In February, 2016 a group of anglers went to Guyana to catch this prehistoric monster and other exotic trophies. Our fishing expedition started in Georgetown – the capital of Guyana. It is quite convenient to get to the country through New York.

A small city with colonial Caribbean architecture made the most pleasant impression. A private plane was waiting for us, so, having had breakfast at Marriott hotel we headed towards adventures.

After an hour of flight we landed in the jungle where the local guides met us. All of them are native Indians living in the settlement where we landed. We put our things on a few boats and went to the base camp.

We were impressed by the amazing beauty of the river with huge boulders brought here by prehistoric glaciers and the shores with the shiny inclusions of black lava. We swam in the river and the most active members of the expedition helped our guides take the boats through the rapids.

The water level in the river was extremely low and it took us 3 hours to get to the camp, while at the normal water level it takes only an hour.

I liked the camp with tents high enough to stand at full height. The tents were equipped with beds. There was WC, a shower, a generator which was switched on when it got dark, fridges for food and beverages.

The conditions were quite acceptable. The dinner served by an elderly Indian woman was not diverse: a salad, fried chicken, and rice.

I should say that the Indians are not so bad at cooking, and a few times they managed to cook really tasty food. They are good at cooking fish and meat on charcoal, and they cook soup quite well.

We cooked too, we smoked fish every day, two times we baked fish in foil, and once we cooked fish soup. And, of course, we came here not for gastronomic delights, but for rare trophies.

While having dinner, we discussed various options of our tour and decided to send a part of our group for arapaima with a few overnight stays. Low water hampered movement along the river, at normal water level it would have taken us about two hours to get there, but under the circumstances, it was easier to go and stay there for a few days, not to waste time.

The rest of the day of our arrival we devoted to preparing tackle to go fishing early in the morning the next day.

The next morning we said: “Goodbye” to the 4 anglers who went to the “domain” of the arapaima. The fish inhabit the lakes and bays adjacent to the river and can be rarely found in the main river.

The rest of the group started to explore the section of the river adjacent to the camp. Ivan and I caught a few bass and black piranhas to use them for catching the catfish. In about two hours we came up to our friends to know what was going on there.

We found bass, large piranhas, and a large brown pacu in Leonard and Alik’s boat. By the way, this fish which is usually quite difficult to catch struck on an ordinary lure of silvery color!

During this trip black and brown pacus struck regularly, and when I was fly fishing a red-bellied pacu struck on the imitation of a berry. These piranha relatives mainly feed on nuts and berries, but black and brown pacu can feed on flesh biting the body of their prey through and tearing off the pieces of flesh. All pacu have square teeth unbelievably similar to human teeth. These fish can easily crack nuts with their jaws.

It was time to fish for catfish, and we chose a lovely beach with a deep pit opposite. On our way to the beach we cast two spinning rods to check another pit located near the camp. The strikes did not keep us waiting. The first strike ended with the break of the line, and the second brought us a medium red tail catfish which we took for dinner.

When we came to the beach, we saw Leonard with an arc bent spinning rod moving upstream together with the boat and the guide drawn by an unknown force.

We wanted to know what had happened within so short period of time, as we came only 20 minutes later than the others. We were informed that as soon as Leonard had cast his spinning, there had been the most powerful strike and the fish had jerked to the middle of the river. Such behavior is typical for the piraiba or “freshwater shark” as fishermen often call it. The attempt to pull the monster ashore was not successful, and now the guys were trying to exhaust it by giving it the opportunity to tow the boat upstream.

Leonard was surprised at the power of the fish and was determined to win. The fighting was going on for another 20 minutes. Then we managed to lead the huge piraiba to the boat and tow it to the nearest beach.

The winner was happy, and the trophy weighing about 130 kilos was taken photos with and released. The river monster occupied the rightful place among other trophies. Follow our Amazonia fishing reports to read more about them.

We were inspired by such a start and cast our spinning rods again. The guides began cooking barbecue from the pacu. There was another strike during our meal and another piraiba was landed.

The size of the trophy was much more modest, but it was an albino. The rare fish was released carefully, and soon, we caught a few catfish of different species in the same fishing spot.

Satisfied with our results, we came back to the camp and celebrated the successful end of the first day of fishing properly.

The next day we were fishing for catfish, by the way, it turned out that strikes were good enough just opposite the camp.

We caught pacu, trahira, and different piranha species as well. Some anglers were fighting against payara, but no one could land this toothy fury.

The next day we headed towards the places with the maximum concentration of arapaima. On our way there we stopped at the rapids clamped by huge boulders. The bubbling stream of water with white foam and the depth of about 2 m promised us good fishing for payara.

While I was fishing for payara, Ivan caught a large bass in the bay behind the rapids, and Andris caught a catfish of lovely leopard coloring.

Various fish species and the beauty of the surrounding nature made us stay and spend the night on the island in the middle of the river behind the rapids.

Here we met the guys who were coming back from fishing for arapaima. Alexey was lucky to catch a specimen weighing about 70 kilos, all the rest did not have any strikes at all or failed to land the fish.

The guides put the tent and camp-beds, and the woman-cook prepared pasta for dinner. We had some Jamaican Rum and went to sleep. There were no mosquitoes at all, and it once again proved the fact that it is very pleasant to spend the night in the open air in Amazonia.

A surprise awaited us in the morning. The guides found the eggs of a huge turtle and boiled them for breakfast. A turtle egg is just a yolk and tastes good.

In the evening we tried to fish for arapaima in the lake where the first part of our group had fished before, but despite the obvious presence of the fish, there were no strikes.

At night we were woken up by a red-tail catfish which struck on the spinning rods left by us, and then a crocodile which could have paid with its life for its greed.

In the morning the situation with the main trophy was the same, no strikes by arapaima, and I suggested exploring other places.

We were catching bass and piranhas on our way, and we even got such remarkable trophies as bicuda and aruana. These fish are rare, fond of jumping and are capable of getting rid of a hook.

I baked aruana in foil for lunch, and everyone appreciated the delicate taste of this ancient and beautiful fish.

It was quite complicated to get to the lagoon where we wanted to fish, as it was separated from the shallow river bed by the ridge of stones. On the one hand, it was quite difficult to get there. On the other hand, it guaranteed that no one had been fishing there yet this year. I know the Indians quite well, they even won’t think about hauling the boats through the stones. But we did not hesitate to dismantle the motors. Then we took extra things out of the boats and overcame the obstacles separating us from our cherished goal.

There was a large number of arapaima in the lagoon. So, we could watch fish of different size jumping out of the water here and there.

The mouth of the arapaima is quite small comparing to its body, but nevertheless, the fish can swallow objects which are large enough. I noticed that the fish preferred voluminous live baits and recommended using large pieces of piranhas, peacock bass, and bicudas.

We were divided into groups: 2 anglers were fishing from the shore and 4 anglers from boats. The first strike happened within an hour. Andris struck a large specimen from the shore. The fighting lasted for about 20 minutes. Suddenly, the furious arapaima made an unexpected maneuver and completely flew out of the water. That jump was the end of fighting, the hook leaped out of the mouth.

About an hour later, Oleg was lucky to catch a magnificent trophy weighing about 100 kilos.

By the way, this pretty male was caught on the head of a large bicuda. We treated the fish carefully while taking photos. From time to time, we brought the fish back into the water to give it time to relax. Gorgeous photos, the arapaima which was released, and a lot of positive emotions was the day total.

The next day we were fishing till lunch, but to no avail. The arapaima negatively responds to the presence of people, any extra noise or movement on the water. Active striking of the first day followed by the sharp activity decline is quite typical for the arapaima fishing.

We had lunch and went to the base camp. Within 4 hours we could enjoy the benefits of civilization. The guys had smoked bass and piranhas by our arrival, and we had enough of rum and gin.

The next morning we went to Georgetown. One part of the group went to New York. Ivan and I stayed at Marriott Hotel, as the next day we were going sea fishing in Colombia.

Speaking about the results of this trip, I would like to say that despite the camping conditions and the low level of the organization of the Indians, the fishing was great due to the diversity of species (we got 17 trophies of various species), the beauty of nature and mild climate. It was quite difficult for me (as it was me who arranged everything) to control the local guides, make strategic decisions about changing the fishing spots, overnight stays, stops for lunch, dinner and etc. Comparing to fishing in Brazil, fishing in Guyana is characterized by the lower level of the organization and qualification of guides, but it has some advantages as well, the diversity of trophies is greater and there is no grueling heat during daytime.

I’ve made a decision to arrange fishing in Guyana every year for our regular clients who have already had other more comfortable tours with me and are ready to go fishing in camping conditions.

We organize fishing in most countries of Latin America and other hot fishing spots of the planet.