One of the largest, most productive and most exciting peacock bass fisheries in the Amazon has essentially lain fallow for three years in a row. Starting with the unusually severe drought of 2005 and then followed by two years of failed negotiations with the resident tribal leaders, the Igapo Acu region of the Rio Madeira basin hasn't seen a fishing lure in quite some time. It's natural for anglers to expect a fishery to respond to such a long period of disuse by a measurable rise in productivity when they finally return. Well, it certainly did respond, but it went way beyond simply measurable. It went way beyond any of our expectations. We found ourselves in the midst of a gigantic protected reserve full of wild and aggressive peacocks. You can almost guess what happened next.
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| Big Fish Amazon |
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| Big Fish Amazon |
We caught enormous numbers of fish! We caught them on everything, jigs and plugs and stick baits and especially propbaits. These peacocks were so aggressive that they struck woodchoppers and riprollers and Caribe pavon props with total abandon. The only reason anglers might catch more on other baits was that it simply takes longer to unhook fish from the big propeller lures. The amazing productivity and the sheer fun of catching hundreds of these wild predators each week made even experienced anglers giddy with excitement. The tremendous numbers of fish we landed during our stay in the region surprised even our most grizzled veteran peacock fishermen.
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| Big Fish Amazon |
Our first group arrived to slightly high water levels that were dropping steadily, creating perfect fishing conditions. Eight anglers combined for a total of 2,349 peacocks during the week, with plenty of big trophies landed - and plenty more lost! 21 peacocks over 10 pounds were weighed in. Could it possibly get better? It did!
The 2008 fall dry season has been very normal and predictable in the southern Amazon Basin. Coupled with a remarkably bountiful fishery, conditions were ripe for a repeat performance by our second group. They outdid themselves. The presence of a core cadre of seasoned peacock fishermen, together with the great conditions yielded a total of 3,796 peacock bass for the week. One pair of anglers ended the week with a mindboggling total of 910 peacock bass for the week!
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| Big Fish Amazon |
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| Big Fish Amazon |
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| Big Fish Amazon |
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| Big Fish Amazon |
