The story I am about to tell you was told to me by a local Pemon Indian from the village across the La Paragua River from the HFC camp. There was another Indian present during the telling of this tale, and he says that it is true. You be your own judge.
It seems that one day while in search of food for his family, Richard, who is the Indian in question, was fishing along the bank of the La Paragua River with his Indian friend, Jose. They were trying to catch an Amara, which is a large Amazonian fish that grows in excess of 50 lbs, and has teeth like a shark. They were using pieces of cut up piranha for bait, and for the first few hours their effort had proved fruitless. Don’t believe me, just ask Al at South Fishing….he can tell you!
Then about mid morning, Richard felt a sudden yank on his line, as something took the bait into its mouth. Having quickly retrieved all the slack line, Richard wrapped the 70 lb monofilament line around his hand and proceeded to set the hook as hard as he could into whatever had taken his bait. In the blink of an eye, the line began ripping off toward the depths through Richard's cut and bleeding fingers, but he didn't let go, because this was the way Indians had caught fish for centuries. As the big fish continued to pull more line into the water, the dugout canoe the Indians were using was slowly being towed out into the river channel away from the protection of the shoreline. Still, Richard and Jose continued with an age old practice of letting the big fish fight itself down before even attempting to land it.
Then something strange happened. Both Indians were well aware that the big river fish invariably head for the depths of the river channel to do their fight, which is why they were shocked to see this fish reverse course and head for the shoreline again. As the dugout reached a point not fifteen feet from the bank, Richard watched helplessly as the line began to rise rapidly for the surface. This also was odd, because both men knew Amara seldom if ever come to the surface when fighting. Well, this one was coming up, and it was coming up fast.
Then the monster size fish broke the calm surface of the river, as it shot skyward in a heart stopping leap. Richard and Jose were also immediately aware of the fact they were not fighting a big Amara, but a peacock bass of truly gigantic proportions. Never before had either man seen a fish of this species that big, much less had a chance to land one.
Jose quickly removed his t-shirt and gave it to Richard to use as a protective covering for his lacerated hands, and the battle continued unabated with the fish taking out yards of line only to be pulled slowly back towards the boat inch by inch. With the muscles of his arms and back screaming for relief, and blood from his hands dripping into the bottom of the dugout, Richard took time to thank the river 'God' for the chance to fight the grandfather of all peacock bass, and promised to pay special respect when it was over. But the fight was long from over, as the big fish made powerful runs around and under their dugout.
Then suddenly, the fish rose to the surface not ten feet from the boat, and just hung there on the surface staring deep into Richard's eyes. Richard says he thought the fish was trying to talk to him, but he could not understand it. All he knew was that this fish was huge by anyone's calculations, and this fish was soon to be his family's food for the coming days. Such was the way of the Indian.
Having recovered some of its energy while staring at Richard, the big fish began to jump, dive, run under the boat, run around the boat, and make more short powerful runs for the river channel. Throughout all of this, Richard held on for dear life. Then just as he began to slowly but surely drew the fish near enough to the boat to allow Jose to grab it by the tail - the unthinkable happened. The fish made one more might turn causing the steel fish hook to straighten out, and the monster fish, now free of restraints, slowly sank back to the depths from which it had come.
Now you or I would have been traumatized by this terrible turn of events, but Richard merely said a quick thank you to the river 'God' for having been given the chance to witness such fish. Then he and Jose began to discuss what had just taken place, and they both decided this fish must have been at least 15 kilos in weight. Neither man had seen a fish near that big before, but hopefully they would again sometime in the future.
Friends, these events did not take place like ten years ago, but two weeks ago very near the area we are currently fishing with our clients. I wish I could tell you that we could put each and every one of you on such a fish to fight, but we can't. We do know fish similar to it are there for those anglers lucky enough to have a chance at them.
This past weekend HFC had a group of anglers arrive for the first ever trip to our camp, and hopefully it won't be the last. Lead by the father, Peter Bradley, there were also his sons, Peter Jr., Paul, and Michael, their cousin, Guillermo Katz, their charter pilot and HFC veteran, Jacobo Reyes, and his aircraft mechanic, Enrique. Michael and Guillermo had never fished before in their lives for anything, so they were in for a special treat.
The first fish Guillermo had ever caught in his life was an 11 lb beauty landed fifteen minutes after starting to fish. Michael, who didn't have Guillermo's luck, still boated 8 fish up to 8 lbs the first session, and lost several others. Peter Bradley Jr. led all fishermen the first session with a 13lb chunk of peacock bass.
On the second day of fishing, Peter Sr. hook and fought a truly giant peacock bass, only to have it tear loose under the boat after having battled with this beast for five minutes. Yozuris and Rapalas in the 4-5 inch models were the primary baits used, but Jumpin Minnows and Super spooks also boated some quality fish up to 13 lbs. The fish were coming up´and slapping at the prop baits, but for some crazy reason they would not take them in their mouths. All in all, this group boated in excess of 200 peacock bass with a good percentage of them 8 lbs or larger.
We are still fishing our newfound area upriver form the camp with great success, and with the seasonal rains beginning any day, this area will only get better. Payara fishing has been slow to date, but with the rains beginning that will change dramatically, so get you spinnerbaits ready.
Folks, as good as our fishing has been the past few months, the prime time for big péacock bass is now upon us. For the next few months, top-water action will be plentiful, and this is when a man can make his fishing dreams come true. Don't be left out on the action, because all it takes is for you to drop South Fishing an email stating your preferred dates and number of people in your group, and I will do what I can to help you plan a trip of a lifetime.
We are open year-round, except Christmas and New Years. After all we need some time with family too.
Regards,
Steve Shoulders Headwaters Fishing Club,
Lake Guri, Venezuela
When I first started reading the report from Steve, I was thinking about one of the 300# catfish that also inhabit the lake/river. When Steve was the manager of Puedpa Lodge back in the late 80's, early 90's - he used to put out grappling hooks with whole beef hearts on them tied off to metal barrels on shore, connected to a logging chain tied to a tractor. One night after setting out baits in several strategic areas, he came back the next morning to find no barrels, the chain links broken and the tractor moved about 25 ft! Never did find the barrels - probably got stuck in the drowned forest.
The Amara is one scary looking fish when it opens it's mouth. Otherwise it just looks like a dogfish (bowfin). Dave Bowen and I were fishing out of Puedpa in 1991, when he hooked a ten pound (est) pavon on a fly popper. The guide (quatro pollo - funny name - long story) attempted to net it several times, but each time it became frantic and dove under the boat. After several attempts, he decided to just pull the leader up and release the fish. As he was doing so, an Amara came up from behind, biting down on the Pavon short of the dorsal fin clean to the bone and stripping the meat right off the fish. You've seen the skeleton logos - now I know where they got the idea! Later that day I caught an Amara on another small Pavon about 2#, also on a fly popper. It latched on in the same fashion, but Quatro was able to net them both. The teeth are like that of large constrictor snakes - pointing back to the gaping, bacterial infested mouth. Once clamped down on prey, it can't release it, without swallowing first. Northern Snakeheads are similar.
My largest Pavon to date is 12# on a fly popper with writer Jerry Gibbs, when we fished La Paragua camp that owned at the time by Erland von Sneidern. My mentor, Jim Chapralis, was also on the trip and caught one well over 15# same bay of the lake - one of my poppers. We were down there to fish for the Payara. If you go on our webpage, you'll see me holding a 24# Payara - which sliced my right thumb thru the ligament. Still numb to this day.
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