Brazil January 2026

[Ham]

I had told a few people that the dish I wanted the most on this trip was a Wolf Fish. I was going to be disappointed if I did not manage one. The problems facing me were two fold. I didn’t really get to control the search for them and I did not have a great understanding of how to fly fish for them.

so, I mentioned to my guides each morning how important a wolf fish was to me and I watched for bowfin like fish near  bottom.

On Day 2 our guide for the day was Prey Tou called out Wolf fish. There was a quartet of wolf fish swimming slowly left to right at two o clock 30 feet away. I actually made a good cat with the first cast and one of the wolf fish powered over there and ate the fly. I was using a Flashtail Whistler fly about 5 inches long and lightly weighed. 
I did a good job fighting the fish. I’m always overly concerned the first time I hook a species wanting to make sure I catch it. So, I get it boatside and my partner Kevin grabs the leader (40 lb fluro) 18 inches above the fish and just freezes. The wolf fish is very displeased to be halfway out of the water and thrashes wildly. Kevin holds fast. I’m expecting him to yeet it into the boat.

well, the wolf fish cut thru the loop knot 40 lb fluro and was gone. I was not Happy. I got pretty butthurt about it. I am mostly over it now, but I was not Happy. I had a couple fleeting shorts at other wolf fish that were spooking away, but I did not convert those.

The good news is that Bacaba put us on a pile of them a few days later and I was able to catch several and get pics. 
I would catch them every day I was down there if possible. A very fun visual eat. Decent pull. Scary teeth. 
there was one Wolf fish that was sitting out there on the Mud flat. I threw the fly in there to the right and bumped it across his bow. No reaction. I threw to the left and bumped it across his bow again. Nothing. I threw right over the top of him and dropped 3 inches in front of his nose. Nothing. The guide said, “ I think it’s dead”. Lol

[Johnsfolly]

5 hours ago, Ham said:

The good news is that Bacaba put us on a pile of them a few days later and I was able to catch several and get pics. 

South America Swamp Musky! 😉 Don't lip that guy!

[Ham]

So, a few years ago I read about an isopod parasite that attacks fish and makes them its permanent host.

The female cuts off blood flow to the tongue and grows in its place actions as a prosthetic tongue of sorts. The males stay much smaller and eventually migrate into the gills, but they stay close to female to breed when she is ready. 
That is a crazy crazy form of evolution. I Never expected to see any, but I had a painful run in with one when it gripped my finger as I was throwing it overboard while fishing in British Columbia. Stomp them suckers. 
Well, fast forward to Brazil and a lot of the peopcock bass had them. I was told they are heavy numbers of them early in the fishing season, but they thin out as time goes on #idoubtitThats nasty but fascinating. 

[Quillback]

That's a nasty critter for sure.  Looks like something out of a sci-fi movie.

 

[Ham]

Oops, I forgot to post some of these photos.

I had caught Oscars in Florida. I still wanted to catch them in Brazil. The guides don’t care about them at all. I might have had a fleeting glimpse of them a couple of times earlier, but no real chances at them. On Friday, as we worked along a shoreline in a lagoon, I saw a group of smaller olive fish that were roughly panfish shaped scooting alone close to shore. I pointed the rod and asked what they were. Lucas deadpanned “oscars”. We got a little closer and I took my shot. A smaller group broke away and checked out my fly. I had started the day with a EP fly. “Perfect Minnow”. It was like 2 1/2 inches long with a #2 hook instead of a 5 inch fly with a 3/0 hook. I wanted a smaller fly in case I got this shot.

It makes a difference how you work your flys for the different species of fish. Lucas talked me through it. Strip, strip, strip STOP let it settle. The Oscars moved really close. Strip and one zoomed in and crushed it. 
I had been told they ran larger in Florida than Brazil. Pshaw. My Dude was a tank. Fought well. I was still on the bow. We poled a little further and saw another group of those guys. I didn’t need coaching this time. I knew the routine. Cast ahead, get their attention, kill it, strip it away when they get close. Bang. a very worthy catch on a 6 weight.

I ended up catching another one that snuck in while I was arapaima fishing. Timing is everything. That was kinda disappointing because I thought I had come tight to an arapaima.my fish it had a first name, it’s O S C A R

 

 

[Ham]

As I have said before, this entire operation is set up for Peacock Bass fishing. That is normally the entire focus of the anglers and is almost always the focus of the guides. And why not? Beautiful fish that are willing to give you showy eats. They pull Hard. Even the Fun size 2-3 lbers really pull. Shots at fish > 15 lbs. and there are so many and different situations to fish them. 
I think you just have to experience it to have a true understanding of how fast these fish are when they decide to attack. I realize that my reflexes are only cat like if that cat is sound asleep, but they come out of now where and blow up you fly before you can react. It’s astonishing. It never quit being a surprise when one would appear out of nothing and smash your fly.

as far as I know, there are three species of Peacock Bass there. I caught all three. They have multiple common names which doesn’t help.

I ended up not taking a picture of every one I caught. They were all so pretty. I even quit taking pictures of all the Big ones. We quickly stopped weighing them unless the guide thought they were over 10 lbs. size was down this year and no one quite knew why, but it does vary. 
Butterfly

Temensis. I called them 3 bars or Sarge or Sargent Rock. Tough customers.

Red Belly

Pacca which is basically their word for Spotted. Juvi Temensis. They were so pretty. I have no excuse for why I didn’t take more pics of the Super colorful fun sized ones.  Bantam weight MMA fighters. You catch a lot that are transitioning to Adults. We caught em and caught em and caught em. I caught them until my arms ached.I caught them until I kinda didn’t want to catch more and yet I did. We caught em until I didn’t care if it was a long distance release and I didn’t get a click. 
We didn’t catch them until I quit caring about failed hook sets though. I think the large hook on a six weight didn’t help. I think defensive strikes from fishing guarding beds doesn’t help. I did better on hook sets early in the week. Fatigue may have been part of it as well.

Peacock Bass. I love em, but I probably can’t be as excited about the ones in Florida any more. 

[BilletHead]

This helps this deepfreeze boredom. Thanks Ham 

[Foghorn]

Awesome pictures and trip. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.

[Ham]

So, at Agus Boa as I have said, there are seven boats that each have two anglers UNLESS you at a glutton for punishment and have NBA money and want to pay for two spots. “Normally”, a pair of guys sign up together and you live and fish with a buddy for the week. 
I signed up solo. A few other people did as well. Randy made the assignments and I was paired with Kevin.

Kevin is a retired entomologist. He worked in academics and academia. Birth had their pluses and minuses.

I immediately started referring to him as “Bug Man” and he started calling me “Drug Man”.

Kevin told me straight off the hop that he wasn’t particularly goal focused when fishing. He fished to relax and catch a few fish. The fact that I had fish species I wanted to catch and numbers I wanted to catch was hard to understand.

Kevin did not get up early to fish the doc nor hustle to flip back to dock mode after the day in The boat was  done.

Kevin is realistically not an elite angler. He fished spinning and bait casting as well as fly. He’s better at tying flys than he is at throwing them. 
I reserved judgement and was as helpful as I could be on the boat helping him with targeting location of fish and landing and releasing him fish. Taking photos for him etc. 

We had that feral Gen X stuff in common and got along famously. I was very comfortable around him in the boat and in the room. Kevin with his first peacock.

Kevin was a little unsteady on the bow, but he never fell in.

he got the biggest Arowana

The biggest Black Piranha and the most White Piranha.

he got the largest Arapaima that we landed and the only Redtail Catfish. This is Kevin’s fish.

He ended up catching 14 species and a Big Pile of fish. Hopefully, I planted a LifeLister seed in his mind.

Hopefully, we will get to fish together again soon. 

[Ham]

Kevin’s arapaima