Climb aboard a Cessna caravan and leave the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and its 2. 5 million inhabitants and you will soon be swallowed up by millions of hectares of wild jungle. Hills and forested valleys surround a labyrinth of river systems teeming with exotic fish species. ranging from 200-pound mottlefish to saucer-sized paku that doesn’t bite a fly but attacks it. rival.
Fish terrorize the aquatic food chain while lions frequent pods of bison. Watching a handful of bream hunt in packs, taking suction cup-shaped tarpon, before tearing them to pieces with the speed and savagery of so many barracudas, is one of them. of the world’s largest predatory shows.
It is the same evil with which they hit a fly, contort and fold into marks fly rods of eight and nine weights. What any fisherman who has ever caught a sea bream is asking at the time is simply: can I land this fish?
Beyond its electric yellow color, the next feature you notice in a sea bream is its head and oversized jaws. Watch an advisor conscientiously unhook one of the fish and see how much they respect the dorado’s teeth; to get a fly out. . . at least after a finger attempt.
Their mix of length (some dorados can make it bigger than 30 pounds), speed, jumping stunts and eye-catching cup was all I could see for myself if they were, in fact, the largest freshwater fish species on the planet. African tigerfish, Amazon peacock, and northern country pike and musk also rightly compete for this crown.
Of all the places to locate dorados, few compete with the Bolivian jungle both for its abundance of fish and for its excessive dimensions. For Marcelo Perez, a fifty-year-old Argentine architect turned fishing lodge developer, the crystal clear waters of Isiboro National Park’s 2. 4 million safe acres were the best position to build a series of destinations for his Tsimane Lodges, a series of high-end destinations for fishermen from around the world, most of whom come from America.
I joined a Colorado and South Carolina fishermen’s organization for six days of fishing at Tsimane’s Pluma Lodge. The sprawling hostel is made up of a number of well-appointed personal rooms with hot showers and comfortable beds. it consists of a number of shallow, fast apartments and an occasional plunge pool. As the tarpon moves upstream from late May, the dorado follows them, not straying too far from their favorite food source. it runs upstream, and with it ends the golden season.
The first morning, I spend upstream with Agustín Tettenborn, a 23-year-old Argentine consultant who is in his moment of season at the hostel. Our rhythm is a transparent stream framed between giant rocks, steep hills and occasional waterfalls. Spear, it becomes transparent that this is not a destination for a novice fly fisherman, as the desire to make throws from 60 to 80 feet is not uncommon. If you want to fish, of course. In addition, the needs of walking several stretches of the river over long distances require a fitness point comparable to a day of fishing in a mountain trout stream. If you plan to do the vacation in Pluma, dedicate yourself to getting in shape and it will not only make your chances of catching more fish, but you will also live a much more fun adventure.
Although we were going to spot some fish before launching them, we spent most of the day throwing them blindly into the rapids and the water bag where Tettenborn knew the fish liked to grab onto. However, later in the afternoon, we went out to a part of the pool shaded by rocks. at the height of a space and extensive almond trees. As we waded through the knee-deep water, Tettenborn spotted a golden state at the edge of the shady water.
“Launch at 1 h. . . fast. “
Two fake shots, and I threw the eight-inch red and yellow fly in front of the fish’s nose, stripped it twice, and the dorado grabbed the banner and flew away at the same time. The 20 pounds turned the pool into a mixer with its air. screens, violently protesting against my hook as I turned into the sky repeatedly. From the first moment you play tug-of-war with one of those beasts, especially a double-digit brute, you perceive why fishermen to the other side of the World Cup to catch them.
For the typical angler who can overtake (i. e. , pull the line back and forth in the launch process), Tettenborn says he can expect to catch between 15 and 25 fish in six days of fishing, which was demonstrated through what our organization experienced. After pitching blindly for several days, you tend to feel like a baseball pitcher used too many times in the rotation. Ben Gay and an insect repellent, in the middle of the jungle, cost about the same as gold.
However, it is a bit miraculous to see how the shoulder of a fly fisherman quickly straightens when seeing large fish. This is the case when Tettenborn was heading towards a herbarium rock dam across the river, the overflow was directed towards a small separate channel.
“Do you see those two golden ones sitting there?”
About 50 feet in front of us were two 20-pound (or more) goldsmiths parked like two submarines in the harbor. I will have an opportunity to put the fly where it wants to be, or the fish will be frightened, and the opportunity will be missed. Two false shots and I drop the fly two feet upstream of them and strip it when the existing one brings it in front of his nose.
The two fish rush on the fly with the winner jumping into the sky, the sea bream being the bull and I the rider praying to hold on. Four jumps in combat and the fish spits out the hook, but when the fly touches the water, a smaller sea bream is thrown on it. When I start bringing back the younger of the two, one of the 20 pounds attacks the little fish, biting it in half. I pull the tailless sea bream out of the water while the two giants the bream run aground at my feet to consume the rest of the fish. It’s as if they are orcas desperate for a meal of seals. The dorados are oblivious to their predatory frenzy, without paying attention to me.
At that moment, I couldn’t help but think again: Is it the largest freshwater fish in the world?I doubt that whoever hung one up would say otherwise.