Dang it! I’m sick as a dog. If home I’d not venture far from bed. But today I’m in the Amazon and I’d have to be dying before this group could leave me behind. Today was a three hour adventure straight upstream from Xingu River Lodge. To be exact it was a beautiful three hour and ten minute drive up rapids, across lakes, through rolling hills and more. Once the Advil and Dayquil kicked in it was easy to forget I was ill.
It was a stunning ride. Three hours sounds long but every mile the terrain changed. We caught a glimpse of an otter. I’m certain we were viewed by jaguars, tapirs and more. The birds too were incredible. Occasionally a pair of macaws would fly out to examine their intruders. Rodrigo says they are attracted to the sound of our motors.
I never like to waste any time either. On big trips like this I drag along my sharpies, as most of you have seen this week on IG. I make an effort to draw a fish on the choice of gear for every one of the guides. There are five guides this week so there’s no time to waste. As we worked our way upstream I knocked out a Patagonia brown trout.
I believe the only one in todays group that has ever ventured this far up the Xingu is Rodrigo. Even our Kayapo boatmen had not been up here. Rodrigo did this back during his original exploration of the area before building the lodge.
We were at the mouth of a creek and we fished our way up. I was with Ross and our boat took the left side and Joe and Rodrigo fished the right. It was thick jungle all around us. We moved a few small matrinxa but overall it was eerily slow fishing.
After an hour we turned around and returned to the main river. Rodrigo felt there were hardly any fish because of all the rain we have been having and that when the water is rising fish move to the main river. He was right. We drifted the main river banks and along the protruding rocks below the creek mouth and started hammering matrinxas and peacocks. Ross and I doubled up. Mine is a matrinxa and Ross has the strange looking bicuda.
Despite good fishing spots we had to be on the move. With the long drive this morning then the trip up the creek it was already afternoon and we were three hours upstream. The last thing we wanted to do was be upstream in no man’s land and then have to navigate this treacherous river after dark. Even after Ross landed this gorgeous matrinxa it was time for another 30 minutes jaunt downstream.
We mixed the rotation and I ended the day with Joe. Joe and I kept the amazing action going. We caught numerous more matrinxas but the black piranhas joined the party as well.
When the piranhas show up you want to choose carefully as to what flies you dare fling out there. The teeth of a piranha isn’t a gimmick from scary movies, these fish mess things up. Joes’ popper got bit in half!
Just before sunset we found ourselves in the payara holes near the lodge. Joe and I worked it hard for 30 minutes. We each got one bite. Today was the first day of the trip without landing a payara. But that was kind of the plan. Today was about the journey up the Xingu. Time for dinner and bed. I am wrecked and I need to be ready for tomorrow, our last day.
If this is a trip you want to do (and you are crazy if you don’t!) you can Contact me, Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures or Untamed Angling.
For more pics from trips check out my Instagram page @jeffcurrier65
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