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By Octavio Araujo (B.G.) www.flyonline.com.br
We load our baggage into the boat that will be our home for the next 10 days and depart the docks, leaving the chaos in our trail and entering the oppressive serenity of the jungle. We'll go up the Rio Negro, then up the Rio Unini, to finally arrive at our destination, a small tributary of the Rio Unini, a trip that will take 3 days. We sleep in hammocks as the landscape goes by, at times I can't see the other margin of the river. The distance between the margins of the Rio Negro at some places is of 25 miles. It's almost an inland sea of freshwater.
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After 3 days we finally arrive in the afternoon at the mouth of this small tributary. Our anticipation to fish is high so we immediately put the jon boats on the water and go after our prize. We have only 2 hours to fish before the sun sets. On my second cast I have a feisty 4 pound Peacock Bass at the end of my line, and then another one on the next cast, a few casts later we have the first action of big fish, but he missed the attack. That's when I realized the place had an incredible number of Peacock Bass. We came back to our "house boat" and started to make plans for the next day. It was decided that my boat would go up the tributary for about an hour, to fish a remote lake.
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I'm awakened by the loud sounds of a group of macaws nearby, it's 5:45 AM as we quickly eat something before going out for our first full day of fishing. As we enter the lake I can almost feel the presence of big fish. Soon we see action, as a pair of large Peacock Bass corral and attack a school of baitfish. The baitfish gets so panicked that some even jump out onto dry land! It's a world of eat or be eaten.
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You can and should keep a few Peacock Bass if you're not coming back to the main boat for lunch, but never keep a large fish. The largest fish are always the best spawners and must be kept alive. At midday we usually cook some fish in one of the several white sand beaches of the area, and swim at the river to refresh from the intense heat. There is no danger of Piranhas, since they are only dangerous in locked lagoons, but you should always shuffle your feet instead of stepping, to avoid Stingrays. But probably the most dangerous thing in Amazon to fishermen is the sun and heat. Always use sun protection, drink plenty of water and avoid fishing during midday. There are very few biting mosquitoes in these black water rivers due to the high acidity of its water, which prevents successful reproduction of these insects.
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The right fly selection is extremely important if you want to
catch a nice fish. Large Peacock Bass eat some pretty large
baitfish, so you must use very large flies. Avoid using anything
smaller than 6 or 7 inches, otherwise you'll probably just hook
small fish. Personally I like streamers and divers over 8 inches
in length tied on strong 3/0 to 5/0 hooks. They don't care much
about colors, just be sure to bring plenty of white and dark
shaded flies. Noisy divers are great and provoke amazing attacks,
but sometimes streamers that push a lot of water catch more fish.
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