The most important fishing waters in this region are all black-water
tributaries, and this area produces the very largest of the peacock
bass and payara in Colombia, Brazil, and Venezuela. Natives call
these rivers “starvation rivers” due to the absence of nutrients
and biomass in the black waters. They are so acidic that mosquito
larvae cannot survive and propagate. Population density is very
low on these rivers, which are all in remote areas with no roads,
with poor soil for farming or grazing, and with little commercial
fishing efforts or prospects. Why peacock bass grow to more than
25 pounds and payara to more than 35 pounds in these places remains
a mystery. The color of the water is also a puzzle, but most believe
that tannic acids leach out of the rain forest and into the flood
waters during the six months each year when the forest is inundated
by river waters.
The significant black-water rivers of this region all merge with
the Orinoco or the Amazon. They include the Paru, Jari, Trombetas,
Uatuma, Jatapu, Rio Negro, and Rio Branco in Brazil; Vaupes, Guaviare,
Meta, and Vichada in Colombia; and the Cinaruco, Capanaparo, Ventuari,
Casiquiare, Apure, Caura, Paragua, and Caroni in Venezuela. The Casiquiare
is a unique river because it diverts part of the upper Orinoco into
the Guainia River on the Colombian border, forming the upper Rio
Negro, which flows south into the Amazon at Manaus, thus connecting
the Orinoco with the Amazon. The Caroni and Paragua Rivers are at
the headwaters of Guri Reservoir and Dam in Venezuela. Guri is another
100-mile-long reservoir. The upper headwaters of the Caroni cascade
from atop the mesa-like mountain Ayan Tupui, also known as the mile-high
waterfall, Angel Falls. The tailwaters below Guri Dam, and three
other dams on the Caroni, flow into the Orinoco at the city of Puerto
Ordaz. Guri Lake, the Caroni River, and the Paragua River are important
fishing waters for peacock bass and payara.The Uatuma in Brazil was
also dammed, creating Balbina Reservoir, but Balbina received heavy
commercial fishing pressure from the time it was completed. Sportfishing
in Balbina has been disappointing.
Gamefish species. The total number of fish species
throughout the Amazon and Orinoco Basins is still unknown, but
it numbers many hundreds, including aquarium species and son of
the largest and most fearsome specimens) freshwater. Of these,
relatively few fish species are the targets of anglers, and only
a few others are caught incidentally.
The Amazon is generally thought to have an extreme abundance of fish, and although
that may be true to some extent—especially in some waters—it is also a fact
that much has changed since the 1960s, when there was almost no sport-fishing
by anyone and when local fishing was largely subsistence netting and spearing.
The growth of some cities and other population centers, the accompanying pollution,
and a greater diversification in commercial fishing activities has led to diminished
fisheries in accessible areas, well as a reduction in the size of some of the
larger species of fish. Recreational fishing by residents growing rapidly in
some South American countries especially Brazil, but it is not a major factor
in over-all pressure on resources, except perhaps in a few isolated locations.
Subsistence fishing in remote areas, and commercial fishing (especially gillnetting),
are prominent activities.
Nevertheless, the Amazon and Orinoco water-sheds region is one of the last
great frontiers! sportfishing, boasting lots of fish and relatively few anglers.
Peacock bass remain the single most highly pursued freshwater species, although
many other fish have been only lightly—if at all—targeted by serious anglers.
The size and remoteness of the watersheds have ensured a slow growth in sustained
fishing tourism. There is virtually no tourism infrastructure in these countries,
however, and that unlikely to change in the near future, given the challenges
posed by seasonal water levels, equipment, personnel, logistics, and myriad
other matters. Thus, sportfishing development has largely been at the hands
of individual entrepreneurs.
There are few lodges or camps relative to the size of this region, and most
operators use houseboat like river vessels (some fairly primitive) for accommodations
and as a means of reaching distal waters, towing aluminum skiffs for fishing
wit them. Since the mid- to late 1980s, there has been a sharp growth in peacock
bass fishing excursions especially based out of Manaus, Brazil, and in the
less risky areas of Venezuela such as at Guri Reservoir and its tributaries;
only a small number of outfitters are conducting sportfishing operations yet
the places they visit are largely unexplored to nonfishing tourists. Virtually
all fishing opportunities throughout these watersheds are managed by one of
these operators, fishing in boats they provided and with local guides who are
usually more navigator than guide. Self-guided fishing is impractical and a
rarity, due in part to language barriers and in part to the lack of facilities
and equipment.
Most Amazon fish can bite, slash, or sting, so it's best to let the guide handle
and release fish, and to be very careful (use a gripping tool) if you do this
yourself. Guides won’t use nets for some species, such as payara, tairao and
piranha because they chomp through the net bottom. In this region, for most
species, traveling angelrs will need stronger rods, reels, lines, baints, hooks,
split rings, kknots, and other terminal tackle than they are likely accustomed
to at home, as well as a strong heart for the topwater strikes fo certain species.Surface
strikes by peackock bass in particular are explosive.
The Forest II at rest on the banks of the Rio Negro about 13 km from Barcelos
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