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Planning and Having the Trip of a Lifetime
You are just
sitting in front of your TV on a Saturday morning and you are
watching these guys throwing great big plugs which look like a
small motor boat going across the water, and just like in the
movies a swell appears behind the bait just like JAWS and you
say to yourself “here she comes” then the explosion and he yells
“fish on!”. Man oh man, what I wouldn’t do to go on a trip like
that. Well, I did!
I know it had to be at least ten years ago when
my buddy Tony and I started talking about a trip to the Amazon
to catch the famous Peacock Bass on these baits that were so big
it took a large rod to throw them. Back then my largest rod was
a “Flippin Stik”. Talking became a reality. I started doing my
homework and at the Fred Hall Show I found an outfitter that
provided trips to the Amazon. Watching the video shows in the
booth with these fish exploding on top water plugs and hearing
about the fish stories, I was ready to go right then. Sign me
up! When you get excited sometimes you have to tell yourself to
slow down, I did. NOT! I started putting together the guys
that I felt would enjoy this trip. Putting together a trip like
this is not an easy task. Booking flights, transportation, over
night stays, and the list goes on. Try this one on for size, an
airline that you have tickets decided that they were no longer
going to fly into the United States. Now we have to fight for
that refund and then make another purchase of airline tickets.
What about the trip canceling because of high waters, so we had
to reapply for our VISA’s as the original VISA was no longer
valid due to the 90 days use it or lose it. Choosing a new time
frame that would accommodate eight different lives, work
schedules, vacations the word I kept hearing was “be flexible”
and you have to be! It was easy for me because of my friendship
with the local tackle stores that have gone on this trip prior
to our group, contacting and receiving the good skinny of what
to expect was very helpful to make this trip a success.
I contacted Jonah from Hi’s Tackle Box, John
Bidwell from Fisherman’s Warehouse and Phil from Phil’s Prop
Shop. Each one of these guys gave me an overview of the
preparation of everything that we would need.
After taking in all that information I
learned that you are going to need special lures, rods, reels,
fishing line, clothing, hats, sandals, medical supplies, bug
spray and sunscreen. You are going to be gone for approximately
ten days. Three and a half days of total traveling and six and
a half days of fishing. Yes, I am
about to throw you a submarine curve ball, you are only
allowed 44 pounds, “WHAT? 44 pounds”! You have to be kidding
me! My rod tube weighs ten. My five rods, five reels and all
those Amazon lures, I’ll be running around naked like all the
natives! I have the fishing tackle but I didn’t have enough
room for the clothes. Oh well, start downsizing. And that went
on for weeks! Oh, and to add to the list you have to get
special shots for the Amazon and Malaria pills! Then you are
going to need a passport and a VISA to get into Brazil! A lot
of this can be taken care of through your outfitter. Steve with
Adventure Travel
Alliance drove up from Southern California to where we had a
meeting and he went over all the “do’s and don’ts”. Jonah from
Hi’s Tackle Box also came out for another meeting to inform us.
Hats off to both of them! Class acts! This is information
that came straight from their mouth to my teams ears. A lot of
these guys are getting information on their own and with my
information just adds more stuff to the pile that is why it is
very important to have people like these outfitters come out and
help.
Making a trip like this enjoyable, organization
is critical. Copies of all conversations, email, faxes,
anything that has to do with your trip, keep it in a safe
place. For this trip a paper trail was a must because of the
problems we are still experiencing! Take all your information
on transportation to and from the airports, flights to and from
the locations, motel reservations and keep all the information
at your fingertips. When you are going to a third world country
not being organized can get you into a lot of trouble.
Lay out all your equipment and one by one log
everything onto an inventory list. There are two reasons for
this, one is that it makes it a lot easier to have a check off
list so nothing is left behind and number two, if anything is
missing or stolen through the airline system, and we all know
how good that system is for us travelers, the first question
they will ask you is, do you have an inventory list or can you
jot down what is missing? I took photos and the inventory list
with me. I also made a copy of my passport and VISA. Remember
where you are at. All I can say is be prepared.
The actual fun started when I began modifying the
lures getting them ready to do battle with a fish that I had
heard will put a whooping on you. I started this with my
Striped Bass gear so I was ahead of the game. You cannot go to
the Amazon with ordinary bass tackle. The split rings on your
plugs and the hooks are not strong enough. Recommendation;
hyper-wire split rings with Daiichi 4X and 7X hooks. The key in
planning for this trip of a life time is to plan it in advance.
Give yourself some time to accumulate the gear that you will
need for this trip. Let me tell you, you do not want to buy all
the gear at once or you won’t have a wife when the bill comes
in! Purchase a little at a time and set yourself up for success
so it won’t come as such a shock! Talking to most of the guys
with all the equipment and the clothing you are right around the
$2,000 to $4,000 category but this does not include the air
fare, so again it is best to plan it in advance! When you are
driving down the freeway and you see that burger joint don’t
pull over, that is a lure! Go down and purchase a lure for the
price of that “six dollar burger” than go home and build
yourself a sandwich! Think about it, two slices of bread,
mayonnaise spread over it and a slice of ham, some lettuce and a
soft drink, you just spent less than a buck! Remember your
goal; Amazon Peacock Bass fishing keep the reality real!
 Talking about the trip, we have everything ready
to go; we board a plane from San Francisco and a little over six
hours we land in Florida. After the two to three hour lay-over,
you are on your way to Brazil! A little more than 4 hours, your
plane touches down in Manaus, Brazil. You grab all your gear
and get ready to walk out. Oh, you have to clear Customs and let
me tell you, being a six foot one white man, they will check you
and they will go through everything. I
heard of people smuggling
things out of Brazil, but into it?
I looked them dead in the eye and said to them, NO! problem!
“Yes sir, thank you sir”, and I am not an idiot, just comply as
it is your best defense! We arrived at nearly 11 o’clock at
night. The smaller plane was going to take off early the next
morning into the jungle so we had to get a room. Here is where
the fun started. We were greeted, picked up and taken to the
hotel. We were not going to need the room for very long so we
they put us up in a room that is “rented by the hour”. The
hotel was called “Playboy” and I think you get where I am going
with this. The beds were round; visualize two guys trying to
get some sleep. Not easy!
The next morning it was back to the airport into
the private plane sector. This is where the 44 pounds came into
play, they weigh our bags. We were then escorted out on the
tarmac where we could see another small plane burn to the
ground. You can imagine the thought that went through our
minds, Oh boy. Then we looked to our right and saw our plane, a
small eight seat
float plane. Like sardines in the can, the plane took
off. The next stop was fishing paradise. We landed two hours
later on the water of the Xeriuini River right in front of the
base camp then we were greeted by the staff and the crew that
had enjoyed their time there and they were leaving on the plane
that dropped us off. Hearing from this crew of what a great
time and how the fishing was for them just made us more anxious
for our fishing of a lifetime to start. As we pumped all the
information that we could out of this group they said their
good-buys and with smiles on our faces we said time for you guys
to leave. It is our camp now! Our host Wellington explained to
me that we had the run of the river. No other group was
scheduled this week. He asked me if I wanted to stay in this
camp or move to the upper camp. I asked him where the best
fishing was. He said to get a rod with a rip bait on it and
come with me. In less than thirty seconds I was ready to go.
We both jumped into a small boat with one of the guides, we
!drove up the bank about one hundred yards and he started
throwing a spook. He said when you see the swirl, throw yours
behind my bait. Just then I saw a fish move his spook so I
quickly tossed in behind his bait. Let me tell you something,
I’ve caught fifteen pound black bass, I’ve caught over thirty
pound striped bass, a Black Marlin that weighed over four
hundred pounds and I have been told how hard these fish can hit
but you cannot prepare yourself. This fish hit my plug so hard
before I could say anything; he had stripped off six feet of
line and was coming out of the water. I couldn’t even get a
word out of my mouth. Unbelievable! This five pound Peacock
busted the surface three or four times which put me in awe. In
the next three minutes I had an eight pound “Three Bar” Peacock
Bass, two about five pounds and the fifth broke my 30 pound test
like it was nothing. I know my eyes were wide and my jaw was on
the floor. All I could do was to say, “I think our group would
like to stay in this area as it looks like it will be good
fishing!”
The accommodations were primitive, huts made out
of wood and leaves for the roof. Gilligan’s Island at a
glance! But air conditioners were installed in the rooms which
made sleeping bearable. You are in the Amazon! Some of my
roommates were geckos, frogs, tarantulas and even a bat not
counting your partner. The food for our meals was good, not
five star but you could live on it. Piranha soup was one of the
highlights, excellent! Don’t get me wrong, everything was
eatable, fruits, cheese, meat, and hot meals for dinner,
chicken, cow and of course fish with some special dishes, turtle
and a large tropical rodent that they called a Paca, not bad,
tastes like chicken! I rate it a 7. But for the Amazon it was
probably a 10.
 The fishing morning started about 6:30 and ended
at about 5:30. You are fishing a river system so understanding
eddies, peninsulas, sand bars, wood structures, anywhere the
water changed direction most likely had a fish. As the water
receded, lakes appeared. Some of us pulled our boats up
waterfalls, hacked our way through the jungle with a machete and
some had to take the boat motor off and carry the boat over land
to get into some of the hidden lakes. My partner Eric Bergin
and I pull our boat with our guide Camute up a waterfall,
through a small creek where we watched piranha, rays and schools
of tropical fish by the hundreds swim under the boat and around
our feet. We broke out into a lush lake surrounded by jungle
where green parrots and macaws flew over our heads. In the
distance we could hear territorial battles going on between
Haller monkeys. They sound like a jet motor with all their
commotion. We had arrived! This is the Amazon Jungle!! You
are alone, no phones, no planes, no cars and no communication to
the outside world. It is an eye opener. Excitement! But yet a
little nervousness goes through your body. All of this is
thrown right out the door when you throw that big wood chopper
and a ten pound Peacock explodes all over it pulling line and
running not out to deep water but right back to the bank in the
thickest junk that fish could find. All I could do is lock down
the drag of my Abu Garcia Record 50’s and hold on. As the
Peacock pulled the boat our guide was paddling backward as fast
as he could to keep the bass out of the brush. Unbelievable!
 Eric and I caught over 130 fish in this lake, every cast doubles
and that was not just him and I, I mean two fish on one bait!
The stories I could tell you, how we would catch one and watch
four to ten of them chasing the one with the lure. Absolutely
amazing! When one threw the bait another one grabbed it. After
the first day I was beat up, traveling and now fishing for nine
hours, long day. Tackle took its’ toll. Screws pulled out of
wood choppers, props bent, hooks mangled, lures broke, paint
chipped off and we had to re-spool because of the Cudas,
Piranhas, and Trieda. All three of these species have big sharp
teeth. Sixty-five pound test Spider Wire Stealth was what I
spooled up for a lot of the guys and myself. Abu Garcia Record
50 Reel on a Fenwick 7 foot 6, fifteen to thirty pound Salt Stik
made throwing the large baits effortless. Several of the guys
could not throw these big baits on their smaller rods, too hard
on their bodies. I brought along extra hooks, split rings, and
cannibalized components off of one plug for another.
The largest fish for our group was Eric’s 16 plus
pound “Three Bar”. My largest was a 15.5 pound “Three Bar”
however I caught a Butterfly Peacock just under 13 pounds making
this an unofficial World Record! Hard to certify anything
hundreds of miles in the jungle, oh well, bragging rights! Each
day was an adventure, Crocodiles chasing your plugs, our guide
pulling right up to a Tapir trying to escape the boat to get out
of the water. The fishing was remarkable. My buddy Tony Ragone
and I fished the last day together. We stood shoulder to
shoulder and in more than thirty casts we both had fish on at
the same time, every cast! It got to the point where we were
laughing so hard, what a trip! Would I go back, YES! When, as
soon as I can afford it but I have to save up my burger money.
What can I tell you that I have not already? A quote from
Weldon Birch, one of the guys in my group, was, “our California
Black Bass are lazy compared to these Peacocks”! That sums it
up.
I would like to thank the tackle store owners
with the information that helped us with our trip; Jonah, John
and Phil also Steve at
Adventure Travel Alliance plus my eight
man team which, putting together the right people made it a
great adventure. Tony, Mark, Armand, Weldon. Eric, Rick and
Jeff plus Wellington’s crew that took care of our needs in the
jungle and most of all , my guide Camute but mainly our wives
for allowing us to be gone right before Christmas!
Randy Pringle,
The Fishing Instructor
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