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The Fishing

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Mobile Camps:

The big advantage to this outfitter is the proximity to the fishing these mobile floating cabins get you to the fishing.  You leave in the morning,  maybe go 5 minutes,  fish for 45 minutes, move 5 minutes fish for an hour and so on. Usually you will eat lunch back at the camp.  When you head out for the afternoon fishing the crew will secure the cabins and is towing them to your next spot  and may pass where you are fishing.  The camp follows the best fishing every single day.  If the water at your camp is not right they will fly you to another camp where the levels of water are better.  They have 6 mobile camps out at any one time.

Live Aboard:

The Backwater live aboard will need deeper water but it will head up far into the native controlled areas of the river.  Each day the skiff will take you over shallow sand bars into under fished areas.  The Back water will move each night into a new un-fished area.

Guides:

River Plates' guides are undoubtedly the best in the business. Most Amazon outfitters employ poorly-trained, unenthusiastic "boat drivers". River Plate's carefully trained guides are hard core sport fishermen who are intimately familiar with the complexities of Amazon angling. Many have guided for River Plate for over 15 years. With thousands of fish boated for clients, they'll put you onto big numbers of big fish like no one else in the Amazon.

Boats:

With a 12-year learning curve on how to overcome the Amazon's shallow sand bars in order to reach remote un-fished areas, we have gone from the attractive but ineffective U.S. 120HP high-speed bass boats to our today's "in house" designed, built and field tested all-aluminum welded shallow drafting tunnel boat. They are 20 feet long with a 40 HP outboard and all the standard bass boat features (trolling motor, high swivel seats, etc.), yet they are still sufficiently light to navigate pass the shallow sandbars.

The list of Amazonian freshwater gamefish is as extensive and exotic as the land itself. Depending upon the region there are as many as twenty different species that will take a fly or lure – all with fantastic names to match their peculiar appearances.

	A World-Class Fighter The peacock bass' explosive strikes and spectacular fighting prowess serve to rank it among the greatest fighting fish in the world. Even the biggest specimens don't hesitate to go airborne. Bringing big, powerful fish like these to the boat in the tight quarters in which they are usually found is a great challenge for any angler.
	Yatorana, called bocón, in Colombia and Venezuela, jump and fight like dorado and run in schools, so once you’re into them the action is fast and furious. Yatorana can grow upwards of 15-pounds. This is all the fish you’d want to tangle with one light tackle.
	Matrinchá are fierce fighters on light tackle. They strike baits at high speed and continue moving right through the drag. Within seconds they're out of the water and flying through the air.  A small specimen of matrinchá shows off its brightly marked tail and dorsal fins. These highlights fade and ultimately disappear in older specimens.
	Freshwater dorado are a distinct migratory gamefish not to be confused with the saltwater dolphin fish. Physically, the freshwater dorado is best described as a prehistoric golden trout or salmon with the jaws of a pit bull terrier. Ichthyologists have appropriately given the southern species of dorado the Latin name, Salminus maxillosus. Salminus, meaning trout-like, and maxillosus referring to the fish's immensely-powerful jaws.
	Members of the sub-family Colossoma of the Characidae, tambaqui (Colossoma macroponum) are physically built like a stocky permit or jack – think of a trash can lid with fins. They have a pleasant grey-blue back which fades into a purple-brown shade near the belly of the fish. An omnivorous distant relative of the piranha, tambaqui have dazzling teeth which look exactly like a set of human dentures.
	Pacu, with their mouths full of molars are the "lotus-eaters" of the Amazon fish fauna. Most species belong to the genus Mylossoma. Their diet consists mostly of flowers and fruits, with an unlucky bug occasionally joining the menu. Although they look awfully similar to their razor-toothed brethren, they have a reputation for placidity.
	There are over a dozen species of piranha (Serrasalmus sp.) swimming the rivers from Argentina to Venezuela. Some grow larger than 6-pounds and can be fantastic light tackle adversaries (especially on smaller spinning/casting rods or a 5-6-weight fly rod). Needless to say, piranha are not picky eaters and take literally anything remotely resembling a baitfish. A small Rat-L-Trap tipped with meat is deadly. These feisty little creatures can, at times, be quite a nuisance as they have a nasty habit of destroying your lures or that custom-tied eight-dollar streamer the second it hits the water.
	Payara take the art of the fight to another level. They combine some of the best characteristics known among fighting fish to provide an extraordinary angling experience. Payara are extremely aggressive and strike with intense power. They peel off line in long fast runs. And when all else fails, they hurl their huge, slablike bodies high into the air. If these fish were commonly found in the same "small-water" conditions as peacock bass, they would rarely be landed.
	There are countless species of catfish throughout the Amazon and Paraná drainages. They range in size from the diabolical candirú (Pygidiidae), a tiny parasitic catfish that lodges itself in the urethral openings of other fish or animals (or humans) to the monstrous lau lau or valentón/piraiba (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum), which is said to grow over 10-feet long and weigh in excess of 500-pounds).

 
Ed Blank's Adventures Main Page

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Fax: 617-427-7890
ed@flyfishingheaven.com