Ham

Day Two has come and Gone. Another amazing day. We took the long boat ride this morning. 30 miles upriver. We went into a side lagoon and my partner and I each caught Temensis Peacock Bass over 9 lbs in a Boga. They are incredibly quick and strong. We caught plenty of Butterfly Peacock and Spotted Peacock. I had an even larger Peacock on. He powered away taking me into my backing. I fought him really well. I cleared the line when he ran under by he boat. I was keeping the rod down and dirty and switching angles to tire it more quickly. And then it was gone. Because a piranha had bitten my flyline. The welded loop was gone and it was a clean cut. Sucks. I got a pile of Matrinxa. I got a baitfish that I need to ID. The fish that I am happiest about I am also the most upset about. I had asked the guide to help me find a wolf fish. We spotted some in a shallow dead end off the river. there was a wolf pack of four Big ones. I made a good cast and fit a massive eat 1 1/2 strips in. Good Hookset. I hustled the fish in. Wore the fish down. My partner grabbed the leader and didn’t seal the deal. I would have tested it into the boat. He held it halfway out of the water and it thrashed and eventually cut the 40 lb fluro at the loop knot. No pic of my Flyfer Wolf Fish. Maybe I will catch another. I owe you guys pics. Some will have to come later. I caught 56 fish today and burned through 6 flys. I will keep grinding to try to get more species, but I’m playing with house money at this point. Over 1/2 way to my goal of 200 fish caught and sitting at 14 species. mystery fish Matrinxa Big Dog Fish I wanna pet that dawgwe saw a tonne of Bug Creepy Black Caiman I’m sooo tired and my right shoulder is killing me. Hours of 60 foot casts with an 8 wt are beating me down. My casting is improving. Maybe my arm won’t Fall off.

Day 1 of fishing finally arrived! Not a moment too soon. The planes are both new. The group is split into 7 on each plane. This was the other group that landed a minute or two behind us. The Lodge and the bungelows are sooooo nice. as soon as I could, I beat feet down to the boat dock and caught my first couple fish of the trip. I caught a red tailed tetra and the joker hit out of my hand before I got a pic. second fish was a pacu. I’ll try at some point to get a hard ID. I headed back and got ready to go out in the boat. I brought the 3/6/8. All three did some heavy lifting. we started our day in a lagoon and the trip was amazing. All the fish running by the boat was killing me. A lot of good pics of my fish were taken by my partner and I don’t have access to them yet. This was a dog fish I caught. This is one of the two species of jucunda here. I caught two of them but only ended up with one pic? I need to do better. This is a Pink Tailed Chalcues. A fun little guy that pulled hard. Golden Pacu. Off the boat dock at the end of the day. Lobed Fin Piranha. I caught two! I got a Bicuda! I think there are a couple of species here. I will have to add another post in when I have the rest of the pics later. i got 51 fish to hand and had 11 species today. I said I would be disappointed with less than 10. No worries on that. let’s see if I can get to 15. For those scoring at home, I lost/ had destroyed 5 flys today. It is interesting as I change flys how poorly some of them work and well some just aren’t beefy enough. Thats it for today. I’m wiped out. I did get Butterfly and Spotted Peacock today. The Spotted turn into the mean ole 3 striped BIG peacocks as they mature. I also got a Leporonius species. A pic was taken, I just don’t have it yet.

Today was our group tour of Manaus. I am not sure what I expected, but it was pretty Great. started out with the Opera House Teatro Amazonia. It was built by the Big Players during the runner boon years. They had so much money they could afford to bring in all the materials and artisans to create a baroque style opera house on the shores of the Rio Negro. It has been through restoration and renovation after decades of neglect following the rubber crash. It is heavily used now, but this is the off season. Them to the Big fish market. we stayed almost long enough for me to go nose blind. I was amazed by a guy eating his lunch on top of some “fresh” fish. the to the old market. An open air bazar originally started by some Englishmen. We didn’t have enough time and I got overwhelmed by all the stuff.then we hopped in a pretty good sized aluminum deep V with a 140 hp outboard and headed up the Rio Negro. We went up a tributary and pulled on some Arapaima at a fish farm with natural baits tied onto a cord. They are monsters. we went to a buffet style lunch on a floating structure. Buffets are fun when you don’t know what anything is. then we walked on an elevated walkway into the jungle and were accosted by monkeys. the little guys hit pretty agitated over bananas. We also saw some Howler Monkeys. back to the boat to see the joining of the waters which in some circles is the “true” beginning of the Amazon River. IMG_2732.mov Along the way we saw a boat loaded up with people headed up the tributary. These trips can take over a week. And sometimes the boat waits days to get enough people to make it worthwhile. Everybody sleeps in hammocks. The shorter trips only take 36 hours or so. Pretty neat to see other people carving out their lives so differently.

So, you are strongly recommended to plan an extra day in for travel contingencies. The plane to the lodge makes one flight in for guests a week. It would be soul crushing to miss the trip because of a missed connection or a cancelled flight. we are doing a group tour in Manaus today and a group dinner tonight. I’m trying a local soda that I was told had plenty of caffeine

I got up at 0346 on 1/8. It’s 0346 (Local) on 1/9 and I’m about to sack out. Dang Long Day of travel.

I’m just the subject of the wagers. I know nothing about that game.

I am told I will have shots at them. They don’t always eat and they are Hard to Hook and Hard to stay hooked up with. I’d freaking Love one, but it ain’t a deal breaker if I don’t get one.

So, I always considered myself a “lifetime of trips” guy instead of a “Trip of a Lifetime” guy, but as I got older and closer to retirement, I started making bigger trips to distant locals. This may very well be the Biggest trip I ever take. I am headed to Brazil today to Água Boa. A lodge on a tributary of Rio Branco which of course flows into the Amazon River. This is a very remote Lodge in a protected area. All catch and release. All on fly. Barbless. Working different beats on like 100 miles of rivers and lagoons. Multispecies, but Big Peacock Bass are the star of the show. I of course want a Big Peacock bass or 20, but I’m as excited for the undercard as I am the Main Event. @Johnsfolly really advanced the multispecies thing in me. @BilletHead has really encouraged my fly fishing. And my friendship with @FishnDave poured more gas in the flyrod fire and lead me to fishing with Randy Richter would talked me into this Brazil trip. I should have internet access at night and I will try to post updates daily. The fishing doesn’t start until 1/10 so don’t get too impatient with me. No fish pics until then. I hear that on FanDuel there are prop bets and over unders. The line is currently 13 on new species, 12 lbs for largest Peacock Bass, 1 on flyrods broken, and 57 on fly’s lost. Please gamble responsibly. pics added for @snagged in outlet 3

He Can rebuilt a vehicle from the ground up and won’t replace the missing bolt in the bow roller. I struggle to understand it all.

I made the long drive down to the Arkansas River today. Still hoping to add a species and trying to catch a few fish. I didn’t push to get there early. It’s been a late afternoon bite this Fall. I don’t have a lot of experience down there, but this year has been different from the other years that I have fished there. I feel like I am learning the area and how to fish it, but my success is down. I am a blame myself first guy, but I think it is just the way it is. I wanted to catch at least 10 fish and get this year into the Top 5 as far as numbers of fish caught. I started with the TFO Bug Launcher. I got some Bluegill, RedEar, and Longear Sunfish. After I got my 10 fish, I tried for Stripers. They said Nah. a Skipjack ate the fly I was using for Stripers. I switched to spinning after a while. I caught some tiny Yellow Bass. I caught Spotted Bass and Largemouth Bass as well. The bite picked up late. I was catching fish pretty quickly and was trying to maximize my numbers as dark came on.Unfortunately, I lost my multiple jig rig to a fish and I didn’t want to stop to re-rig. So, I picked up the fly rod again and caught more Skipjack and a really nice White Bass that fought more like a Wiper. I did get a couple of would be keeper crappie late and a Fun Sized Striper. I stayed as late as I could and then had to load up in the dark. I would have sworn there was a street light at the ramp. then the long drive home up Hwy 7, but at least I could listen to the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Carolina Hurricanes on XM. that’s gonna be my last trip of the year. I will try to go on 1/1/26.

Why am I holding a trout?

Man, I joust with a LOT of windmills so I won’t nit pick your thing. Keep on keeping on. I never bothered to fish the trout in Louisiana nor Mississippi. You’re way ahead of me there. i did get some in North Carolina though.

Well, I think my wife is gonna keep me up late on NYE so I might better stay local and see if I can catch a few fish here. I do have a lot of interest in the walleye run below Beaver Lake. And above.

1) 4000 fish on hook and line 2) 20 Snakehead 3) a missouri Snakehead 4) 25 Bowfin 5) 30 inch bowfin on fly 6) 100 species on fly 7) get Lifetime on fly to 200 species (I am at 163 now) I plan on fishing 1/1//2026 so Let’s Go!

Between taking a break for Christmas with family and the weather we have coming in, I think I have two more fishing trips planned. I have caught a lot of fish and I have fished a lot. I have fished with friends and family in lakes and rivers and canals and swamps and roadside ditches Catching Fish in Ireland was an adventure for sure. I’m still Sad that Scotland didn’t work out, but I didn’t make sure that I had wire leader. There is a slim chance that I can get to 3000 fish for the year, but it’s unlikely.

Barring an unexpected miracle, I am going to FAIL to get to 100 species on fly this year. I had my chances and I took my swings. I drove a lot trying to get it done. It’s especially frustrating that I had at least 4 species hooked on fly that I failed to land that would have helped me. I had an Alabama Bass following my fly, but it wouldn’t eat. I am way more upset about this than I should be, but that’s how I am wired. It would be Great if I could use this to break the cycle, but I think next year 100 species on fly is basically a fait accompli given the trips that I have planned. Thank you for your interest and to my many friends that helped me along the way this year THANKS!

Tremendous numbers of Creek Chubs and Striped Shiners in that section of the River.

I mean you had some success right. I am also helped by the fact I only need one of any size as long as it can be confidently aided as the target species and I still have a big bunch of targets.

I was dumbstruck when I heard the news. I still don’t really know how to process it really. It just doesn’t make any sense. I hate it and I don’t understand how this happened. he had a lot of friend a and I wish he would have opened up to someone and ask for help. IF you’re not ok and are hurting, Please reach out to others and ask for help. Everyone needs help and friendship. It’s ok to ask for help when you need it.

I’ll keep trying for a Bigger one

97) Striped Bass So, sometimes you catch a really big example of something and sometimes you catch a tiny one. my striper was tiny. Thats the only one I could manage on fly.

Sadly, getting waders on and off does not appear to be getting easier with age.

Super windy today with no generation scheduled until basically dark. qe will see what they decide to do Friday/Saturday

Depending on water level, it may be more wading or yak than usual. We can always use the boats as water taxis and get out and wade. Everyone that has waders would be well advised to bring them just in case. We should be able to see the "projected" by like 3 pm or so the day before. I will not be sleeping at the cabins, but I plan on swinging by Thursday night to make plans for the following day. What is the latest head count?

96) Banded Sculpin I was very excited to catch this guy. I had seen multiple Banded Sculpin and gotten them to follow, but I couldn’t get them to eat the fly. It seemed like they were more out in the open and multiple times a dopey rainbow would swim by and they would get inactive and try to become gravel. I just kept plugging away catching the Ozark Sculpin that would bite. I think some of the Sculpin may have been spawning. Some seemed very territorial and showed no interest in the fly at all. Most showed some interest. This monster blended in so well that I didn’t see before he bit. I missed the first bite, but he gave me another chance. Monsterous lateral line all the way back to base of caudal fin. chin is not blue/green