​The Peacock Bass fishing season began in late July with our first group scheduled to fish our exclusive fisher on the Marmelos River in the Tineray Indian Reservation in Dry Zone #1 located about 400 miles south of Manaus.  Water levels are at a historic low in Dry Zone #1 not allowing us to access the river with our floating Safari Camps that only draw 4” of water!  This necessitated us to move our operations to our exclusive fishery in Dry Zone #2 about 250 miles south of Manaus, encompassing the Rio Matupiri and Rio Igapo in the Muhura Indian Reservation.  Water levels were still a little higher than ideal in late July but anglers were able to average 20 – 30 Peacock Bass per day each thru the first week of September.  Groups of 6 – 8 anglers/week have averaged catching around 1,000 Peacocks Bass during their 6 ½ days of fishing.  One group of 4 anglers fishing  the 2nd week of August, boated 995 Peacocks up to 16 lbs, for an average of 38 fish/day/person!   The number of Peacocks in the 8 – 20 lb class being caught has increased each week as water levels continue to drop.
 
Water levels in Dry Zone #3 on the upper Rio Negro around Barcelos and in Dry Zone #4 on the Rio Branco are still high enough that the water is out of the rivers banks and is not really fishable.  Water levels are descending at a normal pace and are slightly higher than they were last year at this time, which is good as last year Dry Zones #3 & #4 experienced historic low water levels with mother boats on the upper Rio Negro being stranded in the extremely low Rio Negro for weeks at a time.  NOAA is predicting that La Nina conditions should have little effect on the Amazon this winter, hopefully allowing water levels to return to normal.

We presently have a group of 4 fly fishermen from Mexico fishing the Igapo Acu River in our private lands fishery inside the Muhura Indian Reservation south of Manaus in Dry Zone #2.  From Saturday afternoon thru Tuesday evening, they had boated over 600 Peacock Bass, 20 Peacock weighing 8 lbs or better including 14 & 15 pound fish.  We are usually fishing the Marmelos River further south in July and early August, but water levels are at an all time low there so we have moved our mobile floating camps to our private lands fishery in our Igapo Acu and Matupiri Rivers private lands fishery.  River Plate leases over 7 million acres of private Indian and Federal lands that encompass over 1.500 miles of black water tributaries in the Amazon’s Dry Zones 1 – 4, extending from 400 miles south of Manaus to 400 miles northwest of Manaus to ensure we can put our anglers on lightly pressured waters with the best water levels throughout the fishing season.  We begin fishing Dry Zones 1 & 2 south of Manaus in late July and end the season in early March fishing Dry Zones # 3 & 4.
    Experience the type of fishing we experienced in the late 1990’s, with miles of rivers that enjoy little to no fishing pressure.  In our private land fisheries, catches of 25 – 40 Peacock Bass/day per person are the norm and not the exception.!  Small groups of 6 – 8 anglers flying directly to our remote camps from Manaus, enables us to put you on prime fishing waters the first day of your trip!  Air-conditioned single occupancy cabins with queen beds and double occupancy cabins with single beds are available.  
FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST!
www.peacock-bass-fishing.com

FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST!
www.peacock-bass-fishing.com

When Peacock Bass fishing was “introduced” to the sport fisherman in the early 1990’s by River Plate Anglers and the now defunct Amazon Tours, there were really only 5 recognized species of Peacock Bass.  After extensive research completed in 2006, ichthyologists increased the number of identified species of Peacock Bass to 15 in South America.  Presently IGFA (International Game Fish Association) has World Record listings for 12 different species of Peacock Bass.

George Walters, fishing with River Plate Anglers floating Safari Camps in Brazil’s Amazon in February of 2010, caught & currently holds the only IGFA World Record Peacock Bass of any species, all tackle or fly line tippet class, of any current outfitter in Brazil's Amazon. This 16.1 lb IGFA All Tackle World Record  Orinoco Peacock Bass, Cichla orinocensis, was caught on the Urubaxi River, a tributary to the Rio Negro.
chttp://wrec.igfa.org/WRecordsList.aspx?lc=AllTackle&cn=Peacock,%20Orinoco

Several World Record Speckled Peacock Bass, Cichla temensis, have been caught over the years by Amazon outfitters, both on fly and conventional tackle, but they have all been surpassed by the monster 29 lb 1 oz monster caught in November of 2010 by Brazilian Angler Andrea Zaccherini fishing out of Santa Isabel Do Rio Negro.  Find accurate information on IGFA World Records at
http://wrec.igfa.org/WRecordsList.aspx?lc=AllTackle&cn=Peacock,+speckled