Brazil January 2026

[Johnsfolly]

@Ham was that a red-bellied or red ruby piranha?

[Hawg]

Have you seen any of those pink dolphins?

[Ham]

9 hours ago, Johnsfolly said:

@Ham was that a red-bellied or red ruby piranha?

I have no idea

[Ham]

5 hours ago, Hawg said:

Have you seen any of those pink dolphins?

Yes! We saw both pink and grey ones. One angler in the group lost a peacock bass to one.

we got a pretty good scolding from a family of Giant River otters. 
 

 

[Ham]

Too much happened today to put in one post so Please indulge me. 
Lucas was our guide today. Young and soft spoken. Like all the other guides, he was very  knowledgeable. I thought my Spanish knowledge would be helpful. It was not. Communicating was difficult. 
we had the second longest run downriver today. Bacaba has the longest run downriver. I did not get to fish with Daniel who has the longest run upriver. 
We started with a hike through the jungle to a lagoon. it was kinda long and had a rough uphill section. a jaguar track from that had to have happened after yesterdays rain. 
a pic of Kevin at the lagoon boat. I knew the clock was ticking because we didn’t bring Lunch which happens at 12:30 pm ish.

Sadly, we spent a lot of that time fishing for peacock bass. I caught all three species here this morning (again).

a word of explanation, my brand new Rio Outbound fly line fell apart on me Wednesday. I should have just fished it, but I tried to cut out the worse piece and then tie it back together, but the resulting knot would not go through my guides. Sucked. I swapped to my usual home fly line Wednesday night. Well, that sucked worse. I could not cast as far as I needed to cast. I struggled with it so Badly Thursday that I left the 8 wt at home on Friday.

I caught a 9 lb Temensis Peacock Bass lb my 6 weight. It was a challenging struggle. An 8 Wt is the right rod. 

I finally spotted some Oscars and caught a couple of those little tanks. No pics on my phone. I will get them eventually. 
 

A Large Arapaima rolled by the boat and the guy never blinked. I confirmed that it was an arapaima with the guide and he said yeah. Well, he poles us the way back of a finger and I was looking for Wolf Fish. The finger had a tiny cut that ran to another lagoon.
This lagoon was STUFFED WITH ARAPAIMA. All sizes. Everywhere. It was dumb. I let my partner have the first shot. It was his turn on the bow, but I would have my chances. Now normally the Rule of Thumb is you need a large, heavy dark colored fly. This water was so shallow and grassy that you actually needed a lightly weighted fly. Kevin gave it a while with a fly that was too heavy. 
he did hook one.
My turn. The guide had suggested a popper and I went with the popper that @FishnDave caught all of fish Arkansas Snakehead on. The arapaima showed some interest, but no takes. I grabbed Kevin’s rod with a largish chartreuse fly that settled slowly. 
I had to yank it away to keep from catching a juvi peacock bass on the first cast. It looked good and was easy to manipulate.

I worked several groups of arapaima that weaving in and out of each other. They never spooked and they would just move along if they got the ick from my fly. They muddy stuff out while they are doing their thing. I spotted one and made the right cast. Dirty water. The fish noses down and I feel a take. I set! Fish on! Butttttt it was another Big Oscar. 
Bummer, but I laughed it off. A few minutes later one was swimming right at us. I threw past him and stripped it back and dropped it in front of him. As he got closer, the guide said slow strip. The fish speed up and looked. Another long slow strip. Another quick little more to catch up. I’m running out of room. The fly is gonna be in some grass soon. One more long slow strip and the arapaima rushed in and eats it when it starts falling towards to bottom. Hard Strip Set! Fish On! Now, it super exciting and super stressful as I am strip setting again and again to make sure the hook is set. They are manageable for their size. The small ones don’t overpower you. They pull! But not scary hard.I have more and better pics coming. I just have to be patient. So, I’m on Cloud 9. Kevin has the guide move the boat to try for a big one. I had him use my 10 WT. I heavier darker fly because the water was deeper. Several adults were rolling. The guide poled the boat close and Kevin would cast ahead of where the fish was moving and so long slow strips after the fly reached bottom. I was busy rigging a rod with wire and a flashy fly because some piranha were around. 
In just a few minutes, Kevin says “ I got one” and sets into a 5 foot fish. It clears the water and bolts off. Kevin was doing Great. The fish was running and he would get line back and it would run again, But Kevin is gaining on him. Then - slack line -. Bummer. Kevin pulls the line in and the fly line has been cut by a piranha. Sucked. 
Kevin started rigging another Bug rod for me to try. I went to the bow to cast for piranha to get some payback and maybe a new species of piranha. I tossed the fly in by hand and stepped into the bow. I started to make a cast and felt a hit. I set and expected a piranha, but it was another arapaima! I fought it carefully since I had it on like a #4 hook that I was worried about using on piranha. I prevailed. End of part one. 

[BilletHead]

Yea buddy! You do good Man.

[Ham]

So, Kevin has an appropriate fly on a 9 wt and I am getting ready to try for a bigger Arapaima, but the guide is poking us out. Time gentlemen. We took running shots at stuff on the way out and caught a few. I think I had a 4 or 5 lber which was a beatdown and some Fun Size ones. 
The walk back to the big boat was tough. Hot and humid and a Big Lizard startled me badly. 
We ran down river and stopped for Lunch beside Renando and his guys for the day. It did bit seem to be a good fishing spot, but it was shady and had a breeze. I was in no way prepared for how windy it is at Aguaboa. I assumed very little wind. I was very wrong.

I could see clouds building so I ate my lunch quickly and made sure my gear was in the dry bag before the downpour hit. It did not rain as hard or for as long as it did at lunch on Thursday. On Thursday, out guide Cloboco out a massive garbage bag over his entire body. Just his feet stuck out. It didn’t seem healthy, but he smokes sooooo

anywho, when the rain quit I tied on the last of my mini craft fur Clousers. First cast got me a small peacock bass. The other boat pushed off and said their goodbyes. I kept working the immediate area. Watching for stingrays. So many stingrays. I got a take and a set. This fish went crazy. Up down and all around. I got a look and it was a Big Leporonis species. I wanted this fish! He went around wood and I would get him back and he would jump 2 ft out of the water. He got me back in the wood and wrapped. I got to him and had him in my hand. I was taking him to land but my land was still wrapped in the tree which I was unaware of and when I ran out of slack, it yanked the fish out of my hand and he threw the hook. Many f bombs later I finally get squared away. My mini Clouser is toast. The guide wants to pick the fly. He saw the struggle and spotted more behind the boat. I bushwhacked around the boat and got a better casting lane. A size 16 pink beadhead scud was his choice. First fish was a big matrinxa. It went crazy, but I caught it. Second fish was a big Pinktail Chalceus (or whatever they really are).This fish fought like crazy! I was standing up to my knees and it jumped to my head height twice. I just had to laugh out loud and be amazed. It took a while, but I caught him.

Finally, I got the hook into another Leporonis. It took fought like hell. In wood, back and forth, jumping, rapid runs in random directions. But I got him in the end. All good things came to an end. I had to get back in the boat and go back to catching peacock bass. We caught a few more and some of them were nice ones. Kevin got an 8 lber that kicked his butt. He was sure it was gonna be over 10. 
 We made a run back up river for one more kick at the can.

i made a routine cast and a couple of strips in I cane tight to this.

I have no idea what that is, but ai knew I couldn’t do better. So, I sat down. I was done.

Kevin took the bow and like two minutes later the guide told him where to cast and told him to let it sink. Short strip. Wait. Short strip. Wait. Bang Kevin sets into a determined fish. Lucas says “Red Tail”. Kevin fought it well and landed a Red Tail Catfish. Amazing! He sat down and we headed up river. The fishing part of our trip was finished. I could have fished the dock last night and this morning and maybe added a species, but ai decided to take the time to pack and relax rather than be rushed. 
What a trip. 
there will be extra posts about some of the details. 
Thanks!

[BilletHead]

Wowzers what a trip! Ham doing what Ham does. Thanks friend.

[Johnsfolly]

What a great trip @Ham! I would say for most a trip of a lifetime! So many cool fish. The struggles make the success so much sweeter. Thanks for taking us along on your jungle journey!

[nomolites]

The smiles in your pics tell the story - awesome!