I’m back to my early up routine today here on the Marié River in the Amazon. The chef had the coffee ready at 5:30 and I headed on the deck of the Untamed Amazon to work on my blog and watch the sunrise. The skies were ominous showing signs of rain.
By the time we had breakfast there were rain showers. At 8 Rodrigo and I got in the boat with Hamilton and we motored downstream for 30 minutes decked out in full raingear. It was actually chilly but luckily the rain stopped and the sun popped by the time we arrived at a beautiful lake off the side of the river.
Rodrigo was pumped. It turns out he once landed several huge peacock bass here in one day here. It’s a special place for him and he had full confidence we were about to slay the colorful fish. Strangely however, things started extremely slow with only one butterfly and this small paca.
Slow starts are often the way things go when in search of monster fish. It doesn’t matter the species. It makes sense that if there are a bunch of giant fish, then small fish should be hiding. But one hour, two hours than three hours went past and we’d cast to almost every inch of this lagoon with nothing more than a few butterflies. There was one spot left to try and it was an island.
Rodrigo put on the DOA (Dead on Arrival) giant trevally popper used in the Seychelles. When you thrust it properly this square piece of foam makes a pop like a mallard blasting off a pond. Rodrigo had it going. If there was a big peacock bass around the beast for dang sure heard this fly.
Watching Rodrigo move this fly was hypnotizing. I was in streamer mode but I couldn’t stop watching his popper. I wanted to see the explosion. I got so engrossed that I carelessly tossed my fly high up in an overhanging tree. Hamilton was moving me in to retrieve the fly when from the deep came a nice peacock of about 8lbs for the DOA.
The DOA might have been a little big for this temensis. He circled frantically under the fly but didn’t eat. But then came another. Another of at least twice the size! And this fish didn’t think it over. However, instead of exploding on the fly he sipped the DOA like a brown trout takes a mayfly.
That will go down as one of the best fish eats I’ve seen. The three of us roared with excitement and Rodrigo’s rod bent to the hilt. It was game on and we abandoned my snagged fly. I held my line and rod out of the way and watched Rodrigo do battle.
20lb plus peacocks fight like no other. They pull you nearly overboard then when you heave them to the surface they make a splash and surge like no other fish. This happened at least five times before it looked like Hamilton was going to coral the fish with the net. But sadly, as the fish made yet another rush, the DOA came loose. Monstrous peacock gone!
We’ve all been down this road – losing a huge fish next to the boat. There’s no cursing. No yelling. Only dead silence for a minute. Then we made eye contact and the first thing out of all our mouths was, “Did you see that thing eat?!!!!”.
Hamilton eased me back in for my fly. It hung from the tree the entire battle. I unwound it and checked the leader. All good. I knew this would happen. I tossed it right where Rodrigo hooked his monster and sure enough I got the 8lb fish.
Rodrigo drilled a beer and I’m certain he was playing the fight over and over in his head. I know I would’ve been. I kept casting fishing along when wham! I hooked a good one in the center of the lake. It was a spot that was likely 6 feet deep, Not the usual peacock bass spot but I was hoping for another 20lber. I got him and he weighed 17lbs.
It was a slow action morning but we ended up hooking two incredible peacocks and landed one. That’s the Marié River. After a nice relaxing hour in the shade sipping a beer and eating our sandwiches we went back to work. We actually fished our way around the entire lagoon again but never saw another big fish. It was worth a try.
At 4:30 we made the trek back upstream to our mothership. I thought the day was over. I was ready to rest my elbow. But the boat stopped and Rodrigo said something in Portuguese to Hamilton. He liked the look of some deep pockets off a sandy beach. Back to work.
During the next half hour the bite was back on. We annihilated a heap of beautiful butterflies, a few small pacas and I got one more dandy. This is a 15lber. Somebody slap me. Is this really happening?
We saw three big fish and landed two of them today. What a day. What a place Untamed Anglings peacock bass fishery is here on the Marié River. The place is surpassing all my expectations.
We had a great evening on the boat with outstanding food and several bottles of wine. Mike Michalak’s group is a fun bunch of guys. Tomorrow Rodrigo and I will split up each fish with one of the guys.
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