Fishing the Amazon

[BenCantrell]

This one is a doozy, without a doubt the greatest fishing trip of my life.  Five lifelisting friends (including Ken T) and I stayed at a remote lodge along the Amazon River near Iquitos, Peru.  I'm not 100% certain yet, but I think I caught exactly 50 new species!  Most of the people in the group did some traveling around Peru, but my itinerary was pretty short to minimize vacation days.

Day 1 - travel from home to Lima
Day 2 - travel from Lima to Iquitos, microfish in local streams
Day 3 - meet group, travel to lodge by boat, fish close to the lodge
Day 4 - travel to peac*ck bass lakes, fish larger lake, camp overnight
Day 5 - fish smaller peac*ck bass lake, travel back to lodge
Day 6 - fish tributary of the Amazon for cichlids and piranhas
Day 7 - fish mainstem Amazon for catfish
Day 8 - fish isolated lagoon for cichlids and micros
Day 9 - miscellaneous fishing, return to Iquitos by boat
Day 10 - microfish in local streams, travel to Lima from Iquitos
Day 11 - travel from Lima to home

Here are my photos.  My computer shows 3 pages, but it might be more or less on yours.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/64436841@N04/albums/72157672915839866

The highlights for me were (1) knowing that I was fishing the actual Amazon River, (2) piranhas, (3) the crazy variety of catfish, (4) the local food, and (5) falling out of my canoe in the middle of the night and getting stabbed in the leg by the catfish I was kung foo gripping at the time.  I can post some really gross photos of my infected leg if anyone is interested.

The biggest catch from my first day microfishing around Iquitos, a species of pike cichlid.


Our boat ride from Iquitos to the jungle lodge.


My first catch at the lodge, a Serrasalmus rhombeus piranha (black, white, redeye... has a bunch of different common names).


Piranhas for dinner. We pretty much kept anything eating size, and they showed up on our plates a meal or two later.


A peac*ck bass from one of the lakes.  My best lure was an orange, yellow, and green rattle trap.


A trahira, or wolf fish.  We didn't catch any big ones, but the little ones were still fun.


A spotted pike-characin.  Half way between a needlefish and a gar but without the teeth.


An armored catfish viewed from above.


The catfish that I somehow impaled into my calf when I fell out of the canoe.  It's a long story...


The business end of a piranha in the Serrasalmus genus.  You wouldn't want to get bit by one, but I don't think they have the bone crunching power that their red-bellied cousins have.


The business end of a red-bellied piranha in the Pygocentrus genus.  Their teeth are pretty well hidden, but if you pulled back their gums you'd know why you didn't want to get bit by one.  I think they have much better mechanical advantage for biting.


A vampirefish which I unfortunately did not catch.  It turned up in the cast net when we were collecting bait.


A blue whale catfish (yes that's really the name). These guys bore their way into carcasses and eat them from the inside out.


My largest fish of the trip, a barred tiger shovelnose catfish (same species as the one that stabbed me).


The MASSIVE freshwater stingray that one of the guys caught.


We brought it back to the lodge, and it fed everyone including the other guests and the staff.


A leopard catfish from the same spot other people were catching stingrays.  I wanted a stingray pretty badly, but this was a good consolation.


Another catfish species from the same spot.  We called them derp cats because of their overbite.


A big oscar from the landlocked lagoon we fished.


The group after hiking through the jungle a bit.


My last fish from the mainstem Amazon, a zebra catfish.


One of the many tetras caught microfishing.


I'm way behind on my blog posts, but once I get caught up I'll post the links up on here so there's a story to go with the photos.

[xjchad]

Right on Ben! What a cool trip!
Post the pics of the infected leg wound! 

[Latimeria]

I have to absorb the trip....  that was awesome.  I will be coming back to this post with some questions so be ready!

[spideyjg]

That is awesome Ben. Definitely a bucket list trip. Skimming through the pics was the a small piraiba in there?

Jim

[Eric H]

Those are some neat looking fish.

Seems like the place you dont wanna fall in the water.

You and ken sure get around.

[BenCantrell]

Post the pics of the infected leg wound! 

Haha ok, let me check my camera and phone so I can show the full timeline.

I will be coming back to this post with some questions so be ready!

You and ken sure get around.

I'd be happy to give estimates for the costs of the trip if people are interested.  It was surprisingly affordable, obviously with some saving and budgeting.

Skimming through the pics was the a small piraiba in there?

Good eye.  That's a piramutaba, which is in the same genus as piraiba.  They're born in the headwaters, drift all the way to the Amazon's mouth, and then as adults migrate back to the headwaters to continue the cycle.  Let's hope dams don't pop up along the Amazon for these guys' sake.

[Pinoyfisher]

Wow! What a huge variety of fish and the crazy thing is you Probably barely even scratched the surface of what can be caught there!! Jealous!! I wanna see the leg wound too!!

[mdcesq]

Greatest fishing trip of your life?  Probably the best fishing report I've read in my life.  Gonna have to start following your reports a little better.

That piranha meal looks tasty.  How was it?   

[Latimeria]

Greatest fishing trip of your life?  Probably the best fishing report I've read in my life.  Gonna have to start following your reports a little better.

That piranha meal looks tasty.  How was it?

Do they make steel leader tippet?  lol

[BenCantrell]

Piranhas are tasty.  Just like frying up some bluegill up here.

I went down to about a size 6 hook with steel leaders, but if I was going for smaller fish I just went with straight mono.  If a piranha bit me off I retied.

[mdcesq]

Greatest fishing trip of your life?  Probably the best fishing report I've read in my life.  Gonna have to start following your reports a little better.

That piranha meal looks tasty.  How was it?

Do they make steel leader tippet?  lol

They do!  Check out toothy critter, a stainless steel leader that is still tie-able:

https://www.amazon.com/Cortland-Toothy-Critter-Tie-Stainless/dp/B0009N7KJM?th=1

I've used it in a hunt for barracuda on the fly.

Piranhas are tasty.  Just like frying up some bluegill up here.

They look pretty damn good.  Do you fish with Jeremey Wade? 

[BenCantrell]

Wow, I didn't know about tie-able steel leader material.  I will definitely try it if I ever go to South America again.

Haha, no I do not fish with Jeremy Wade.  His fish are on average at least a thousand times larger than mine.  I met Zeb Hogan at a fish conference a few years ago though.  Super nice guy.

I would be thrilled if there is ever a fishing TV show about lifelisting instead of just going after the biggest fish.