon of the last day." - MW

Back on the river with Joao as our guide. We're now past the halfway point for our fishing days on the Iriri River. Frankly, the experience thus far has already wildly exceeded my expectations for the trip. I'm having a great time bonding with my brother and cousins. We're embedded deep in the Amazon wilderness, surrounded by wildlife everywhere we look - under the water; on land, and in the air. And we're catching more fish, different fish, and bigger fish, than I dared to expect. Great experiences all around.

Despite exceeding all expectations, we still want more. And now we want to catch a wolf fish. This becomes our challenge to the 3 guides we'll have over the remaining 3 days. Spoiler Alert: It doesn't happen today with JV, despite no lack of trying on his part. But we do have another great day on Iriri. 

On The Boat:

Another Peacock Bass

Another Jakunda

Another Bicuda

On The Shore: 

We put ashore and...  

JV hacks us through a jungle trail to one of the many Iriri River braids...

... and prime Wolf Fish water, where....

... we fail to catch a Wolf Fish. 

After lunch, motivated by some mild stimulants, we cut short our rest time and did a little wet wading. To cool off, we took a a quick dip in the river, despite Teddy's warning:

"Piranha habits are in some ways inexplicable. We saw men frequently bathing unmolested; but there are places where this is never safe, and in any place if a school of the fish appear swimmers are in danger; and a wounded man or beast is in deadly peril if piranhas are in the neighborhood. Ordinarily it appears that an unwounded man is attacked only by accident. Such accidents are rare; but they happen with sufficient frequency to justify much caution in entering water where piranhas abound." - Teddy Roosevelt, "Through the Brazilian Wilderness" 

These pics were taken a few minutes and a few feet apart:

Another large piranha today. 

And another Peacock Pose with another nice Peacock Bass

At the end of the day, we went Pacu hunting again. The Pacu is a challenging fish to catch. It is a vegetarian, eating primarily algae, nuts, berries, and leaves. So lures and flies that imitate fish and insects are generally not effective. Both yesterday and today JV put us on a Pacu boil where we could see them taking food off the surface all around the boat. I abandoned the spin rig for my backup flyrod with a green shoefly. Neither of us could entice a Pacu yesterday. Today Harlan hit paydirt and caught several. 

A pacu boil.

A pacu catch.

A pacu. 

That wraps up our fishing for the day. Time for the Heller Token Catch of the Day:

Larry's Rubber Pacu. By his own admission, a lucky catch. 

No wolfies but another great day on the Iriri. Important to note that in the QOD (see above), I made a bold prediction this day. Perhaps it is not so bold. These things seem just seem to happen that way. When Sigrid and I were on a dive trip in Papua New Guinea, we told our divemaster that we wanted to see Hammerhead Sharks. It was the last dive of the last day when we saw a hammerhead swim casually by us. When we were touring in Ranthambore in India, we wanted to see a wild tiger. It was on almost the last game drive on the way back to the lodge that a tiger crossed our path. I think this is called "foreshadowing". 

Anyway, can't say enough about how much I appreciate this crew...

 From L to R - JV, HW, Foguinho, Pebcue, MW

After a day like this, dinner was particularly tasty. 

Forgot to take a pic of dessert. Which was delicious.