Despite slight rising water levels across most of the Amazon, our North Eastern Zone remained in good shape this week, producing solid numbers of hard-fighting peacocks, including plenty of unforgettable trophies up to 82 cm (32”). Other exotics joined the party too, including wolf fish, retail catfish, arowana, and a beautiful 55 lb. arapaima that gave one of our anglers the fight of his life on peacock bass tackle.
TOTAL ANGLERS: 37
TOTAL PEACOCKS: 3087
OVER 10 lbs: 156
OVER 16 lbs: 8
OVER 20 lbs: 2
LIFE MEMORIES: Sight fishing is just different — that rare opportunity to cast to a specific fish, make the right presentation, and watch the eat. When the fish is a bruiser peacock bass, that takes it to the next level. Which is what Donovan from Texas experienced last week in the clear waters of the Mata Mata River, when he made the perfect cast to a 20-lb. peacock holding in shallow water over a sandy bottom and watched the monster turn, flare, and then engulf his lure in an explosion of whitewater. “It was the cast of my life,” he says. “It was the best fishing trip of my life.”
FAMILY MEMORIES:
EXOTIC OF THE WEEK: We offer 1-day trip extensions to specifically target giant arapaima in our private lagoons near Manaus, but we also catch these prehistoric beasts incidentally while fishing for peacocks. Usually they’re smaller specimens — 15 to 30 lbs. — but this week in a back lagoon of the Mata Mata River, globe-trotting Russian angler Andrey set the hook on a spectacular 55-pounder. Armed with only a bass-style baitcasting setup, Andrey fought a desperate 25-minute battle before finally hoisting his trophy — which was safely released right after the photo.
RAINFALL MANAGEMENT: We were fortunate to receive little rainfall as predicted in our last weeks report across most of our North Eastern Zone.The water is clean and levels are rising slightly in most areas. This was a beautiful week for our anglers with partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures.
7 Day Accumulated Rainfall Forecast Map
Source: CPTEC-INPE
Next week’s forecast looks much the same, so we’ll keep fishing the same zone (outlined in red above), moving our River Trains up or down our private rivers to cherry pick the very best conditions and keep our anglers fishing fresh spots. Even as we enter the wettest part of the year, our unmatched mobility allows us to keep turning out solid catches with water levels similar as the below drawing.
Rainfall Anomaly Forecast Map
(Valid for February-March-April)
Source: CPTEC-INPE
The Rainfall Anomaly Forecast Map above is the best indication we have of what to expect through the end of March. It shows slightly higher than average rainfall across the Amazon but, our three decades experience and exceptional flexibility ensured a trip-of-a-life time.