Some of the Other Things We Caught

[djkimmel]

The Amazon River and tributaries are full of many kinds of fish and wildlife. It was an adventure just listening and watching. Our group did catch many interesting things besides peacock bass.


Of course, there were plenty of piranha. Jim got onto a school of them in hot stretch of current along the head of an island. He was catching them on jerkbaits while I kept trying the big topwater.

They hit pretty hard and fight surprisingly good for their size. Most are around the size of the one above.


Check the chompers out on a large piranha!! DO NOT stick your finger in there!!! Death to soft lures!


Check out this MONSTER piranha caught by guide Gi that Don is holding up. He was taking it home to make their famous piranha soup! This fish fought very hard and check out those chompers!!! Youch!!

[djkimmel]

Here's my one and only freshwater barracuda. Another fish that hits and fights harder than you'd expect for their size. Small, sharp minnow eating teeth! Several members of the group caught 1 or 2 of these aggressive little fish. The guides called them baicuda.


Randy holds one of the stranger catches. I believe guide Gator caught this little dude and let Randy hold it to get a few pictures.

As soon as I get the video done, you'll see the biggest catch of the whole trip and find out why I call him Gator Jim!!

Meanwhile, there were other small fish caught. Some by us anglers, but many caught at night off the back of the Clipper, particularly by one of the cooks on a handline. Sardines, various kinds of piranha, some panfish-looking type fish that I forget the name of, and a bunch of small catfish of various types. None of those were bigger than about a foot and most were small bait stealers.

[djkimmel]

No confirmation yet on whether or not Randy kept the little feller for a pet though that is a serious violation in Brazil... and probably very uncomfortable too (thinking about that lizard guy they recently busted)!!!

[djkimmel]

Oh... and the general rule I may have mentioned... but everything down there is a biter. And some pack a wallop! I understood the cook's assistant enough to know you don't mess with those little catfish. The barbs have some very painful chemicals on them. "No touch," she says. "Ouch!"

I no touch

Pretty wild, but thanks to the humic acid in the river, I saw zero mosquitoes while fishing and two in Manaus. I think I got bit by something twice all week. The worst was the claws on those darn grasshoppers... more on that soon.

Lots of things buzzed and hummed loudly, but no bad stings or bites. That was nice because everything seemed tougher and more vicious looking down there.

I never saw any stingrays, but two members of the team saw a couple though no giants. I guess they can get pretty big (like boat-sized apparently). Franz just said to make sure you shuffle walk when in the water and that's what I did the few times I found myself walking in the water.

I was disappointed to see no monkeys. With the low water we weren't going back into the forest like they have in past years. Good though because it appeared to improve the fishing and I can't imagine having to go back in there to get a big peacock bass out!?!

There were no paths, believe me. A machete was a necessary tool the few times we set foot on land in the jungle. The guides were pretty good with those things too! Whack! Thwok!