Brazil Peacock Bass Fishing with Acute Angling
In October my husband and I went with friends to Brazil with Acute Angling to fish for Peacock Bass on the Rio Negro. It was an amazing trip! The boat we lived on is pictured, and it towed fishing boats. We would fish from about 7am til 4pm daily, having shore lunches and naps in the hammock daily. They kept count of the amount of Peacock Bass each boat caught, both for bragging rights, but more importantly, to track the health of the fisheries. Our last day we caught 247 peacock bass! We didn't count the pirahna (which are YUMMY, by the way) or the dogfish that we caught. Overall on our boat (my husband and I being the only ones on it) we caught 522 Peacock Bass! You will notice that the fish look different... they are like salmon in that they change their coloring with the surge and fall of the waters and the mating season. They are black with spots and transition to the green with bars. The males get a bump on their heads similar to salmon as well. A neat fact, the river is "black water" from all of the leaves/foliage in it, it looks very much like tea or coffee. It is tannic, and mosquitoes can't breed in it, so there were no mosquitoes!
We flew into Manaus and then charter flight up river to the boat, and when done fishing, we stayed an extra day in Manaus and saw some of the cool sight. One is an incredible natural phenomenon. You will see a photo of the river, where part is kind of tan-green looking and part is very dark. This is the "Meeting of the Waters" which is the confluence between the dark (blackwater) Rio Negro and the pale sandy-colored (whitewater) Amazon River or Rio Solimões, The Rio Solimões originates in the Andes, is colder, and flows at approximately 2.5 -4 MPH and the Rio Negro flows at 1.2 MPH. The Rio Negros temperature is approximately 82 degrees and the Rio Solimões is approximately 72 degrees. Because of this, they run side by side for about 6 miles before they actually mix! There is debate whether the Amazon begins as the Rio Solimões or if it begins when the 2 join together. Really depends whether you ask someone from Brazil or someone from elsewhere in the world! Either way, it is a HUGE river! We took a small boat from Manaus and went to the meeting of the waters, and since we were in a small boat rather than a large tour boat, we were able to put our arms into the water as we went from one side to the other, feeling the differences in temperature. It was really incedible! You can see the images of it on Google Earth, just search for Manaus and then zoom back a bit to see the water!
The photo of the big sign is on the port of Manaus. That sign goes underwater every year. They had just finished painting it as I took the picture. It shows the water levels that the river reached each year! Zoom in and look, it's pretty darn cool!