​20 July 2017

​The Peacock Bass fishing season in Brazil’s Amazon has begun in River Plate’s exclusive fishery on the Marmelos River in Dry Zone S. East (Dry Zone #1) located in the Rio Madeira watershed south of Manaus.  The first group on anglers arrived Saturday, 15 July and although the water was a little higher than optimum they are descending steadily enabling clients to land the large numbers of fish our southern fishery is known for.  Tuesday, one boat with two anglers boated 183 Peacock Bass weighing upwards of 16 lbs with a good number of fish over 12 lbs.  Anglers also caught Tambaqui, Caras & Piranha.  Top water action was excellent and fly fishermen were successful using the old standby pattern, the red and yellow Mickey Finn streamer.
 
Last season the water levels in the Rio Madeira watershed were at historic lows and fishing success suffered in late July, August, September and early October when we fish our exclusive fisheries on the Marmelos, Matupiri & Igapo Acu Rivers south of Manaus.  This year the water levels are looking to be ideal and we expect the early season Peacock Bass fishing in Southeast and Southwest Dry Zones (#1 & #2) to produce the big numbers of Peacock Bass this early season southern fishery has long been known for.  Most of the Peacock Bass fishing pressure takes place in the upper Rio Negro from October thru February, located 250 – 400 miles north west of Manaus on public water where 50+ mother boats and cruise ships exert heavy pressure on the Peacock Bass fishing resources.  River Plate in contrast, leases over 8 million acres of indigenous Indian lands and government preserves, enjoying exclusive fishing rights on those lands in the Rio Madeira, Rio Negro and Rio Branco watersheds where they can manage the fishing pressure and thus the Peacock Bass fishing resources providing the type of unpressured Peacock Bass fishing experience we did in the 1990s.
 
Peacock Bass fishing in Brazil’s Amazon is evolving much like Alaska did 40 years ago when the easy to get to waters became heavily pressured, fishing success plummeted and the trophy fishing experience became oriented around the remote fly-in lodges.  Today, Brazil’s trophy Peacock Bass fishing experience has become oriented around the “fly-in” remote floating, mobile Safari Camps fishing private Indian lands and government preserves on the black water tributaries to the major river systems frequented by the large “navy” of large and small mother boat operations.  If you are looking for the “true Amazon Peacock Bass fishing experience,” contact us and let us show you what the Amazon’s remote “fly-in” fishing experience for small groups of 6 – 12 fishermen is all about.

FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST!
Fishing The Amazon Since 1992
www.peacock-bass-fishing.com

​Many people ask me what my favorite lures are for Peacock Bass fishing, be it hard tackle or flies.  A few operators furnish tackle for their clients and most will give their clients a list of their preferred lures they have found work best for Peacock Bass.  Now there are a few operators that offer to “rent” you the use of lures during your trip.  Beware of the operators that offer trips for $5,000.00 to $7,500.00 and offer to “rent” the use of maybe $250.00 worth the lures for $350.00 - $400.00/ week, THIS IS FLAT OUT GOUGING and will tell you a lot about the modis operandi of the operator!  It’s kind of like paying $150.00 for a steak dinner and then being told they will “rent” you a steak knife and fork for another $25.00!

​After 35 trips to Brazil’s Amazon Peacock Bass fishing as an angler, outfitter, guide and putting together tackle kits for Peacock Bass clients since 1997, here are my favorites lures for fishing in Brazil’s Amazon. You don’t need to bring a lot of lures; you just need to bring the right type of lures!  When you travel all the way to the Amazon, open your tackle box and all the guide does is shake his head, you know you’re in for a long week.  Mind you, manufacturers other than the ones I have mentioned make lures in the style I mention below and they work too. The ones I mention below have proven to be tough enough for the hard fighting Peacock Bass, with hooks that will withstand the awesome fight a Peacock will give you.  People always ask me, “What do you catch most of your Peacock Bass on?” I use the old adage in reply, “you will catch 90% of your fish on the lures you use 90% of the time!”  If you want to catch the most fish in a day’s fishing, use the lures the guides ask you to use and not the ones you want to catch fish on!  Always remember to use the “Tina Turner” method when fishing a lure for Peacock Bass, “…we do nothing slow and easy…we like it fast and rough!”  Fast and erratic is the name of the game for Peacocks. You want to induce that instinct to chase and give them very little time to decide it’s a lure and not a struggling animal or a wounded bait fish!

​The adrenalin rush when a big Peacock Bass slams a big noisy top water bait is unlike any you have ever experienced!!  I tell people when a big Peacock hits a top water bait it is like someone dropped a 10 lb cement block into the water!  This is what we all travel to Brazil’s Amazon for. Once you have seen it in person or even just on a television show, you will know what I mean.  The one thing to remember is that a Peacock Bass does less than 5% of its feeding on top and you will not catch as many fish per hour with top water baits as you will with a subsurface bait, but the top water baits tend to appeal to the bigger Peacocks and often calls them in from far away in the low visibility tannin stained waters you will be fishing.  Soooo, if you are after a monster….wearing yourself out with the big top water baits can be well worth it…some of the time!

​HIGH ROLLER’S 6 ½” RIP ROLLER
High Roller’s Rip Roller was the first “knock off “ of Luhr Jensen’s famous Woodchopper noisy propeller type top water lure and in my estimation, the best.  Originally designed as a Musky lure by the Ozark Mountain Lures, the Woodchopper became a favorite as a Peacock Bass lure in the mid 1990’s.  Rapala discontinued the Woodchopper series around 2009 leaving High Roller’s River Roller to fill this niche in the Peacock Bass fishermen’s tackle box.  The Rip Roller is available in a 5 ½ inch model with 2 treble hooks, plus 6 ½” and 7 ½”  models, both sporting three treble hooks.  I prefer the 6 ½ model over my second choice the 5 ½” model only because the 6 1/2"” model has three hooks.”  My favorite colors are Perch, Halloween & Clown.  Guides still love to have you throw the “Chopper” but unless you are a gorilla, the chopper will wear you out!  When I told my guide one day I would give him $100 if I landed a 20 lb Peacock, his eyes got as big as silver dollars. The problem was he would not allow me to throw anything but a chopper all day and it killed me!  No he did not get his hundred dollars and I sure as hell didn’t make the statement the following day as my arms were to sore to throw the damn chopper for a couple of days!

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YO ZURI’S 5” HYDRO PENCIL
There are days when Peacock Bass will roll behind a noisy top water propeller lure but simply will not hit it.  This happens a lot in areas that have been heavily fished as the Peacocks seem to know that noisy damn thing is going to hurt them, or at least it did last time they hit it!  This is the time you want to change to a more subtle top water lure and the classic is a the age old Spook type bait.  You need a big durable bait and the problem I have found with the Salt Water Zara Spook is you have to change the hooks out with 3X strong hooks and the Spook just doesn’t seem to run right with the heavier treble hooks.  I have been using Yo Zuri’s 5” Hydro Pencil with good luck.  This lure comes with strong salt-water hooks and is made of a much heavier design than the Spook, runs exactly like a Spook and has an internal rattle.  My favorite color is the red headed, silver bodied model.

​REBEL’S 4 ½” JUMPING MINNOW
It seems every few years a new bait comes along that is very effective for Peacock Bass.  The latest top water lure to make a big impression on the Peacock Bass fishing scene is Rebel’s Jumping Minnow.  Not a new lure mind you, but fairly new to the Peacock Bass fishing scene.  This slim, barely floating top water lure combines a “walking the dog” type action with a bobbing head that allows the angler to impart a number of different actions to it including making the head of lure literally “jump” out of the water.  You can keep it on the surface and “walk the dog” or work it just under the surface in a more erratic “walking the dog” action.  I always have a rod rigged up with a Jumping Minnow on it when fishing for Peacock Bass in Brazil’s Amazon.  The Jumping Minnow comes in a 3 ½” and 4 ½ model but I prefer the 4 ½” model as it not only should appeal to bigger fish, but because it weighs ½ oz instead of 3.8 oz as the 3 1/2 “ model does allowing you to cast it further.  The one downside to the 4 ½” Jumping Minnow is that you have to change out the #2 treble hooks with 3x strong trebles which is  a little work but worth it and the lure will run correctly with the heavier hooks.

95% of the feeding a Peacock Bass will do is beneath the surface and thus you will catch more fish per hour spent fishing with subsurface lures and you will catch some big boys as well.  Due to the low visibility of  the tannin stained waters you will be fishing, a rattle & bright colors are a plus.  Most all the subsurface lures you will use will need to be shallow running as Peacock Bass are structure oriented ambush fish and you will be hung up donating lots of lures to the fish gods with deep running jerk baits.

​YO ZURI’S 4 ½” CRYSTAL MINNOW
Yo Zuri’s Crystal Minnow which has been on the Peacock Bass Fishing scene for about 15 years now is my all time favorite jerk bait.  Yes, Yo Zuri does make a 5 ½” and a 7 ½” Crystal Minnow, but I have found nothing works as well as the 4 ½” model.  This is a very versatile lure as you can make it “walk the dog” subsurface, jerk it very erratic side to side action and have the floating version act like a wounded minnow on the surface.  The Crystal Minnow is available in floating, sinking and suspended models.  I prefer the 3-D graphics models in silver with a black or blue back or the white with a green back model.  The nice thing about the Crystal Minnow is that it comes from Yo Zuri with rugged 3x strong #2 treble hooks on it.  I have never had a Yo Zuri hook straighten out on a fish!  Crystal Minnows can be trolled effectively at the accelerated speeds used for Peacock Bass fishing without the lure planing out to the surface.

BORBOLETA 4” PERVASA
Isca Borboleta’s Perversa twitch bait, manufactured in in Brazil is the newest subsurface bait to make a big impact in the Brazilian Peacock Bass fishing scene.  This 4” lure has more action than you could believe from looking at the lure.  Short quick jerks of the rod tip make this lure dart erratically from side to side imitating a wounded bait fish.  The quicker you can retrieve the Pervasa the more erratic it runs and the more appealing to the Peacock Bass it is.  I took some under water, slow motion Go Pro footage of the retrieve of the Pervasa and its action was far greater than what we were seeing from above the water.  Jerked short  and quick, the lure not only moved erratically from side to side, but it also rolled, truly amazing action!  It surprised me that a Peacock was actually able to get ahold of the Perversa!  These lures can produce big numbers of Peacock Bass and some really big ones as well.  It has become one of the top producing lures in the guides arsenal as of late.  I like the bone color and the white with a red head combination.  The Perversa is equipped with strong hooks that you do not have to worry about changing out.
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​6” EXTENDED TAIL JIGS
Over the years the lowly jig has morphed into a very specialized weapon in the Peacock Bass fisherman’s arsenal.  Buck tail still works the best for the body material but the problem is that you cannot get buck tail long enough to make a jig longer than say 3 inches.  The fishermen and tiers have solved this problem by adding a 3” piece of say 150 lb test mono tail to the jig and then tying a seconds clump of buck tail  to the end of the mono, producing a 5 – 6” long jig.  These have become very popular on the Peacock Bass fishing scene over the last 20 years.  I prefer the half ounce version with at least a 5/0 strong hook .  My favorite colors are the old Mickey Finn pattern of red and white with just a touch of Marabou tied in with the buck tail.  Red and white plus green and white are my alternate choices.  You can throw these ½ oz jigs into the next area code and with the hook pointing up with a little finesse you can work it over logs and thru less than dense brush.  These jigs are very effective for trolling as well.  I really believe that these ½ oz jigs will out fish any other type of lure for Peacock Bass, the only problem being that it’s rather boring fishing.  Do not fish these jigs slow and easy like you would for Black Bass, use fast and short jerks to induce the instinct to chase in the Peacocks.  Be sure to bring say a dozen jigs with you each day, as if the Piranha take a liking to them they will not last long!
 
SOFT PLASTICS
Soft plastics are not used much for Peacock Bass & when they are you need to use continuous  short quick jerks to make them dance.  They can be effective as with the protected hook you can throw them into logs and brushy cover, but again Piranha, Wolf fish, Bicuda and the host of other toothy fish inhabiting the waters of Brazil’s Amazon will make short work of these soft plastics.  In my 35 trips to the Amazon, I have only seen one client use soft plastics and he did use them effectively catching Peacock Bass up to 18 lbs.  He had brought a pretty good supply with him but he was out by day 3 of his trip.
 
Live bait will catch Peacocks better than anything else, but the fish tend to swallow the live bait before you set the hook, which results in the Peacock Bass being hooked deep in its throat or in its gills, which most often means a dead fish.  The sport fishing industry practices catch & release fishing on Peacock Bass and gill hooked fish do not release well!  Therefore fishing with live bait is frowned upon by the sport fishing guides & enthusiast!

Jim Kern’s Emu Outfitting Company in conjunction with River Plate Anglers has made short 4 ½ and even 3 ½ day Peacock Bass fishing trips productive and suddenly very “doable.” We have accomplished this by flying you directly into your remote floating Safari Camp, located in private Indian lands & government preserves, by private Caravan charter float planes, putting you into primo unpressured Peacock Bass fishing waters the first day. This new concept enables people who cannot spend 9 days away from the office or family to enjoy Peacock Bass fishing as never before in a very private upscale atmosphere. We are offering these short trips at our “New Concept” Single Occupancy Safari Camps where everyone has a private 250 sq ft, air-conditioned cabin, complete with a queen bed plus a private bathroom and shower with only 6 people in camp! The chartered Caravan float plane to and from your Safari Camp as well as all tackle including TFO bait casting, spinning plus fly rods, Shimano reels, Power Pro lines PLUS ALL TERMINAL TACKLE, LURES & FLIES are included at no additional cost!

Many people have asked me about shorter trips than the conventional trip available offering 6 ½ days of fishing for Peacock Bass in Brazil’s Amazon. After having managed the American offices of two of the largest mother boat operations in Brazil’s Amazon we found that short trips really cut down the days of quality fishing one experiences to just a few. By the time you fly into Barcelos and board your mother boat the first day of your trip, it was the 2nd day of your trip if you ran hard upriver all night before you were in decent fishing waters that were not heavily pressured. And then the last day of your trip you had to be back in Barcelos so you could catch the plane back to Manaus early the next morning, having given you just a couple of days of fishing in good waters. Thus these trips have never been very popular.

The logistics of our short trips allow you to travel to Brazil’s Amazon, enjoying 4 ½ days of upscale Peacock Bass fishing and be out of the house or office less than a week, or enjoy 3 ½ days of awesome fishing being out of the house only 5 days! And we have prices to match, $4,990. for the trip offering 4 ½ days of private lands single occupancy fishing and $4,250. for the trip offering 3 1/2 day of fishing. A day room at the hotel the last day in Manaus is also included. Trip prices are all inclusive upon your arrival in Manaus with the exception of gratuities and your meals the last day in Manaus.
FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST!
www.peacock-bass-fishing.com​

Water levels in Dry Zone #3 (upper Rio Negro River) have experienced higher than normal conditions through November & December of 2016.  The high water levels on upper Rio Negro River from Sao Gabriel down to Manaus have been acting like a dam keeping not only the Rio Negro but also the Rio Branco and their tributaries from dropping.  This is very evident on River Plate’s Jufari River exclusive fishery where the upper end of the river is experiencing much better water levels and subsequently better fish catches than the lower end of the river where it flows into the Rio Negro.   Anglers fishing the upper Rio Negro with mother boat and lodge operators in November and December have reported that high water levels have slowed fishing success in these heavily fished areas where the majority of the Peacock Bass fishing pressure occurs.  Water levels had begun to fall the last week of November but increased sharply beginning the first week of December and have continued on the upswing from Moura, located about 50 miles downriver from Barcelos, all the way up to San Gabriel several hundred miles upriver from Barcelos.  This is not unusual for early December as the upper Rio Negro watershed usually experiences what is called the “Christmas rains” the first two weeks of December.  Historically the water levels in the upper Rio Negro watershed tend to decrease the last two weeks of December and into January.  Lets hope for a decrease in water levels to help to get the water out of the vegetation on the main rivers edges and get the Peacock Bass out of the brush for the second half of the 2016-2017 fishing season.
 
Anglers report that due to the high water conditions on the main river channels of the Rio Negro, trolling jigs and flies next to the flooded brush and cover near the rivers edge has been the most productive form of fishing as large areas of water can be covered in pursuit of the widely dispersed Peacock Bass.  Fishermen fishing the upper ends of the tributaries to the Rio Negro where water levels are lower have reported catches of 30 – 40 Peacocks per day on subtle top water lures the likes of Jumping Minnows and Spook type baits as well as casting subsurface jerk baits and jigs as overall these waters are not as high as the main river channels.
 
Water levels in Dry Zone #4 and it’s tributaries to the Rio Branco and the north side of the Rio Negro are still higher than is ideal for good Peacock Bass fishing.  This is the historic norm as these waters do not normally experience ideal water conditions until after the first of the year.
 
Water levels in Dry Zones 1 & 2 in the Rio Madeira watershed are still very low and unfishable, having experienced historic low water conditions in 2016.
 
 

As I go thru life I find I do not have to be able to communicate with someone to call them a friend.  When I was 22 and enrolled at Michigan State University I received a phone call in the middle of the night in late October from Mexico.  It was an Ernesto Hays who owned a baseball team in Los Mochis, Sinaloa Mexico asking me with a heavy Spanish accent if I wanted to come to Mexico and play winter baseball their Liga Pacifica de Mexico.  I had been going to college in the winters and playing minor league baseball in the Cleveland minor league chain for 5 years and had spent the summer playing for Elmira in the AA Eastern League.  One of the American players on the team I had played against that summer recommended me when they needed a pitcher.  I was mid way though the fall semester at Michigan State and asked him when they needed me & he said “yesterday” as the season had already started and one of their pitchers had had an injury.  I wasn’t really interested until he said he would pay me $2,000.00/month and all living expenses thru the end of the year.  Suddenly I was interested, as I had made $1,000.00/month that summer, 1972, playing AA ball and had to pay all my living costs.  I discussed it with my wife who said if I really wanted to play Major League baseball, I could not pass up this opportunity.  I flew to Tucson, Arizona 2 days later (while she packed the apartment up and headed to her parents’ place), where Ernesto picked me up in his 185 Cessna and flew me several hundred miles south of the boarder to Los Mochis on the Sea of Cortez.  They took me to a hotel and dropped off this “never been out of a country where they did not speak English” person, with people that spoken only Spanish.  I can remember going down to a little dirt floored place to eat, near the hotel of course so I wouldn’t get lost, looking at a menu and realizing I had no chance of ordering anything.  I made my first friend that I could not communicate with when the waiter came by and realized my dilemma took me by the arm, walked me around to a couple of tables and let me look at several dishes until I pointed to one & of course I pointed to a beer too.  When I was done I would give him an American green $20.00 bill and he would give me this funky looking Mexican currency as change, man could he have taken me to the cleaners…but he didn’t…or at least I don’t think he did!!!  This is how this gracious man helped me eat for the better part of a month, the Spanish words I learned first was Amigo & “deme dos cervezas más por favor!”  This winter ball baseball experience helped me to get to the big leagues in 1974 and stay there until 1986, as in the minor leagues they kept “good prospects” & high draft choices around if they did well or not.  In winter ball you produced pronto or you were home in short order!​​

In 1997 I had taken several Texas Rangers baseball players to Brazil’s Amazon Peacock Bass fishing on an 85’ riverboat named the Amazon Queen.  While there I made friends with the river boat captain named Genival and his young son Blackie.  Genival was an indigenous Indian and I would think had very little formal education.  I really enjoyed spending time with him in the wheelhouse of the Queen pointing to different things on the river and the rainforest and thru sign language and my little very limited Spanish, exchanging Portuguese and English words for them.   We made a great pair, Genival at the time was in his 40’s I would say & might have made 5’ standing on his toes and I was 6”5”.  In 1998 I was hired by Amazon Tours, a Brazilian based Peacock Bass fishing business that was owned and operated by an American, to develop an American marketing office in Texas for them.  This necessitated me making one or two trips a year to Brazils Amazon to visit the Amazon Queen and the Rio Negro Lodge where Genival was always happy to see me and “point and recite” & watch his son Blackie grow up.  I quit Amazon Tours in 2003 and became involved guiding at and managing a lodge in southwest Alaska for the next 7 years.  I made one trip down to Brazil in January of 2006 to another mother boat operation and who was the captain…Genival! It was great to see him again and renew old friendships.  In 2010 I was approached by the owner of Captain Peacock Yachts and Expeditions when I was down there looking to get back into booking for Peacock Bass fishing again.  This gentleman had been a part time floatplane pilot for Amazon Tours when I was with them & in short order hired me to develop an American marketing office for his company Captain Peacock.  On my first trip down to Captain Peacock’s 85’ mother boat the Captain Logan I see Genival again who was the pilot for the Logan & his son Blackie who is all grown up now and one of the guides for Captain Peacock.  Some of my best times in the Amazon over the next 3 years were hand lining for bait fish or Piranha off the side of the mother boat or visiting Genival;s native friends with him in the villages after the fishermen had left the boat for the day.  My Portuguese vocabulary had increased to maybe 25 or 30 words over the years and Genival’s English had to be up to about the same, as in very little!  We still did more communicating in sign language than speaking, but it was sure a relationship I enjoyed.  Blackie was rather impressive with his command of the English language and we could converse in English freely.  I would always bring an IPod or something for Blackie and a watch or such for Genival and they would always have something like dried Piranha heads or fishing flies like the natives of the Amazon had tied for eons out of the inner bark of a particular tree or another native prize.  We spent many hours telling lies the other could not understand and laughing like hell!  We spent New Year’s night together on a remote Amazon sand bar with 10 guests and the staff of the boat, watching fireworks and all laughing at each other and celebrating the New Year, as very few Americans ever will.  From somewhere he produced a bottle of Amazon home brew and he and I and at the stroke of midnight ran into the black Rio Negro.  These are memories I will never forget….Genival called me his “Grande Amigo  .”During the 2013 – 2014 fishing season Genival was the Captain of another mother boat and while in Santa Isabel fell from the gangplank, hit his head and drowned.  About a month later I had a friend going down to fish with Captain Peacock and I was able to send Blackie several pictures of his father I had taken over our years of friendship.  I have found out long ago, speaking the same language is not a prerequisite for friendship.  Try interfacing with people that don’t speak your language with sign language as the Plain Indians of America communicated with each other and the white man for many, many years.  It will seem silly at first, but being able to laugh at yourself is a big part of friendship and believe me, trying to communicate thru sign language can be damn funny at times!  In this day and age of Facebook and Google Translate, I stay in touch with friends and past clients in Russia, Brazil, Japan and many other countries, I consider it Facebook Sign Language!
​

​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.

Experience the true remote Peacock Bass fishing experience you have always dreamed about in Brazil’s Amazon at a discounted price.  This is not a yacht or lodge trip on the heavily fished main river channels pin wheeling around Barcelos.  This is an upscale, fly-in fishing adventure where you can expect to catch 20 – 40 fish a day per person fishing private lands River Plate has leased exclusive fishing rights on from the Brazilian government and indigenous Indians!
 
FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST!
Fishing  Brazil’s Amazon since the 1990’s
www.peacock-bass-fishing.com
CONTACT JIM KERN
jim@emuoutfitting.com
817-946-2479
​

​We have a few prime dates available on our Peacock Bass fishing trips in Brazil’s Amazon offering 3 ½, 4 ½ day and 6 ½ days of Peacock Bass fishing on our single and double occupancy trips for the coming fishing season which runs from mid October 2016 – mid March 2017.  Fish private entry black water tributaries with lease the exclusive fishing rights from the indigenous Indains and enjoy boating 20 – 40 Peacocks per day per angler!  You will fly directly into the black water tributary your floating, mobile Safari Camp is located on  and be in prime Peacock Bass fishing waters the first day of your trip.  We utilize 250 sq ft air-conditioned floating cabins either double occupancy featuring two single beds or private single occupancy cabins with a Queen bed.  This is the true remote Amazon Peacock Bass fishing experience for small groups of 6 – 8 anglers/week that offers the finest in personal service, food, accommodations & guides you have heard about away from the myriad of mother boats and lodges on the main river channels.
Visit our website at www.emuoutfitting.com & contact Jim Kern at jim@emuoutfitting.com or call at 817-946-2479.
FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FROM THE REST
The leader in Brazil’s Peacock Bass Fishing Since 1992

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

Peacock Bass fishing trips in Brazil’s Amazon have done a lot of evolving in the last 25 years.  I can remember boarding the 85’ Amazon Queen mother boat upon my arrival in Manaus and traveling nearly 30 hours up the Rio Negro to reach the fishing ground just upriver from Barcelos on my first trip Peacock Bass fishing in 1997.  Then on the way back it took us about 22 hours traveling down river on the Queen to arrive back to Manaus for the flight home.  We killed two days of fishing running up and down the river.  My next trip in 1998 we flew from Manaus to Barcelos, in a twin engine charter plane where we boarded the Queen.  Once again with a half day of traveling upriver to get away from the heavily fished areas around Barcelos we lost another day of prime fishing.  By day 2 were getting far enough away from Barcelos that in the late 1990’s we were getting into good fishing areas as about the only fishing competition was the local Indian subsistence fishermen.  By the early 2000’s the interest in Peacock Bass fishing exploded and in 1999 the Rio Negro Lodge opened for business about 40 miles upriver form Barcelos and was soon able to accommodate 40 fishermen per week from their fixed lodge and the number of mother boats handling from 8 to 24 guests per week each went from 10 on the river to 20, to 30 and keeps increasing all operating our of Barcelos.  Soon it came to a situation that after landing in Barcelos it took a full 2 days to get away from the crowds of Peacock Bass fishermen and into lightly fished areas that produced good fishing.  Then you spent the last 2 days of the trip working your way back thru the heavily fished areas to get to Barcleos for you departure back to Manaus.  With this advent of heavy fishing pressure the Peacock Bass became reluctant to hit the myriad of top water lures they were seeing, which was long the thrill of this game, watching the aggressive Peacock Bass smash a top water lure.  The new norm became trolling jigs and flies so you could cover large swaths of water and present you lure to as many fish as possible.  Not a bad way to fish, it was just not what I considered the classic Peacock Bass fishing experience many fishermen had come to Brazil’s Amazon for.

Then in 2010 I was invited down to Brazil by River Plate Anglers to see a “new to me” Peacock Bass fishing experience, flying into remote black water tributaries to the Rio Negro where you saw no other fishermen and where you were in prime fishing waters the first morning of your fishing trip.  Many of the rivers they fished were above low water sand bars and obstructions that inhibited entry by the myriad of mother boats working the main Rio Negro and many were within land locked areas River Plate had lease exclusive trespass rights from the indigenous Indians of the area.  It was a pleasant surprise to be able to fly from Manaus early the first morning of the 7 day trip by Caravan wheel or float plane and land in close proximity to your floating mobile Safari Camp located on a beautiful white sandbar and be fishing prime Peacock Bass fishing waters the first morning of your trip.  The cabins were 250 sq ft, fully air-conditioned with two single beds side by side complete with a private bathroom and shower with camps handling small groups of nly 8 to 12 guests per week.  The key to this operation was that the floating cabins only drew 4 inches of water and were moved up or down the tributaries several times a week in most any water conditions.    Another thing that surprised me was the big numbers of Peacock Bass these lightly fished tributaries produced and I loved spending the evenings on the secluded sand bard the camps were on in the middle of the rain forest watching the birds and listening the monkeys rather than on deck of a mother boat watching the river traffic on the Rio Negro. 

 
The next five years I spent managing the American office for a different mother boat Peacock Bass fishing operation in Brazil making a living and managing a premium fly-in lodge in southwest Alaska.   Managing the lodge in Alaska and being able to fly to remote destinations every day, which is the premium fishing trip in Alaska, really made me want to pursue this idea again in Brazil’s Amazon.  Upon retiring as General Manager of the lodge in Alaska in 2015, I began to discuss my idea of offering a remote fly-in fishing operation in the Amazon with River Plate’s floating camps being able to offer single occupancy cabins in the heart of several prime Peacock Bass fishing tributaries for all 7 days of a client’s trip.  We have this operation together and are have trips offering 6 ½ or 4 ½ days of fishing , utilizing Caravan wheel and float planes to flying directly from Manaus to your Safari Camp you in primo unpressured black water tributaries with small groups of 6 fishermen per week from October thru March.  You will enjoy  250 sq ft air-conditioned private cabins each with a queen bed plus private bathroom & shower.  We also offer upscale food & beverage service, all adult beverages, daily maid and laundry service, custom gully equipped 21 bass boats and guides plus the use of all rods, reels & LURES as part of the trip package.  We even offer single occupancy hotel rooms in Manaus the first night of your trip!

Come enjoy the premium fly-in Peacock Bass fishing experience with little to no competition on the water with small personal groups for the real Amazon Peacock Bass fishing experience you have always dreamed of.  Did I mention that River Plate is the most experienced Peacock Bass outfitter in Brazil’s Amazon being one of the original pioneers of Peacock Bass fishing since 1992.  We don’t say were the “World’s Best Peacock Bass Operator” we let our clients tell you that!
 
“Absolutely a first class trip for big dog fisherman. Excellent amenities for being in the middle of nowhere. You better be ready to fish a lot, or just stay on the porch with the small dogs. I've fished Brazil 4 times since 1998, with the last one on this venue In 2015. It was the best for serious peacock bass fishing. Jim Kern will take care of you”.  James Gernentz   Bay Town, Texas  18 May 2016
 
Visit our website www.peacock-bass-fishing.com for complete information and booking information.  FISH WITH THE BEST AWAY FOR THE REST!