Vagabonds in the Pantanal

[Vagabond]

Brazil is a country to which one could return again and again, with so many varied habitats to explore and fish. We enjoyed our previous Brazilian trip (to the Amazon) so much, that we vowed to return. This time we intended to visit the Pantanal, an area that drains to the south via the Parana River basin. This river has a fish population that roughly resembles that of the Amazon, yet with a different assemblage of species. Some species are the same in both systems, others endemic to either Amazon or Parana.

 

Norma also wanted to visit the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, which has a different assemblage of birds to that of the Amazon Forest, so two locations, one on the coast, and one up in the mountains were scheduled for a week each.

 

Travelling in Brazil always requires awareness of what is happening around you, not least because of the language problem. Seasoned travellers to Madeira and the Algarve can forget any pidgin Portuguese they have picked up. Brazilian Portuguese is quite different. Even English, spoken by a Brazilian, sounds unfamiliar. One finds that out on the plane at take off. Announcements in Portuguese ("Rattle-rattle-rattle. Obrigada") are repeated in English ( "Rattle-rattle-rattle. Thank you") - leaving you little the wiser. It’s all part and parcel of the adventure.

 

We flew from Heathrow to Sao Paulo Gaurulhos, where we had to change airports (to Congholos) to catch a flight on to Campo Grande. It was a good thing we had allowed plenty of time to do this, as the two airports are a long way apart (even further than Heathrow is from Gatwick). It turned out to be a two-and-a-half hour journey by bus. Gate allocation at Congholos was a bit chaotic – ticket and departure board said Gate 1. This was changed to Gate 6, then to Gate 5, and finally to Gate 13 during the last 15 minutes before boarding! Charging from one gate to another was good exercise though.

 

A couple of hours flying west to Campo Grande, then two hours driving further west to near the Bolivian border, then the real journey started ! 50 kilometres down a muddy track (took a long time as we kept stopping to look at birds, racoons, anteaters etc) to the ranch we were staying at for the next 10 days. The ranch breeds superb horses, as well as cattle, and during our stay we saw many fine feats of horsemanship, involving catching and breaking-in young horses.

 

Rancheros are full of skills, as in addition to being fine horsemen, they double as fishing guides, boatmen, bait netters, birding guides, carvers at the weekly churrasco (ox-roast) and drivers of the various vehicles on the ranch.

 

We had hoped to fish for dorado, and had brought plenty of plugs and spinners. Unfortunately the rainy season had started early, the Aquidauana river was in red flood, and no dorado were being caught. There was a fishing camp about a mile upriver, with a couple of dozen disappointed Brazilian anglers sitting around drinking beer. Our boatman was in daily touch with them in case dorado were located – but no such luck. Because of the very murky water, lure-fishing was quite out of the question, so Plan B was put into operation – catch as many catfish species as possible.

 

I decided to fish as light as possible (6 lb Maxima) so as to hold bottom with a two ounce lead in the eddies (the main stream was out of the question for anything less than a 12 oz lead ) and with a range of hook sizes to wire traces of about 2 feet in length. I made this decision in the full knowledge that should a big catfish take the bait, my chances of landing it were slim, but I was looking for a variety of species, not just one or two lumps. I set Norma up with slightly heavier tackle, and she duly caught some of the slightly larger cats, but not many different species.

 

Once or twice I did try light float gear with hook to nylon, but usually either a piranha (if fishing any sort of worm, meat or fish) or piau-tres-pintas (if fishing corn or bread) would be first to the bait and a bite-off would result.

 

In some swims it was what Lutra calls "a bite a chuck" and a seemingly endless variety of small catfish, interspersed with piranha, came to small live fish, cut fish, cubes of cooked ham, and worms.

 

The worms were up to a metre long, and a snipped-off 2" portion was used. The larger catfish were easily recognised, Jau, Barbados, Cachara, Palmito, Jurupoca and Jurupensem, but some of the smaller cats are proving difficult to identify, as not only do different "experts" have different opinions, but the whole group is undergoing reclassification based on DNA differences. It may take a long time to give a scientific name to each of the fifteen-odd species of catfish caught. In addition, some of the species differ in appearance with age and sex, so what you at first thought might be three species are in fact all the same (male, female and juvenile).

 

Small catfish are not in my area of expertise, and Fishbase does not cover this area as thoroughly as it does most other groups. Fortunately, Latimeria very sportingly offered his assistance with recognition, and has been of enormous help.

 

Apart from piranha and catfish, we only caught one other species from the river, (although I had small Hatchetfish and Silver Dollar from an ox-bow lake connected to the river) but that species was a prize indeed. We had been using various live baits, including some "tuvira" - a small gymnotid eel. I had looked long and hard at this fish, as it was the first I had seen outside an aquarium, and the rippling of the long anal fin was similar to the rippling you see when a millipede walks. The electric eel belongs to this group.

 

Imagine my delight when I hooked a "tuvira" of about a couple of pounds. The boatman said he had never seen one of more than a few inches long (they net them as livebait). Studying pictures of the one I caught and those used as bait inclines me to think they are two different species – the mouths are quite different.

 

That gymnotid pleased me more than any of the other fish caught because it is so unusual. We saw two other species – a trahira that chased Norma’s bait on the retrieve, but refused to come again, and a single dorado we saw jump on our last day. Against the odds, we spent two sessions drifting with float-fished livebaits after dorado, but neither we nor the two dozen other anglers doing the same thing had a touch. A good reason to go back at an earlier stage of another season.

 

As expected we did hook a big catfish or two. One, a Barbados cat of about 30 pounds, made a strong run of about 80 yards down the current, but then allowed me to carefully pump it back upstream (took twenty minutes) until we could see it. However, a second run saw the line part, despite a very lightly set clutch. Three other big fish (unidentified) were lost in similar circumstances, two by Norma and the other by me. I think in all cases it was a bite-off, not by the fish hooked, but by piranhas snapping at the rejected bait, which had slid up the line. Any struggling fish automatically attracts piranha, and they then snap at any bait they can see.

 

Something similar happens in Africa with Tigerfish – readers of the tales of our adventures on the Okavanga may remember how we could see, in the very clear water, how tigerfish eject fishbaits when hooked, and their mates snap at it as it slides up the line as the fish runs (happens with shark also). In such situations it seems worth putting some sort of baffle at the top of the wire trace (a very large bead – say just over 1" diameter or so) in order to stop ejected baits sliding onto the main line.

 

We also learned not to risk a hooked piranha running across someone else’s line, or it would be sure to bite it through. Winding in a hooked piranha is a bit like a tree surgeon pulling a running chainsaw up a tree on a rope – be careful when you get near the end !

 

The boatman showed me an interesting technique for unhooking thorny catfish. These fish have very powerful muscles operating their pectoral fins. Let the fish touch the gunwale, and it will clamp itself tight, with gunwale between fin and fish-side. That results in a much better scenario than the usual wriggling body, and the fish will hold tight enough to let you use two hands to get the hook out. You then have to prise the catfish off the gunwale to return it !

 

The wildlife of the Pantanal was interesting, capybara, marsh deer, giant anteater, giant otter, crab-eating foxes and caiman. We went out one night to try to bait an ocelot with piranha carcasses. No ocelot, but we saw a puma instead ! Also, late one evening, just before we packed up fishing, we heard a jaguar roar (at least, Norma and the boatman did, I just took their word for it)

 

The bird life was well up to expectations – Greater Rhea, Seriema, Toco Toucan, and Hyacinth Macaw were obvious and spectacular, and a host of smaller birds kept Norma busy with identification. The Pantanal itself has that aura of spaciousness that we so love in wild places and we were sorry to come to the end of our stay.

 

The rest of the trip we spent in the Atlantic rain forest. The birdlife was well up to expectations, with a different assemblage to those we had seen in the Amazon rain forest on earlier trips to Brazil and Ecuador. About mid-morning, as the sun grew stronger, the huge thermals generated meant a spectacular collection of raptors would be spiralling with spread wings as they hitched a ride on the rising hot air. About 95% would be black and turkey vultures, but the keen birdwatcher would be paying close attention to the other 5%. On one occasion, a Mantled Hawk, a Barred Forest-falcon (both rarely seen) and a couple of Bicoloured Hawks joined the hundred-or-so circling vultures.

 

Later, up in the mountains, we saw a pair of Rufous-thighed Kites, so we have now seen 57 of the 60-odd Brazilian species of raptors. At the other extreme, 19 species of humming bird, including the rare Plovercrest were seen. In all, we saw over 320 bird species during our month in Brazil, of which over 150 were new to us. There was not many chances to fish during the second part of our visit, but I did get a couple of afternoons beside an estuary, and added another five species to my tally – a goby, a seacatfish, a monjuba, a pompano and a pony-fish.

 

The last day saw the rainy season arrive in earnest. We did get some birding in during the morning, but a deluge set in at lunchtime. The 75-y-o lady birdwatcher we had been staying with drove us the hundred-odd miles to Rio airport. It was very spirited driving, as by way of concession to the downpour she slowed to 110 km per hour ! It was still raining as we took off from Rio, and it is still raining as I write.

 

One thing travellers to Brazil should try is Brazilian-style "Bloody Mary" . We had one each whilst waiting to board our flight home. Definitely not for wimps. I’m sure neither tomato juice nor Worcestershire sauce feature in the list of ingredients. At a rough guess I would say vodka and Tabasco sauce are used in approximately equal volumes, and one ice-cube added. They went well with a huge plate of cheese and biscuits to fortify us for the twelve-hour flight.

 

PS I wanted to insert some pictures, but am having trouble accessing my usual provider. How feasible is to have a picture-accepting function on AN so we can upload directly from our own files, without involving a third party ?

 

 

 

　

[Newt]

It sounds like you had quite a trip then. Fantastic birding with 150 new ones.

[Dales]

Thanks for sharing Dave.

[ayjay]

PS I wanted to insert some pictures, but am having trouble accessing my usual provider. How feasible is to have a picture-accepting function on AN so we can upload directly from our own files, without involving a third party ?

 

 

 

　

 

You can do that, and they appear in the post as thumbnails which will enlarge when clicked on, use the "browse" button below the reply box.

 

Have you tried uploading them to the gallery on AN?

 

You may have to create your own album, access is probably via "my controls".

[Phone]

Vagabond,

 

Great write-up. Looking forward to the pictures.

 

A pompano in the estuary is quite a catch, they're not known for brackish water. (no clue what a pony fish is?)

 

Phone

[Vagabond]

You can do that, and they appear in the post as thumbnails which will enlarge when clicked on, use the "browse" button below the reply box.

 

Have you tried uploading them to the gallery on AN?

 

You may have to create your own album, access is probably via "my controls".

 

Thanks ayjay

 

Tried that (twice)

Browsed

Selected picture

Clicked it, and the location appeared in the box to left of browse.

Clicked upload - it responded "uploading" but where the hell it uploaded to I don't know

 

There is now the picture title (twice) in the "management box"

 

but no picture......

 

Am I missing something ?

[ayjay]

Thanks ayjay

 

Tried that (twice)

Browsed

Selected picture

Clicked it, and the location appeared in the box to left of browse.

Clicked upload - it responded "uploading" but where the hell it uploaded to I don't know

 

There is now the picture title (twice) in the "management box"

 

but no picture......

 

Am I missing something ?

 

Under *manage current attachments* you have to click the left hand icon, *insert attachment into text editor*.

 

 

 

[Bobj]

Always wanted to see the Brazilian hinterland but never managed it until you wrote those marvellous stories of your adventures. I thank you for helping me live your exploits.

[Tigger]

Sounds great Dave...look forward to the pic's .

[Latimeria]

Fortunately, Latimeria very sportingly offered his assistance with recognition, and has been of enormous help.

 

Haven't forgotten about those others, just been busy with "stuff".

 

Studying pictures of the one I caught and those used as bait inclines me to think they are two different species – the mouths are quite different.

 

Send me a pic of the smaller species please, Eigenmannia is one widely-distributed genus that is used as bait.

 

The boatman showed me an interesting technique for unhooking thorny catfish. These fish have very powerful muscles operating their pectoral fins. Let the fish touch the gunwale, and it will clamp itself tight, with gunwale between fin and fish-side.

 

They'll also do this to your hand, even a small one has a grip like a pair of pinking shears in the hands of an madwoman (OK, the "mad" is a bit redundant).

 

but I did get a couple of afternoons beside an estuary, and added another five species to my tally – a goby, a seacatfish, a monjuba, a pompano and a pony-fish.

 

Again, got a pic of the "Ponyfish"? Common names always lead to potential confusion, but the true Ponyfish (Leiognathidae) have an Indo-Pacific distribution. A family which is found in the western Atlantic and look very similar might be the Gerreidae, they're common in coastal areas of Brazil.