Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part eight.

Day 8 – Family of Peacocks

The morning began with a beautiful sunrise and Augustine’s excellent egg scramble and coffee in my forever hot YETI Rambler. I couldn’t help but be drawn to fish busting just on the rock point right off our campsite, so grabbed my rod and headed out, hoping to put yesterday’s tough day behind me. Sure enough, fourth cast out, and I managed to land a nice little peacock bass.

I’ve found that first thing in the morning, when the water is cooler, the fishing is better. This morning was no different, and Matt immediately caught his first wolf fish of the trip, along with three medium-sized peacocks on Ross’ new prototype reel. Super sweet drag and ultralight. Following this trend of biting fish, I managed to land a pacu borracha, a matrincha, and a peacock all in one rapid area.

Family of Peacock Bass

My highlight of the day was catching lots of six to seven pound peacock bass on Dan Blanton’s blue and yellow Flashtail Whistler 4/0. At one point, Augustine and I doubled up twice. I’ve found once you find the school, you can usually almost catch them all. Bass are creatures of habit that go right back to where you just pulled them out, so cast again, and you’ve got the entire school chasing your fly again.

Lunch was simple and perfect. It was a typical Kayapo lunch of tucanare peacocks, grilled whole over an open fire, sprinkled with a little salt, and served on a paddle. As a western add-on we had cold sodas and a kiwi.
The chef’s assistant made a special treat for me on this camping trip: chocolate-covered sweet coconut, dusted with oats on top. Almond Joy has nothing on these!

Due to the relentless sun and water as warm as bath water, the afternoon was slow. We couldn’t even see fish in the shallows, so we hit some deeper holes with an intermediate and a sinking line and managed to catch a few more tucanares and a bicuda.

Late in the afternoon, we tried our hand at the infamous payara armed with my Hardy Proaxis 8wt Ross reel with 350 grain sinking line. With a red and white Tarpon Snake by Umpqua, I would throw a long cast out and let it sink attempting to get it down 10 meters. My first retrieval of long, consistent medium speed strips resulted in three consecutive “pop, pop, pop” hits, but nothing going tight. This happened twice more, making it likely that payara hit my fly, but their toothy hard mouths prevented any solid hook ups. I managed to get a piranha chupita, and the most unique fish of the trip – a corvena, that had us all thinking it was a payara at the end other end, as this was the first corvena caught in the existence of Kendjam.

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part seven.

Day 6 – Fishing Day Four – Matrinxã

A camping we will go. Augustine, Roberto, Djocro, and I all loaded up in one boat, while Matt was in the longer “luggage” boat with all the camping essentials for the next three days. The day was bright with not a cloud in the sky. With an 8 am departure, we were sweating through our clothes by 9 am as we headed upstream in search of more fish and a campsite for the night. After several hours of navigating rapids, rocks and narrows, we made it to our first potential fishing spot. We were all excited and optimistic based on our first day, as we saw water stocked full of pacu and matrinxã on our way downstream to the lodge. Unfortunately, with no rain and only bright sun over the last four days, the water had done nothing but drop and heat up. Not good for this fishery.

Finally, just before lunch, we caught a few tucanares on Umpqua’s new black, red, and white Jungle Love. This new 2017 fly is killer because Umpqua put rattles in them. I’ve found that peacocks, as well as all bass, love the vibration and shake of the rattle.

To ensure their bellies would be filled, our Kayapo friends hand-lined a few peacocks and piranhas with their cool “fishing rig” armed with a fly and a weird grub that they find in a nut-like shell. The hopper-looking grub is encased in such a hard shell that the only way to get into it is by cracking them open with a rock.

The highlight of the day was witnessing Roberto catch his first pacu (borracha) of the week. This was especially sweet as it was his last day (he left early the next day for meetings back in Rio). And Matt put down his camera and caught a matrinxã within 30 seconds. Not only can Matt cast beautifully, but he just catches fish! Every time he picked up a rod during this trip, he caught a fish within five minutes.

Overall, it was a tough day. We saw lots of pacu and matrinxãs but very few seemed to have the energy to eat. We stayed at it until the sun was low on the horizon and we knew it was time to call it quits and find a campsite for the night. Finally, after another hour up river, we found the perfect site to pitch our tents and set up camp for the next few nights. Right before the sunset, Rodrigo appeared in his straw hat with two others to join us for the night, as it was too late for him to make the four hour trip back to the lodge.

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part six.

Day 6 – Fishing Day Four – Bouldering

I woke up this morning to howler monkeys barking from deep in the jungle. Breakfast, as usual, was eggs made to order bacon, toast and fruit. Always interesting to see what food Untamed Angling comes up with. Last night we had clam, squid, and shrimp seafood spaghetti, and this morning we had strawberries, apples and kiwis.

Roberto, Rafael, and I headed upstream to try our hand at some big peacocks. The trip took a little over two hours, but the place is beautiful and very picturesque. It reminded me of a dry river bed that left behind crystal clear pools.

Roberto, Rafael, and I headed upstream to try our hand at some big peacocks. The trip took a little over two hours, but the place is beautiful and very picturesque. It reminded me of a dry river bed that left behind crystal clear pools.

We started with two float line rigs: one with a large popper, and the other black and purple streamer for my 8wt Sage ONE with RIO Redfish and an 8′ leader (30-20-4lb wire). This is the fishing I love. Pure sight casting. We slowly crept to the edge of the first deep pool, trying to peer from a distance into its depth. Sure enough, a large tucanare peacock was swimming lazily behind a large crescent moon shaped rock. So we got on our hands and knees and crawled close enough for the cast.

From this angle the fish can’t see us, and we can’t see the fish. I tried a few casts with my streamer and nothing. So we crawled a little closer … in the shadow of this moon rock, and we spotted several nice wolf fish laying on the bottom.

With the popper rod, Roberto and I threw longs casts. It’s exactly what was needed, but these lazy fish only nosed our poppers and weren’t aggressive enough to eat. So we switched to our streamers and literally dropped the fly on the trahira’s (wolf fish) head, and they lethargically opened their mouths and just casually sucked in our flies.

Honestly, I don’t think fly selection had anything to do with our success. I think I could take an old piece of a sock and drop it in front of them, and they’d eat. They’re just mean ugly predators looking to chew up anything in their path.

The fight was very disappointing, as this one didn’t even have the courtesy of jumping for us. It almost acted bored with the whole thing. After fooling with the trahira for a while, we redirected our efforts to pursue a few bigger tucanare. Within seconds an opportunity presented itself: a large male and a smaller female (often the case) appeared in the middle of our pool. I tried the steamer, and over and over again they only nosed it. So lazy. All happening 20-30′ from my rod tip. Eventually I went back to my black and purple streamer and finally I elicited an irritated bite. Unfortunately, it’s the small one, but at least my efforts paid off.

From there we wandered from pool to pool looking for more fish, but much to our disappointment the water was low, still, and warm … therefore vacant on life. Finally we make it to the top. The pool is much deeper, and I am sorry I only had my floating lines and not my intermediate line. So I changed my lighter streamer for a lead-eyed white and chartreuse (with some flash) Clouser and made a few casts. I see a small peacock on the edge and cast past it with short 3″ fast strips. But A piranha beats the peacock to the fly. I cast again, and a repeat of what just happened before happens again. Ugh. At least it’s the type of piranhas that the Kayapos love, so they are set for a BBQ fish lunch. Roberto hooked into two peacocks – one really nice one that came up and with a huge headshake sent the fly flying. One more small peacock for me, and we headed back down to the boats for a sandwiches, salad, and a super delicious dolce de leche and chocolate cake. Decadent.

After lunch we took the boats upstream in pursuit of pacu and maybe a peacock or two. Armed with my Thomas and Thomas 6wt solar, RIO Redfish 6wt and Abel Super 5n with a 10′ leader of (30-20lb), I started with a large black chubby Chernobyl but had no risers, and I couldn’t see any fish in the fast moving rapids. So I switched twice more with no takes.

Matt spied a few peacocks on the far bank and encouraged me to re-rig to a streamer. So I cut my leader back to about 8′ and added 12″ of 30lb wire and a large-eyed green-backed white baitfish pattern with a 4/0 hook. I casted my fly towards Matt across the fast moving water into the eddy, mended it up and immediately had a peacock swing and miss my fly. This happened three more times, always hitting on the mend like brown trout on a streamer, loving the change of direction and speed. Unfortunately all the fish were short striking my fly, so I used my nippers to roughly trim the back 1/2″ off my fly.

Sure enough, my next cast resulted in my line going tight and a landed 2lb lit up peacock. Twice more the fish tried to eat on my mend but missed, and now it was time to start the trip back to the lodge.

I was hopeful it would be quicker going down than the two hours that it had taken coming up. On our way down, Rafi decided we had about 20 minutes to try one more time for a fish at the rapids with the pacu. The only one with any luck was Matt when he slapped a small Clouser onto my Thomas and Thomas 5wt and jumped a peacock out of the bottom pool. Otherwise it was pretty slim pickings, but was one of the prettiest spots we had seen thus far: dramatic boulders and three small consecutive waterfalls with deep aqua pools. I might have to do a little cliff jumping here tomorrow on our way up camping … as long as the piranhas don’t get the wrong idea when I jump in.

The trip home was shorter, and we had some fun shooting the rapids. On our way back to camp we passed our friends and lodge mates Romi and Gilbert, who were being guided by lodge hostess and guide Manuela. All three looked to be having a successful session on the high rocks below a rapid.

Dinner was pirarucu (arapaima), with herb and lemon risotto and a parmesan crisp. The fish was very tender, white and flaky. Not at all what I was expecting for such a huge gar/tarpon-like fish. All so yummy.

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part five.

Day 5 – Fishing Day Three

Last night was alive with the sound of crickets, frogs, howler monkeys, and Roberto snoring in the tent next to mine. But I woke up to the smell of egg and ham scramble being prepped by Rafael, and the hot water was boiling on the fire for the Nestle instant coffee.

The morning was incredibly beautiful and slightly cooler than the past few, causing steam to rise off the river.

We began to pack up camp because immediately after our three-hour morning fishing session, we had a long ride back upriver.

Roberto, Matt and I piled in a boat with two Indians and Rafael. We had high anticipation for these lower waters, hoping and praying that our long trek down would pay off, as yesterday felt like a bit of a bust.

Rafi tells us to rig up our wire and biggest poppers, as we were going wolf fish hunting. I rigged my Sage ONE 8wt with RIO Redfish 8wt line and RIO 40lb wire. A short leader is all that is necessary for these aggressive creatures. Rafi positioned us right next to a little inlet and instructed us to rip the first long cast up in the creek and strip hard and rapidly back to get the attention of the fish.

The following casts were done slowly and deliberately to cause a huge disturbance with a four-to-five second pause after each pop. On my second cast and the second pop, a huge (almost 12 pound) wolf demolished my large chartreuse foam popper. This isn’t the typical eat of a wolf on a poppers, and my next cast delivered a more typical experience: a slow follow from the fish who then then nosed it before a slow sip, like a trout on a dry fly. The wolf fish performs as expected with several series of head thrashing jumps out of the two-foot river flat.

Now it is Roberto’s turn. His smaller crease fly didn’t get their attention, so he put on the same chartreuse foam head I used, and sure enough the next cast resulted in a pale olive green trahira (wolf fish). No sooner was he on that when two others came out to see about the commotion. I sent my popper over near his and bam! I was on too – a double. But Rafi, loving our enthusiasm knows we need all three. Why leave the third empty-mouthed? So he grabbed Roberto’s streamer rod with a large peacock colored Puglisi fibered 5″ fly and handed the rod to me. Sure to form, the last one ate and we landed all three.

The morning shaped up nicely. Now the question is posed: Do we want to catch 20 more of these wolf fish in this creek, or do we want to mix it up by targeting some matrincha on dry flies? Always up for species and varieties and a bit of a challenge, we decide to pursue the latter.

After a 10-minute ride north, we found slow moving rapids on an extensive river flat. Roberto took the left bank, and I took the right, armed with my Thomas and Thomas 6wt Solar and Abel 5N with RIO Redfish line and 9′ leader (4′ of 30lb, 4′ of 20lb and a foot of 12″ 30lb fluorocarbon for the bite).

The river was almost too shallow, the fish were easily spooked, and the overcast day wasn’t making it easy to see these silver black-tailed fish very easily. The flat was littered with 15″ diameter black with white spot string rays that were everyone’s biggest fear. Upon arriving to the lodge the first day, our sweet and beautiful hostess, Manuela, had been struck by one that very day and was still cringing in pain and hopping upon one leg six hours later. Her foot was swollen where the barb from the tail had struck her in the side of her foot near the arch. It was three days before she was able to put her full weight back on her injured foot.

Within 10 minutes of wading, I hooked my first of these bullet-shaped fish on a yellow beat-up Pool Toy hopper. I hooked several before the hopper was so chewed up that it no longer floated. Out of yellow Pool Toys, I changed to a green and was rejected several times until I used my black sharpie again to color the underbelly. That worked immediately until a nice large five to six pounder chewed through the last few remaining inches of my 30lb tippet. l changed to large chubby black/purple Chernobyls as my 30lb was back at the boat. And I tied the fly directly to my 20lb class tippet, hopeful that the larger fly size would prevent the “saw toothed” fish from inhaling my fly too deep in their small mouth, therefore sawing through my tippet.

A few more and we headed back to camp for a lunch of leftover steak, onions and spaghetti pasta with soy sauce along with freshly caught peacock, thanks to Ken and Brian and some delicious pork sausage. One thing is for sure: I got plenty to eat. These guides aren’t just every day fishing guides, they’re chefs and mechanics.

At 12:45 we packed up camp for the season, and we set off upstream to the lodge. No eventful ride upstream until an hour and twenty minutes out when our two blade propeller hit a rock morphing into a one blade propeller that would get us nowhere fast. Luckily Matt was behind us in the boat with the equipment and extra motor parts and quickly came to the rescue.

Upon arriving back at the lodge, the chief of the Kayapo’s village and his family were all freshly painted up and had on their brightly colored celebrations garb. He, his three children, and one of his wives all posed for pictures with us on the beach in front of the lodge. A very special treat. The chief, who wasn’t shy in asking us for “things”, asked Matt to give him his drone. Ha. I don’t think he was used to being told “no”, but hopefully, he took it in stride and understood Matt’s refusal.

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer Matt Jones of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part three.

Day Three – Fly Fishing Kendjam and Our First Pacu

Last night I would wake up periodically to interesting new sounds. The generators turned off around 10:30 or 11 pm, but its batteries kept the floor fan and bedside lamp running for a few more hours. Once the fan went silent, other sounds were amplified: crickets, frogs, birds calling out to one another. But the most shocking sounds were from the howler monkeys “barking” and “screaming” at each other. Eerie but at the same time super cool.

Breakfast was served at 7 am with eggs made to order, bacon or ham, toast, pancakes and delicious hot coffee. Manuala, our Argentine hostess, served us up a delicious local juice from a fruit I have never heard of, and I had three glasses. Yum!

By 8 am we were rigged and ready to go. My weapons were as follows:

• Thomas and Thomas 5wt – Rio Grand Floating on Abel Super 5N (Dry Fly Rod)
• Thomas and Thomas 6wt – Rio Redfish Floating on Abel Super 5 (Dry Fly Rod)
• Thomas and Thomas 7wt – Rio Redfish Floating on Abel Super 7-8 (Popper/Streamer)
• Sage One 8wt – Rio Outbound Short Intermediate Tip on Abel Super 7-8 (Peacock/Trahire Streamer)
• Hardy 8wt Proaxis – Cortland 350gr sinking line on Ross Reel (Payara Streamer) (my Thomas and Thomas got busted on a trip earlier this year)

Payara time. Payara are one of the wildest looking fish of the Amazon with two bottom teeth that protrude like lower tusks on a wart hog. They’ve been allusive at Kendjam, and the code hasn’t been cracked on to how catch these large silver fish on the fly. While two have been caught in the shallows during Kendjam’s two-year existence, more have been hooked and caught in deep pools (ranging 6 to 10 meters deep). I like weird fish, and the record books for payara on fly for women is open, so off we go about 10 minutes from the lodge to a deep pool.

With a 5” long white baitfish fly rigged on my 8wt sinking line, I threw for an hour and a half with nothing, not even a bite. Not to mention that there wasn’t even a slight breeze, and the humidity levels were probably in the high 90s. Frustrated by watching the fish roll around me and having to wait 5-10 seconds every blind cast, I opted to find some fish I could actually see in this beautiful clear water. (One cool thing we did see while blind casting was a 3-4’ electric eel that came up to the boat to check us out and get a breath before slithering back down deep again. Apparently electric eels have incredible sense of hearing and can produce an electric shock strong enough to feel like a stun gun, causing a lot of pain and numbing to the body. Ugh.)

Gui, Roberto and I moved downstream with 7wt floating line, rigged with popper, and began to cast at the rocky shoreline. We saw a couple of rolls by some small pacu (about the size of my hand), but still nothing yet.

Trolling his fly in frustration as we moved, Roberto finally caught the first fish of the day – a small bicuda. These freshwater barracuda-looking fish are highly sensitive and must be handled quickly or it will die.

By 11 am, it’s obvious we needed to make an aggressive move, so we headed further downstream to find some fast moving waters and shallow rapids. For these waters, I used Thomas and Thomas 6wt Solar with a 9′ leader (30lbs twisted double strand butt to a single strand of 20lbs). Here the target was pacu and matrincha, which both eat dry flies. I showed Gui my box and, as usual, no matter where I go and how many flies I bring, my guide doesn’t look too thrilled. But one caught his eye: Umpqua’s Yellow Pool Toy Size 6.

Now we were in waters, and I could see lots of pacu. As I started with yellow dry hopper, I could tell that the pacu weren’t interested. So Gui suggested I go to a black dry fly; unfortunately, I didn’t have any black hoppers of the same size, so I, a lover of sharpies, used my black sharpie to “paint” it.

On my fourth cast upstream, I allowed it to dead drift back, and I got a full face “out of the water” ice cream cone eat. Pacu on. They’re dirty fighters, and this one went around me, wrapping me in a tangled mess. With no net, and standing in the fast rapids with my legs constrained by my fly line, the fight didn’t end well. The mischievous big pacu got off just as Gui leadered him. This wasn’t the best start to my day or my trip.

But always the optimist, I decided to look for new waters a bit further upstream. I casted in a rainbow formation, working the water up from me and letting my hopper float down towards me. Finally around noon, the strongest eat of the day happened: a matrincha. The bite was awesome and this fish fought like the bullet train, reminding me a bit of a bonefish. The matrincha, pronounced ma-treen-sha, usually fights by charging straight upstream, whereas the pacu dart downstream, around boulders and then upstream and down again using their plate like bodies to dig against you. My matrincha was a thick in size and beautiful – black fork tails and orangish-red underbelly near the gills – but I dropped the slime filmed covered fish right into the water before Matt could get a pic.

I continued to work the water upstream until a 5-6′ coral striped SNAKE swam into my waters 60 feet away (60 feet too close)! Wading at chest deep, I moved to higher ground, upstream and away from the “apparently” non-venomous snake. Venom or no venom, I don’t like snakes.

I do, however, like butterflies, and they are everywhere. Yellow, chartreuse, black and orange ones. It’s amazing how they’ll just flock around you as you fish.

At 12:30, the biggest highlight of the day happened when I walked up river by myself. I was working the cast behind boulders in the middle of the river when a big algae colored pacu slowly sipped my hopper, pool toy. So cool. The fight was on, and again, my fish played dirty. But I was determined to land this one and used my fresh water trout knowledge: I lowered my rod tip parallel to the water and while swinging the fish towards the shore. It worked!!! I brought in my first-ever “rubber” pacu (called this because the Indians think the meat is a bit rubbery). Pretty certain this one hadn’t been written up in the IGFA books, I documented my catch by gathering three measurements: center of fork length, end of fork length, and girth. We also used my certified boga on this sweet 5.25 lbs dish looking fish. Then back in the water it went.

All the excitement made us hungry so we met the Indians down river where they were cooking up a pacu they had hand-lined earlier. Lunch was perfect and delicious. With the air so still and humid, and the warmness of the water really offering no relief, we were all craving something cold and delicious. Chef Leandro had also prepared a beef salad with onions and peppers; penne pasta with sun dried tomatoes, cheese, and ham; and one of my favorite protein staples, a hard-boiled egg. Brownies were served for dessert, but from my past trips to Tsimane and Marié, I knew that the Indians really appreciate prepared sweets, so Matt, Roberto and I handed them over to our guides.

After a relaxing lunch in the shade, Matt asked to borrow my rod for a couple of casts. Not even five casts in and right in front of us … bam, he caught his first Brazilian fish, a matrincha on the pool toy.

That spurred me and Rodrigo out of our comfy camp chairs to begin our afternoon session. Roberto and Gui went right upstream, and I started in the slower water in front. After a few casts, I spotted a melanaei peacock 20 feet in front of me, in a quiet little pocket. I drifted my hopper over him twice, and got nothing. Then, thinking of bass, I “popped it.” That got his attention, and he chased it on to the deep rocks, having to turn on his side to eat it. I love the aggression! I landed my first peacock of the trip, and luckily Matt captured some incredible macro photos. The hopper popper.

Next came a tiny little pacu peba, looking radiant with his orange bottom front fin. His mouth wasn’t big enough to inhale my pool toy, but it was big enough to get the hook in.

While I worked my way downstream, I heard lots of hoots and hollering from Roberto and Gui. Roberto had caught several brightly enthused peacocks and a nice Bicuda. “They jumped and jumped,” he exclaimed.

Not much was happening in my waters, so a couple of the Indians guides and I started to make our way back to the boat. Halfway back, I spied three pacus behind a rock in a slick I’d previously thrown at with no luck. I threw my black painted “Pool Toy” hopper, which bounced off the rock and “hopped” right into the quiet eddy—and all three pacu raced for it. Luckily the big guy inhaled it first, and it was another dirty fight. I again used that down and dirty, low angle to bring him into my feet. Matt put down his camera to help, as this one was a bigger. Maybe 3lbs.

From there, we took the boats a little downstream, where I switched to my Sage One 8wt with Rio Outbound Short Intermediate Tip. Several peacocks, piranhas, and matrinchas followed, but the warm water caused by the full moon and drought had them feeling pretty lethargic. I managed to convince one little peacock and a bicuda to eat, but the day was done and so was I. Amazonian heat can sap your energy. It was time for a cold shower and a nice glass of fruit juice.

Appetizers are always good at Untamed Angling Lodges, and wonderful assortment of salty treats were waiting for us: pear and pesto pizza, salami pizza, Pringles, olives and nuts. I’m not sure why, but I always crave salt after a day on the water.

Dinner was delicious and followed by another trip highlight. Two of the Kayapos women offered to paint their tribal warrior patterns on our arms, using carbon coal from the fire and coconut oil. Matt, Brian, Ken, Roberto and I accepted. I asked for a turtle, Ken wanted a snake, and Matt was open and got a cool design. The women used flat sticks and their fingers to paint and apply the designs, which last about 5-7 days, depending on how much you shower and use soap and sunscreen.

Heading camping tomorrow for the first time in maybe 30 years? Ha. This should be an adventure. Praying no snakes!!!

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part two.

Day Two – Traveling to Kendjam Village, Brazil

Breakfast came early at 5 am, but my excitement for the day had me buzzing.

At 5:30 am, we checked out and hopped on the large mini bus for the 15-minute drive to the “airport club”, a small domestic airport that caters to passengers heading to remote areas of the Amazon. There we met our fellow anglers for the week: Ken and Brian (uncle and nephew duo from NYC and Roanoke, Va.); Gilberto and Romi (a fun couple from Argentina); and of course Matt, Jackson, and Roberto, who’d be my fishing partner. Passports were handed over at the airport club’s VIP lounge, which luckily had A/C, as it’s very humid and warm in Manaus, even at this time of the morning.

At 6:10 am sharp we took off on a comfortable nine-seater Cessna Grand Caravan. The four-hour flight was direct, which isn’t always the case — most of the time you stop midway in an old mining town for a quick pilot change and a bathroom break.

Flying at more than 10,000 feet, the view from the plane showcased the dense population of housing and buildings in Manaus and the “Meeting of the Waters” which is the confluence of Rio Negro’s darkness into the sandy colored waters of the upper Amazon River (Rio Solimoes). Past the river, there’s a sharp contrast where the city ends and the bright green jungle begins, with hints of yellow flowering trees. The flight gave me a sense of going back in time, knowing that there are hectares upon hectares that may still be untraveled by humans. The flight felt long and my heart was beating fast – I was ready to get there and see what awaited us on the Iriri River.

After three and a half hours, we descended, and the pilot flew over the Kayapo’s village, between the rock of Kendjam and the Iriri River. The village is set in a perfect circle with a large thatched-roof meeting hut situated perfectly in the middle. The runway is little more than a short dirt road between the thatched-roof village and concrete schoolhouse. What impressed me as much as the perfectly situated huts was the clarity of the Iriri River: gorgeous boulders, sandy beach and flats with emerald green clear waters flowing over and between. I found myself trying to spot fish while we were still in the air.

The landing was smooth, and it seemed like the entire village came to greet us. Standing under a large mango tree, the Kayapo people were just what I had expected, except with a little more clothing than what I’d seen in photos, and the children’s bodies were beautifully painted.

As the door to the plane opened, the arid, hot air hit us, and we knew we’d arrived in the middle of the Amazon. The tribe was shy, and quietly observed us, but no one rushed to unload the plane. I soon learned it’s because the boats coming upstream from the lodge were running late. But soon, last week’s clients arrived in the boats for their flight home. I chatted with several of them to better set my expectations for the week, and I also chatted with the returning trip’s guides, including Augustine as guide from Salta, Argentina who has been guiding for over 10 years and the head guide, Guillerme (“Gui”), whom I had the privilege of fishing with last year at the Rio Marié. Gui actually helped me with an IGFA world record or two on our last trip, so I was excited to have a few goals in mind for this trip. These conversations helped me prepare for the upcoming week.

Our bags were taken to the white sandy beach of the river, where long skinny aluminum skiffs were anchored. One was equipped with a 40HP Yamaha jet motor and the other three had long-stem propeller “lawn mower” motors (they reminded me of the gator tail motors we used in the super skinny marshland in south Louisiana). The river was beautiful and the air was hot, so as the kids started jumping into the fresh water, I decided to do the same. This caused laughter from the kids, and they started doing flips and jumping to my English shouts of “one, two, three.” Lots of fun, and the river felt awesome.

Due to the low water, tough rapids, and rocks that were dangerously close to the surface, back at the village, each guide personally selected two of the strongest and best Indian river navigators for this last week of the season. Then off we set down river. Matt and I were in a 26’ boat with Augustine, two Indian “river” guides, and the chief with his wife and three kids. Ham sandwiches were offered with sodas, juice, and water for the long five-hour trek to the lodge. Wading boots were required, as we had to navigate five or six major rapids along the way. But it was impressive to watch the Kayapo Indians do everything in just flip flops.

Matt and I made ourselves comfortable among all the bags and coolers, and along the way, the chief got highly animated when he saw a tapir swimming across the river. The Kayapo boys in our boat wanted to lasso the animal, but the chief’s youngest daughter screamed and cried to leave it be. Luckily we were able to get some great video and photos.

Just before sunset, we turned the corner back upstream into a beautiful bay, and there, on an expansive sandy beach, was Kendjam Lodge. This incredible oasis is made up of four safari tents, two on each side of a permanent dining/lounge screened hut, and a kitchen and guides’ quarters in the back. The Indians, there for the week to assist us, stayed in a camp several hundred meters up the beach.

The lodge, tents, beds, and furniture were awesome, but the fully plumbed bathroom situated right behind my tent was just plain amazing. All this comfort built in the middle of jungle blew my mind. Untamed Angling sure knows how to set up “camp”.

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part one.

Beyond the Roads

Kayapo’s Legacy is one of Untamed Angling’s newest lodges. The uniqueness of this Brazilian Amazon fishery on the Iriri River is the emerald clear waters and variety of species available on the fly. I’m heading down with Tailwaters Travel’s staff photographer Matt Jones on an expedition to document and explore this “far off the beaten path” fishery, located deep in the Mekragnoti Indigenous Indian Territory.

This territory and Kendjam’s project encompass more than 800 km of rivers, including three main tributaries. Twenty years ago, a small group of Kayapo Indians broke away from their main village to leave behind the alcoholism and corruption that their tribe was experiencing further up river. This new tribe settled at the base of a huge mountainous rock they call Kendjam.

For the last two years, the Kayapo Indians have worked with the Brazilian government to protect their region and their people. And in 2015, Untamed Angling was invited to set up camp and be among the first outsiders to fish the clear waters of Kendjam.

There are about 200 indigenous Indians now living in the village, and each family occupies a single mud and thatch fortified hut. The tribe is run by three chiefs, one of whom will be with us for the week.

Trip Essentials:

Luggage:

• Fishpond Thunderhead Submersible Large Duffle Bag (waterproof) – COMING SOON!
• Fishpond Castaway Roll Top Waterproof Gear Bag (cameras, snacks, scales, tippet material) – COMING SOON!
• Fishpond Dakota Rod Carry-on Case (Holds eight reels and rods.)
• YETI Hopper Flip (Doubles as a perfect as a boat bag for all my fly boxes – easy to access.)
• Overboard’s Pro-Sport 20-liter Waterproof Backpack
• Overboard’s Pro-Lite 3-liter Waterproof Waist Pack
• Overboard’s SLR Waterproof Camera 6-liter Bag

Rods: (recommended 5-8wt with two 7s or 8s)

What I brought:

• 5wt Thomas and Thomas Solar with RIO Grand floating line on an Abel Super 5N (dry fly rod – pacu)
• 6wt Thomas and Thomas Solar with RIO Redfish floating line on an Abel Super 5 (dry fly rod – matrincha)
• 7wt Thomas and Thomas Solar with RIO Redfish floating line on an Abel Super 7-8 (poppers/streamers)
• 8wt Sage ONE with RIO Outbound Short intermediate tip on an Abel Super 7-8 (peacock bass/trahire with streamers)
• 8wt Hardy Proaxis with Cortland 350gr sinking line on a Ross reel (payara/piranha with streamers)

Flies/Tippet:

• Dry fly assortment – Umpqua’s hoppers and chubby Chernobyl in hook sizes 2-6 and in colors black, red, pink, and yellow. If you have a fly that looks like a berry or fruit, these are great for the pacu as well.
• Streamers – These fish have wicked teeth and strong jaws so strong (2/0 – 4/0) hooks are a must. See Umpqua’s new Jungle Love, Big Fish Deceiver, Flashtail Whistler, Super Mushy, Major Bunker, Red/Whire Tarpon Snake and Clouser assortments. The colors: white, white and chartreuse, black/red and red and white. (Note: Peacocks love rattles)
• Poppers – Again, strong (2/0-4/0) hooks are needed. Umpqua’s Saltwater Red/White Popper, Peacock Crease Fly, Pole Dancer and any large foam head popper that can create a lot of noise and action are good choices.
• Rio Fluorocarbon leader: 16lb, 20lb, 30lb
• Rio PowerFlex Wire Tippet: 30lb and 40lb. (Everything seems to be toothy.)

Personal Travel Essentials: (aside from my clothes and good wading boots)

• YETI 20oz Rambler for my morning travel coffee (long boat rides)
• YETI 18oz Bottle for my cold water
• YETI Neoprene Drink Jacket – easy to pack and brought as guide gifts
• Nexcare Waterproof Tape or Stripping Finger Sleeves – Humidity and peacock mouths can tear up your fingers.)
• 15lb Boga Grip or similar scale – These are very toothy critters and need to be handled carefully.
• Long nose pliers to remove hooks from toothy species
• Abel Size #2 Pliers – Make certain to bring pliers with good cutters as wire cutting is essential
• Abel Nippers on a lanyard (Always easy to find.)
• BassPro Beef Jerky (Bring to share.)
• Granola Bars (It is hot, so ones that won’t melt.)
• Welch’s Fruit Chews (Might melt.)
• Nuts (Though the Brazilians have bags of Brazil nuts if you ask.)
• Crystal Light individual drink mix packets. (The guides always love these … bring plenty.)

Day 1 – Traveling to Manaus, Brazil

It took two flights to get to Brazil: Houston to Miami (2.5 hours), where I met up with Matt, and then Miami to Manaus (5.5 hours). Getting through customs was quick and easy, and Matt and I joined my old friend Jackson, whom I met last year at Rio Marié, and the English-speaking tour guide, Marco. Marco is very informative and full of fun local facts — and he can take you to the “must see” fish market and bird sanctuary.

Manaus is the second largest city, with a population of two million, in the Amazon Basin. It’s located three degrees south of Equator on the Rio Negro, and we stayed here for the night at the Caesar Business Hotel, a 10-minute drive from the international airport.

After a long day of travel, we were excited and enjoyed sipping beers and wine. (This is the only alcohol we’d have for the week, as the lodge is “dry” in an effort to keep temptation away from the hospitable Kayapo Indians). We were also joined by Brazilian movie producer Roberto Mauro, my fishing partner from last year’s trip to Rio Marié. After catching up with the animated Roberto (all “Rs” are pronounced as “Hs” in Brazil) over delicious pizza and Chilean wine, the three of us retired for the night as we knew adventure awaited us the next day and week ahead.

– Meredith McCord

Meredith McCord and photographer, Matt Jones, of Tailwaters recently returned from jungle angling in Kendjam in the Amazon Basin of Brazil with Untamed Angling. We will be featuring Meredith’s daily record of her angling ventures in a nine-part travel journal. This is part four.

Day Four – Jungle Camping

Camping day. Our plan was to run the 4-5 hours downriver to camp, fishing along the way.

We started paddling with six in our boat, and fishing here and there. We each caught a small peacock and about a half dozen fat piranhas that destroyed our flies. All fish were caught on baitfish patterns with a Sage ONE 8wt paired with RIO Outbound Short line with an Intermediate Tip. White heads and green or chartreuse seemed to be the winners. Then I switched to Dan Blanton’s Flashtail Whistler in white, yellow and blue. This held up a little better to the piranhas. We found that they hit the best when you strip it 3/4 of the way to the boat and just let it free drop to the bottom. It’s usually on this drop that a school will attack.

Next we decided to try our hand at some pacu and matrinxã on my Pool Toy dry fly. Roberto chose a little Umpqua red and white Salt Popper. Lots of hits by little guys and a good solid follow by a matrinxã for Roberto, when I finally made contact with one and brought it in. I did my typical release right before the net. I’m often jinxed when there’s a camera around.

Sandwiches and salad for lunch, which was perfect for another hot day in the Amazon. Then we jumped back into the boats and traveled another hour downriver before taking a beautiful detour. We managed a few peacocks and had the most fun sight casting (aka dropping my fly on the head of a big wolf fish!). Dangling my blue, white and yellow Blanton’s Flashtail, it lunged at it in a split second. A great fighter even at just 5 pounds. Then Roberto and I picked up our 7wt rods (Thomas and Thomas Solar) to a rip small white heavy-headed streamer size 4 on RIO 7wt Redfish floating line across the rapids. I got three eats from matrinxã but failed to go tight on any.

After some gorgeous casting off the boulders, I finally landed my first bicuda of the trip. Then the piranhas came out – and now I understand why the guides roll their eyes when these are caught. They end up being a bit of a nuisance and fly destroyers while you try to catch peacock bass and matrinxã, so we left.

Another hour downriver with promises to fish another great spot. But when we arrived, Ken and Brian were already there, and the water had dropped several feet since the last time the guides were there. This meant very few fish in the runs. Roberto managed to get a brightly colored peacock, which Matt was able to get some great macros of. But for me, it was a bit frustrating to have a huge river and be fishing right on top of another boat. But the guides knew what I did not: the next hour or two would just be foggy waters, almost like a lake. Honestly this four-hour “constant fishing” adventure downstream had proven to be a few 30-45 minute sessions amidst 5-6 hours of driving downriver. I worried about the return trip. If water is low, do NOT go downstream. Jeff Currier had warned me. Totally my fault for not listening to others (including the two guys that we passed on our way in). Hate it when I am stubborn. Ha.

Lesson learned. I just hope the others will forgive me for convincing them to head north.

The Camp

The camp is perfect. Two double-bunker tents (with a divider, so everyone has a private area) and a single for Matt. Turns out that although we each had an air mattress, I was the only one with a full sheet set. Aaahhh … the comforts of home. Plus I always bring my Egyptian cotton down pillow with me everywhere I travel!

I decided to make my bed before trying a popper (Umpqua’s peacock painted crease fly) among the rocks for a peacock or two. The guys informed me about two resident caimans, so I tread carefully, mindful of the pair of eyes nonchalantly cruising across the river. On my second cast with my 7wt Thomas and Thomas Solar/Abel/RIO Redfish, I hooked up to a nice 3 pound tucanare peacock. But then I heard the guys back at camp yelling that a second caiman was heading straight towards me and my fish. “Get it off, let it go,” Rafi and the boys hollered at me.

Honestly, I didn’t know caimans could swim so fast. It was like a 10HP motor boat. Luckily, I was barbless, so I released the tension and the fish got safely away. But Mr. Three Legs (this 7-foot gator was literally missing his back left leg) was lingering just a few feet offshore, knowing dinner was coming soon. The Indians knew exactly how to entice the caimans to perform, and we got some great videos and photos with them, barely 15-feet from our feet.

Okay. So how does one attempt to shower or bathe in the river with caimans around?! Very carefully! Thanks to the guides, who kept the gators’ interest with fish remains, and Brian keeping an eye on the water around me, I was able to rinse off the day quickly.

Finally we sat down to a very civilized dinner at a table with five chairs. During the caiman excitement Rafi was working over the fire, prepping our dinner quickly, knowing that the insects would descend in full force at sunset. Our dinner consisted of beef steaks marinated in soy sauce, fire grilled onions, and pesto spaghetti pasta. Perfect camp dinner.

True to his word, the moment the sun set, it was an insect’s world. Gnats, mosquitoes, ants, you name it, but the food and company was so good we barely noticed, except to occasionally step away from the table to douse ourselves in Off.

– Meredith McCord