Even in our North Eastern Zone, where conditions have been excellent, water levels started to creep up this week, and catch rates ticked down accordingly. That being said, this remote corner of the Amazon remains the best place on the planet right now to target trophy peacock bass. Catching 21 peacocks is a great day of fishing in anybody’s book, after all, and that’s what our anglers averaged this week, notching 8 trophies upwards of 20 lbs. in the process.
TOTAL ANGLERS: 33
TOTAL PEACOCKS: 4806
OVER 10 lbs: 236
OVER 16 lbs: 59
OVER 20 lbs: 8
LIFE MEMORIES: John Kenny had only been fishing for 20 minutes or so — casting a big plug toward the bank in a pristine jungle lagoon— when the strike came. “I knew it was a big fish,” he says. “The way the big peacocks hit, there’s no question.” Fifteen minutes later, John — who visited from frigid Ottawa, Ontario, where daytime highs last week were in the teens — was holding a spectacularly colored 22 lb male peacock. “It was just a great fish,” he says, “a beautiful fish.”
FAMILY MEMORIES:
EXOTIC OF THE WEEK: Most of our guests are worn out battling peacock bass all day. But not Mark Rickards. Instead, he went back out to target the Amazon’s exotic catfish using chucks of wolf fish caught earlier in the day. The payoff? A beautiful redtail that Mark fought for more than 20 minutes. Locally known as pirarara, redtail catfish grow to well over 100 lbs. .Built like a defensive lineman, they’re known for drag screaming runs and dogged determination.
RAINFALL MANAGEMENT: Water levels are rising slowly thru the Amazon but our “cherry picked” North Eastern Zone will remain very fishable with no rainfall as evidenced in red outline on map below.
7 Day Accumulated Rainfall Forecast Map
Source: CPTEC-INPE
Water levels in this region including the Mata Mata, and the uppers Itapará, Xeurini, and Jufari Rivers, still offer the best conditions in the Amazon Basin, and we will keep 6 River Trains in the area. Water levels are according to the below drawing.
Rainfall Anomaly Forecast Map
(Valid for February-March-April)
Source: CPTEC-INPE
The outlook for February and March, shown on the Rainfall Anomaly Forecast Map above, suggests slightly higher than average rainfall across our region, with 0.5” to 2” more rain predicted than in a typical year. Generally speaking, above average rainfall isn’t good for fishing, but with our unparalleled mobility we’re uniquely able to follow the best conditions in the region week-to-week.