It had taken three days to arrive at our destination but at
last we were in the camp and waiting to go out onto the river for our first
session. With temperatures of 35C+ in
the shade we would wait until about 2 hours before dark before we went, then fish
for two hour into dark, it seemed a good session and with luck plenty of time
to catch fish.
We already knew the river was not in the best of conditions
since the rainy season had been weeks late and instead of the moderately low
river we had hoped for it was at least two metres above normal levels. This gave two different detrimental effects
to our chances, first was that the water had gone well back into the trees in
many places and some fish went with it.
The second was that many of the previous trips productive areas could
not be fished since the flow was too fast at these higher levers, we should be
fishing many holes that went down 70ft or more and we would not hold in the
main stream over quite a number of them.
That first afternoon was enough to show that things were not going to be
the same as the previous trip in Sept 2012;
then numerous fish were caught, and four of the anglers caught 200lb plus fish
with three of these getting yet another 200lb plus fish of a different
species. We would still get our chances
and knowing that any moment a monster could pick up the bait makes for exciting
fishing.
The main 3 bit of tackle used. tandum trace, single hook and silver spoon.The hole in the nut shows it had hatched already.
Laurence holds a fine peacock bass.
My tackle comprised of a four piece travel spinning rod of
30gr-50gr power, this was added to a three piece 30-50 uptider rod. As a back-up for extreme power there was
also a 5ft 50lb boat rod that looked a real beast and could tackle anything
this river could offer. The spinning
rod was primarily for bait catching on bits of fish and the grubs that we were
shown. These grubs are found inside a local
nut similar to an almond nut and just as hard.
You find one without a small exit hole and cut it with a machete to give
access to the centre where the grub is waiting to emerge. Great bait but I would not like to try and
get a gallon of them for a barbel fishing attack. The
peacock bass would also be targeted using the spinning rod using lures and they
would give terrific sport on the light rod.
It had been coupled with a standard fixed spool reel loaded with 50lb
braid and when bait catching, it was necessary to use a wire trace to beat the
piranha. It would appear that there are
five different species of these notorious fish in the area and I saw three of
them with the black piranha being the largest.
These were one of the best baits.
Red belly and Black pirahna
Little fish, big teeth.
These were one of the best baits.
Red belly and Black pirahna
Little fish, big teeth.
These were to prove
to be a right pest since they will bite through 150lb braid as though it was
not there. Time and time again you would
reel in and find the lower of the two hooks in use had gone along with half the
fish bait you were using. For some of
the target fish it was necessary to use wire and for this we had 100lb test
available although the black piranha can bite through even this. Hooks were size 10.0 singles and about 5.0
for the trebles, both in a very strong pattern. My line on the uptider rod was 100lb+ braid using
a Shimano 6500 reel, a choice I was to regret but more of that later. I find it extremely difficult to use the
standard RH multiplier reels and the 50lb class boat rod had such a reel in
place with 200lb braid loaded for bear but I rarely used it.
Andy with one of the wolfish.Now, they are wiskers
Over the next few days we fished hard, out just after dawn,
about 6.0am and we fished through to 11.00am when it began to get very hot out
on the river in direct sunlight. Back
out again about 4.0pm to 8.pm and then back for the evening meal. I had taken factor 100 sunblock and it was
one of my better decisions as for the first time ever I did not burn at
all. Quite often one or more of our
smaller fish would be taken back to the camp to form part of the meal, I must
admit that although I’m not a lover of fish the fresh samples done in batter
that were delivered up were very tender and second helpings were often taken. The guides had fish stew and that they can
keep!
Our boats.
Rain did not stop play & it rained a lot.Our boats.
It was the Tuesday before we got one of the specimen fish we
had come for and I was fortunate that it fell to my rod. Andy and I had been fishing further up river
with Mark as the guide and Raymond on the motor. Mark knew the location of many deep holes
and places where fish tended to stay and we had fished about half a dozen of
these spots when we headed for what would have been our last chance for the
morning. Joe had gone with Laurence to a
location downstream in the hope of catching a fish called a wolfish; one that
needs wire to beat its formidable teeth although he was to fail on this
particular trip.
There are submerged rocks here!
Back to our spot, we had now come into an area of rocks,
lots of rocks and travelling in the boat was quite an experience, one of these
obstructions could be just below the high water level and it is a credit to
Raymond that in the whole holiday we only hit a rock once. We had been fishing both holes and long
glides, but this time we stopped at just a smallish eddy where the slight
depression in the bank allowed comparatively still water to stay just off the
main flow. My tackle at this stage was
the uptide rod; the trace was 200lb braid with a single 10.0 hook
attached. Having been fishing in strong
flows I had an 8oz lead on but now I felt it ok to take the lead off and fish
free line. The bait would be the head
half of a fish of about 2lb, lots of blood and hopefully just what was
needed. I cast into the slack and Andy
placed his bait into the flow down from the boats position, then we sat back to
wait. It was some 45 minutes later that
my line began to move and when I struck the clutch literally did begin to sing
with the aluminium sound of the spool as it spun, the clutch was set quite
tight but that did not matter to this fish and he was heading for the waterfall
a little way down from us. Holding the
spool with my left hand I eventually stopped the fish and began to retrieve
line, not quickly, but definitely he was forced to come back to the boat. When I had made plans for this holiday one of
my main hopes was for a big redtail catfish, I had already caught them to low
double figures over the last few days but now I could see I had my hoped for
specimen. Once landed, the fish was made
safe and we went to one of the rocks where it could be weighed and
photographed. At 64lb it met my hopes
with a lot to spare and we went back to the camp with me having a big smile on
my face.
Redtail near to being landed.
But sometimes it got exciting.
A prize 64lb Redtail Catfish
The following afternoon Joe put another big redtail on our
list, at 62lb it was well below his best but never the less it brought a big
smile and we could only hope the river was recovering as it slowly fell back
from its flooded position.
Joe with his 62lb Redtail Catfish
Both Andy and I caught nice stingrays that need to be
handled with care, the photo shows the smaller of the two barbed stings that
can inflict a terrible wound to the unwary.
Hooked in 70ft of water they give the impression of a much larger fish
since they initially will not leave the bottom, once you manage that they still
give a good fight but at a far lower level of power.
This stingray had stung itself.
The smaller of the two stings of the ray.
I lost three fish over the two weeks on the river that I would have loved to have seen. The first picked up a bait and tore off at the usual great rate of knots, it is amazing just how fast these monsters can take line off a well tighten drag that is difficult to pull line off by hand without it cutting you. I did the usual and slowly applied pressure to stop it and it was going to plan until the hook pulled. The same thing happen with a specimen that may well have gone over that magical 200lb mark, but hook pulls are part of the scene with these very big fish. The last fish I lost goes back to the earlier comment on my Shimano reel and 100lb+ line, strong enough for most occasions but not this one. We had gone into one of the many creeks and I drop a bait off the end of the boat and hooked into an absolute monster, 6ft or 7ft of angry fish and all I could do was lock up completely and pray. I did stop it and was playing the fish if that is what it could be called on perhaps 15ft or so of line, but even then it got into woodwork below the boat and I could feel it see-sawing back and forth over the few feet it moved until finally the line broke and tears nearly came to the eyes. In very similar circumstances Andy did hook and land a fish of 230lb plus but that is his story to tell one day, I’m just pleased I was there to see it. Joe has caught many big fish here on his previous trips and he did his best to ensure we got the chances this time, but it was not to happen above that already related. He did catch a new personal best wolfish of 23lb, and a medium sized Jau of 44lb amongst those he did take along with a couple of peacock bass but those other species that were about on the last trip did not appear. I’ll include a few shots of those catches just to illustrate what we missed by the river being up throughout the stay, hopefully on my next rip it will be right and numerous monsters will be landed.
Swim where I broke on a monster.
We had smaller periah but none this big.
Joe's pb wolfish - note the teeth again
Tiger shovelnose cat - none caught this trip.
Giant Lau-Lau from previous trip
A previous capture of a big Jau.
If this story has wetted your lips and you would like to try
it for yourself then you need to contact Gary Newman on 07971475818 and he will
be organising trips with Navin who comes with at least my recommendation for a
very good holiday.
Navin’s website is www.adventureguianas.com
but it does not really show these trips since it is a new venture only now
being developed over the last year.