THE ULTIMATE ANGLING BUCKET LIST

On one occasion, having managed to untangle myself from my mosquito net in the dark to nip outside
for a leak, I felt something crunch under my bare foot at the side of the bunk.
Without light it was impossible to see what it was. Next morning however I found a huge dead millipede
with a flattened foot print half way down its body. But you very quickly got used to it, and shared a
similar general lack of sleep and personal hygiene with everyone else.
The fishing was divided up into two parts. The first was a six am start for a couple of hours before the
main show, which came after breakfast. This was a short run up-steam to a constriction in the river
where the flow was being very tightly squeezed by two banks of tall rocks. Not so much rapids as a
collection of fast deep swirling eddies, which we would fish at the exit point where the river suddenly
widened out again.
The flow there was still strong and
swirling, but settling out all the time.
Here payara would line up waiting to
pick off disorientated victims appearing
out of the faster flow, and was the part
of the trip I had particularly come for. I
so much wanted to catch a payara, which
is a silver salmon shaped fish with black
edged fins – until you get to the head,
which is short and stubby with an incredibly
evil quality to it.
that really steals the show.
Electric Eel
The locals call it the devil fish, and you
can easily see why. It's large eyes, which
are set quite close together, are
presumably for hunting in low light or
murky conditions. But it's the mouth
This is armed with some of the most spectacular teeth and fangs you will ever see in any fish anywhere.
I have the skull of one at home, which when I show it people and ask what they think it is, never gets
picked out as belonging to a fish.
It has a sort of dinosaurial quality to it. In particular, two very large fangs which stand a good one and
a half inches tall at the front of the lower jaw. So tall in fact that the fish has evolved holes in its upper
jaw for these to fit through, otherwise it would be unable to close its mouth.
Great for grabbing and holding on to small fish passing by. Less good for grabbing wooden plugs,
which they would frequently hit without becoming attached.
We had payara there every morning. Unfortunately, I'm using the 'royal we' here. German and Marcel
had them. I couldn't seem to set the hooks, while Eric and the ladies all stayed in bed.
These sessions would last a couple of hours or so from first light. Plenty of time then to chat, which is
where I got the low down on German, who looked like the small shaven headed captain of the aircraft
carrier in the Tom Cruise film top gun.
Marcel had set up the guiding company some years earlier. He and German had always been fishing
friends, but obviously would meet infrequently due to the nature of German's work. As an avid angler
however, on his retirement, German offered to buy into to the company with Marcel.
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