Introduction

[MigueldaMata]

Hi anglers,

I found TackleTour in a recent web surf and have been reading the reviews and forum postings. Nice site, hope it grows even more than it apparently has.

I am an American expatriate living in the Brazilian Amazon region and managing a peacock bass lodge. I love all types of fishing and have tried most all of them, having spent most of my working life in the international oil field (got to live in a lot of neat fishing paces) before "retiring" to Brazil to run a fishing lodge. Some of my favorites are speckled trout (or sea trout), redfish (red drum), trout, salmon, dolly varden, graying, golden dorado (a salmonid here in the Brazilian Pantanal region), and of course the peacock bass (my all time favorite) and the other exotics of the Amazon. I am also a gear head, or equipment junkie, and love reading the reviews on Tackle Tour. I can't resist adding new gear to my tackle bag(s).

I look forward to "batendo papo" (Portuguese for shooting the breeze) with you guys.

Tight lines,

Mike

[JIP]

Welcome Mike! It's nice to have someone like you on this board and I am sure you will be able to share many more exciting experiences with us from the Amazon.

And you never know, one day I might just have to go down there and wet some line with you in the Amazon. I used to live in Brazil, but too bad I forgot all my Portuguese.

Again, welcome.

[MigueldaMata]

Thanks JIP for the warm welcome.

Come on down. Even outside of peacock bass season here in the Amazon, Brazil has great sport fishing opportunities. The southern coastal area is famous for Marlin fishing (not my cup of tea though, too much work). snook and tarpon along the NE coast and the Pantanal has some great fishing. Brazil even has a population of Black Bass introduced into the southern part and some trout in the mountanous region bordering Bolivia, Uruguay. Argentina and Peru. Don't worry the Portuguese will come back to you if you come down. Don't you need to take TackleTour on tour?

[bitesize]

When is Peacock bass season in the Amazon?

[MigueldaMata]

Depends on what part of the Amazon. It coincides with low water (dry season) or at least falling water. In the upper Rio Negro region where my lodge is, and one of the areas where the big peacocks grow, it is basically late September or early October through late March or early April. I start up next Oct 11 and run thru the middle of Mar 2004. There are areas where you can fish year round, like Lake Balbina near Manaus. It is a lake formed by a hydroelectric dam and with controlled water levels, the fish never get back into the jungle where you can't get to them like they do on the rivers. But you can expect to get only a maximum of a 12 or 14 lber there and mostly much smaller (6-8 lbs or less).

There are also parts of the Amazon where dry season starts (and ends) earlier. Down in the Para state, they start fishing for peacocks as early as July. Para also is not known for the big boys, but quantities are good. The earliest you can start fishing in what I consider to be the prime areas for big peacocks is August in the Rio Madeira system or the Rio Uatuma, but that season ends by December and you have to go up the Rio Negro then to hunt for the big boys (or you can just start with the Rio Negro system in late Sept or early Oct).

There are also some reservoirs in southern Brazil where they have introduced peacocks (like they did in Florida) and you can fish them different times. If you are interested in fishing for peacocks, research the operators....choose a good one that fits your needs and go with their season. There are a bunch of outfits down here, some not so good, some excellent. Check out http://www.peacockbassassociation.com for a pretty good list of peacock bass operations and lots of other PB info.

[bitesize]

Sounds like a lot of fun! What type of tackle do you use for the fish down there?

[MigueldaMata]

You can use baitcasting, spinning or fly for peacock. For baitcasting gear, I like a 6'6" to 7' medium heavy to heavy action rod (I use a Kistler custom made 6'9" Peacock Bass Special, Falcon FC7-166 and FC7-17 and a couple models of Bass Pro Shops Bionic Blades peacock bass prototypes (6'6" and 6'9") that I don't know if they are on the market yet) with a good quality reel with 6.0:1 or better retrieve ratio and at least 150 yds of 12 lb mono capacity and a good drag. I like a thumb casting bar and personally use Abu Garcia 5600C4's and a couple Shimano models (Curado and a Calcutta 150 or 200 modified to 6.2:1). There are also several models of Shimano, Quantum, and Daiwa that fit the bill. For line, I use 80 lb test superbraid, PowerPro or similar, and chunk big top water lures that are 7" or so long and weigh a couple of ounces, like the Luhr Jensen Big Game Woodchoppers and High Roller Rip Rollers. If you can walk the dog good, a Zara Spook (salt water version) will sure get the peacock's attention. For midwater lures, several jerk baits are used - big Long As, YoZuri minnows, Stamina Peacock Minnows, Red Fins, etc.

The spinning gear doesn't work too well (for me at least) with the big top waters, but a good quality spinning reel - 3500 or 4000 frame - (I like the Shimano, Quantum and Daiwa offerings here) and 50 lb superbraid on a comparable rod to those mentioned above for baitcasting (I use a Falcon FS7-17) works good for the jerk baits, spinner baits (big pike/musky ones 1 ounce and up) and 1/2 oz. and up bucktail jigs or a big RattleTrap (gets you lots of traira and piranha too). These are good follow-ups for when the peacocks short strike or just swirl at your top water bait.

For the fly fisherman, a good quality 9 ft fast action fly rod in 8 to 11 wt seems to be the ticket (I like the Redington, Loomis, St Croix offerings in a mid priced rod of those I've used. However, I went fishing with a client one day and used one of his top of the line Sage's...nice rod, but personally I'd rather have two of a cheaper rod ). I like the 9 and 10 wts. Pair that with a quality reel that can hold 200 yds of 25-30 lb backing and has a decent drag (I like the Ross and Redington offerings here, but there are a host of decent reels that will do...you don't need top of the line either). I use both floating and sink tip lines and LARGE streamers, clousers, deceivers and half-and-halfs primarily. By LARGE, I mean 5 to 11 inches on 2/0 to 5/0 saltwater hooks. Chartreuse and white, blue and white, throw in a little flash and red in the head area and put on big red eyes and you'll get you a peacock on the fly. There are a couple of new (to me) patterns I am going to try and tie up in the off season that look to me like they'll work. If you have any suggestions, let me know. I am always looking for new fly patterns to try.

Hope that answers your question, but if you want to know any more, feel free to ask.

Tight lines,

Mike

[JIP]

Where you do buy your gear down there?
It's all from mail order or when you travel to other countries?

Ever get scared of the Amazon monsters? Piranhas, anaconda, etc.

[MigueldaMata]

JIP,

We actually have some fairly decent tackle shops in Manaus where I live in the off season. It's a city of almost 2,000,000 people, but still a 3rd world city so nothing like the selection you would see in a US city of the same size. Prices on a lot of the imported tackle are relatively high, especially when you consider average income of the local citizens. No such thing as a superstore for fishing tackle as yet in Brazil, like BPS or Cabelas, and fly stuff is fairly hard to come by. Mail order is not as common as in the US with the Brazilian stores either. We get brands like Shimano, Daiwa, Abu Garcia and starting to see some Quantum plus a Brazilian mfg. called Marine Sports with decent low- to mid-end reels. We even see some models that you don't see in the states like the Shimano Antares .... supposedly a step up from the Calais. Lots of Brazilian lure mfgs, plus imported LuhrJensen (when he was down fishing with me Phil Jensen told me he sells about 30,000 Pet Spoons to tackle dealers in Manaus each year), YoZuri, Bomber and others. However, since I have a lot of regulars that come down one or two times per season, if I need something I get them to pick it up and bring it with them when they come.

It's not like the "big PX in the sky" that the US is

Mike