"Want to Photograph a Big Fish?"

Excerpted with author’s permission from:

PEACOCK BASS ADDICTION! BOOK 3 ©1999 by Larry Larsen

Chapter 5 JUFARI HI-JINKS
Explosive Brazilian action from tropical bass

As the guide nudged the outboard into gear and pointed the bow up the lagoon, I lofted a cast near the small cove that interrupted the rainforest-shrouded bank. We were into our troll just about 20 feet when the attack took place.

My medium-heavy action rod exploded with one of the most astonishing strikes of my life. The giant peacock bass slammed the huge spoon like a train going the other way, and the beefy, 7-foot rod splintered in front of the cork foregrip upon the impact.
My reaction was to grab the remaining 5-foot “section” and point the staff skyward to absorb the powerful charge of the fish as it headed toward some submerged brush near the bank. My efforts to keep the rod trip up were futile, as the monster pulled line from the drag on my firmly attached casting reel. My 60-pound test braid held, but I had more than my hands full trying to combat the awesome peacock.

“Quick…” I screamed to my partner, “Grab a hold and help me keep the rod tip up.”
Quickly my agile friend jumped over the seat and joined in my fight. As he kept the rod tip section pointed up, I slowly gained back line from a fish that was finally tiring some. Slowly, our team effort pulled the fish toward the boat.

The grand fish jumped three times clearing the surface as we kept tension on the line and prayed. The Pet Spoon’s single hook stayed implanted in the fish’s jaw and the line and Cross-Lok snap swivel remained intact. We were both elated when my guide Sebastiao slid the net under the giant. We quickly weighed and photographed the destructive fish. The peacock bass weighed 17 ¼ pounds on my partner’s small scale. …That big fish was my first and most exciting action that day in the Jufari River system in northern Brazil.

Another angler also caught his two biggest peacocks of the week that day. The twins weighed 14 ¼ pounds each and came from two different lagoons. We caught several others up to 12 ½ pounds in the blackwater lakes off the Amazon tributary.
The week in the rainforest was a very successful one for me. I caught two monsters, one 20 and the other 22 pounds, and eight other “teeners” during the week, but none of them shattered my rod. My equipment fared well in the four great lakes that I found that week. My guide and I searched some 25 different waters to find the deeper lakes that held the giants. Friend T.O. McLean actually beat me into one of them on day two.

I had quickly caught a five pound peacock from the mouth of a lagoon when I heard a voice from behind the trees separating the main water body from the “boca”.
“Want to photograph a big fish?” he asked. “ I caught an 18-pounder as I started to troll my Woodchopper.”

Needless to say, we rounded the point of trees and got our photos. The fish measured 32 inches and was released in healthy condition. It was the same lake where two days later I caught a 34-inch long 20-pounder. In fact, I caught and released three other giants in those waters. That lake was adjacent to an even better “secret” lake, as host Rodolfo Fernandez and guide Sebastiao Ferreira Brito called it.

Secrets Revealed
Our secret lake held even more giants and was much smaller. Brito discovered it from the lay of the horizon, and Fernandez, an expert fly fisherman, and I checked it out early in the week. The circular lagoon dropped off quickly into 30 feet of water. The super-deep lake was a caster’s lake, too small to even consider trolling. My Woodchoppers explored every part of the surface over a five-hour period, but my partner started off with his fly rod.

Within an hour after discovering the lagoon, Fernandez caught a giant, 25-inch long butterfly peacock that weighed over 8 pounds and had a 15 inch girth. The fish struck one of Fernandez’ hand-tied creations that he calls the “Ariramba Fly”. My action soon followed. On a Peacock Bass colored Big Game Woodchopper and the silver Pet Spoon that day, I caught 11 over 10 pounds, including two 15 pounders and my 22 pounder (which also measured 34 inches). The latter fish struck at 11:30 a.m. Fernandez caught his biggest fish of the week an hour later after switching to conventional casting equipment and a Woodchopper, and it weighed 15 pounds.
As expected, those two lakes cooled on my second and third attempts to enjoy their bounty. I and my partner could count on one or two giants from the previously “red-hot holes”. My clown pattern Woodchopper cast to deep, open waters paid off handsomely early in the week, but a trolled Number 18 Pet Spoon was responsible for several giants the last half of the week.

Overall, though, I had a very good week on the Rio Jufari, tallying 124 peacocks that included 28 fish over 10 pounds. My best “numbers” day was 32, but my catch each day was double-digit. My second and third full days on the waters were best in terms of giants, or “teeners”, with three each. During the week, I caught two 13-pounders, five 15-pounders, one 17-pounder, two 19-pounders and the two over 20 pounds.

Jungle Atmosphere
There are lots of water birds along the Rio Jufari, including giant storks, kingfishers flying from tree to tree along the meandering waterway, hawks, egrets and multi-colored herons. On this trip I noticed more indigenous ducks puddling around and more terns constantly diving on schools of minnows than I have seen on any other rainforest waters. Several other species of birds including scarlet ibis, macaws, parrots and parakeets were sighted.

We also saw otters and a couple of “jacare” or caiman. Capybara, sloth, and even monkeys are sometimes seen around lakes and lagoons on of the Jufari. In the waters swimming with peacock bass are many species of fish with awesome teeth, freshwater stingrays and dolphin, and many other varieties of colorful forage fish.

In fact, we came across some of the tropical fish netters in one area of the river. They had set out containment or “holding” nets for their stock. Much of the discus, tetras and other colorful exotic freshwater aquarium fish are collected in the tributaries around Barcelos. The Rio Negro town with a population of about 7,000, is called the “tropical aquarium fish capital of the world.”

The tropical fish catchers are native river people, called “caboclos” who pack in supplies at Barcellos and then, with their families, slowly motor the 50 miles or so upstream to the Jufari River area where we were fishing. They travel in creaky, overloaded houseboats once the rainy season is over. They eke out a living from the rivers flowing into the Rio Negro.

From primitive fishing camps, some also hunt turtles with traps scattered around in lagoons. They use low-riding dugout canoes and catch food fish with their handlines. They also dab feathered lures from cane-type poles in brushy areas along the banks as they scull the dugout with their free hand. And, they do quite well catching sport fish.

As waters rise to make navigation again less hazardous and their harvest peaks, they head downstream to their villages and rainy season quarters. When not on the water during the dry season, they can be found scattered along the banks of the Negro living in stilted houses setting on tiny patches of cleared land from the rainforest.

Safari Camp
Our accommodations for the week were River Plate Outfitter’s mobile, floating camps, called “Jungalows”. The comfortable two-person tent barges are on 10 foot by 15 foot platforms, each with toilet, river shower, sink facilities, lights, ventilation fans, table and chair. They have fully screened walls, carpeting, canvas roof and an aluminum entry door. The main screened-in lodge barge has a lounge area and bar situated on the river bank and usually adjoining a white sand beach.

The aluminum-hulled barges draw just a few inches of water, ideal for mobility in shallow waters.

The safari camp accommodates up to 8 anglers per week during the low-water “season” … (and) offers daily maid/laundry service. There is no “roughing it” in this camp.
The camp’s narrow-hulled fishing craft are 18-foot aluminum boats with 40 h.p. outboards, ideal to easily traverse the waterscape of the more remote tributaries. They can access the numerous “furos” or backwater river channels and the “igarapies” or narrow creeks that parallel the main river.

On The Move
River Plate Outfitter’s operation often puts you on smaller tributaries that can be accessed via shallow-draft boats or, in some cases, only by float plane. ... River Plate uses aerial observation to locate prime fishing areas. The remote waters often lie above natural boating barriers such as shallow river mouth sandbars.

Running The River
When I first laid eyes on the Jufari River, it was about two days after my guide had first laid his eyes on it. He had not been on the water before, so, in effect, we were both exploring the massive waterway. Experience definitely comes into play when moving through unknown waters.

There are certain keys to “running a river” successfully without hitting a lot of sand bars. Here are some of the clues which indicate current and a deeper river channel when it all seems like a maze of shallow waters separated by numerous islands and flooded marsh. Knowing what to look for will help keep navigation safe and maximize the fishing time.
riffles over sand bars,
movement of aquatic grass,
high banks,
taller, larger trees,
wakes of small limbs,
sandy, shallow inner bends,
debris in trees from higher waters,
bubbles,
fallen trees,
eroded banks,
sharp slopes,
leaf movement,
oxbow direction with inner-bend bushes and outside deeper banks.

You can order and purchase this book or any other in Larry Larsen’s Peacock Bass series at http://www.peacockbassassociation.com/ .