Amazon fishing report week 19-26 February

[Steve Townson]

What a difference two weeks make. At the beginning of February, the Northern Amazon Peacock Fisheries were suffering their worst drought recorded ever. In two weeks, the whole Rio Negro Basin was flooded out by constant rains.
We fished the upper reaches of the pretty Rio Itu, a minor tributary of the Negro and the shallowest of the lot. While fishing was good for the first 5 days, the last 2 days were hard-going. The river rose by 4ft and eventually blew out to un-fishable levels (when the water gets into the jungle and floods, the baitfish tend to hide in the thickest of it all and the Peacock Bass follow, making finding them nearly impossible).
If not for jigs, we wouild have had a hard time, but the 6 of us managed some good numbers with the largest peacock coming in at just 13lbs. Best day my partner and I with over 75 Peacocks to 11lbs, all on jigs.
This should be it for the Negro 'season' until next August/September and we are now concentrating on setting up weeks for our new Guyana Essequibo Adventure trips for mid-April and then from next Sept onwards, and also in the Southern Amazon Fisheries which open up in May/June-September for Peacocks and multi-species, including Payara, Wolf Fish etc. and some huge Cats. Anyone wanting in, please PM or email me.
Steve TFF.

steve@amazon-angler.com

www.amazon-angler.com