New Travel Itinerary  In the Southern Amazon, Rio Madeira Basin - Rio Matupiri, Rio Preto, Lago Tacuia, Igapo Acu. Join us to fish for the world's most exciting gamefish.  Acute Angling has set aside 5 exclusive weeks on the comfortable, elegant, air-conditioned, Blackwater Explorer to fish this huge reservation  - during the peak of the southern Amazon fishery's angling season!  These trips are hosted by Paul Reiss and/or Barbara Francisca and Leandro Guedes.

Note - All river/date combinations are based on expected water level conditions.  The above groups are planned for the Rio Madeira tributaries.  Nature, however, can be unpredictable.  Sometimes the weather causes dry seasons to begin a little earlier or later than usual.  If the seasons shift, it is possible that we may elect to fish other rivers (the Rio Caures, Jaupiri, Unini, Abobora, etc.) during some of the dates shown to optimize fishing conditions and to take advantage of the best water levels.

The Blackwater Explorer Peacock Route  In 1540, Francisco de Orellana became the  first European to begin exploring the Amazon.  Almost 500 years later we begin our own Amazon journey, retracing a portion of Orellana’s route.  Once we leave the settled areas of Manaus and Borba we can quickly see that not a lot has changed in the Amazon’s backcountry in nearly half a millennium.  The biggest difference perhaps is in us.  We’re sitting in air-conditioned comfort, sipping a caipirinha (Brazil’s national drink) in our yacht’s lounge as it steams its way along the fantastic river systems of the Amazon.      The Amazon basin makes its own weather.  The rainforest’s strange cycle of flood and dry weather circulates counterclockwise throughout the Amazon.  The optimal season for peacock bass fishing follows directly behind.  As the floods begin to withdraw from the southern part of the basin in July and August, the Rio Madeira drainage becomes transformed into the hottest fishery in South America during the months of September and October.  And that’s exactly where we’re headed.      We start our journey on the main bodies of the Amazon and the Madeira Rivers, the superhighways of the Amazon Basin.  Here the waters are clouded with suspended particles washed out of the distant Andes Mountains.  The rich sediment provides a fertile base for the region’s flooded forests, the world’s densest fish nursery.  Pink “boto” dolphins can be seen cavorting in the coffee colored waters of these giant rivers, feeding on dense, silver schools of “piaba” (baitfish) or the always tasty piranha.      As we leave the main rivers for the network of smaller tributaries, we enter a different, more primitive, world.  Near the mouth of the Rio Preto, we can access the clear black waters of the Rio Autaz Mirrim.  This river’s complex network of channels, oxbows and lagoons holds very big peacock bass.  When water levels are right, we’ll probe this fishery for its lunkers and use the opportunity to fine-tune our gear and our fishing techniques for the giant fishery lying just beyond.      Next, we reach the wide Rio Preto, offering a varied range of fishable water.  It’s many points, islands and lagoons hold peacocks of all sizes, while its rocky outcroppings offer the fly-fisherman wonderful action just an easy cast away.  Small “caboclo”  villages (Portuguese speaking descendants of the region’s original Indian tribes) overlook some of the river’s strategic travel points.  A northern tributary, the Tupana can also offer fine fishing.         At the mouth of the Matupiri, the Rio Preto widens into the strange, fish-laden Lago Tacuia.  A vast 40 mile long flooded forest, Tacuia is a lake without real shorelines.  It’s convoluted flooded forest structure provides cover not only for peacock bass, but for a wide range of Amazonian aquatic species.  “Tucuxi” and “boto” dolphins patrol its open waters, while the quiet flats hold manatee and the giant, prehistoric, air-breathing piraruccu (arapaima).  Peacock bass of all sizes can be found in its shallow standing timber, along its deep points and in its serpentine feeder streams.  Even when water levels elsewhere in the system are running high, this strange and mysterious place provides excellent access to great numbers of peacock bass.      The Rio Matupiri is our ultimate destination.  Totally uninhabited, this gorgeous waterway offers anglers 100 miles of lagoon studded fishery.  There’s more structure and fish habitat here than you can cover in a lifetime.  Closed to commercial fishing and the general public, the Blackwater Explorer has been given exclusive permission to fish this river’s pristine waters by the caboclo village of Piranha, on the Rio Preto.  Giant, open water lagoas, narrow, creek-like igarapes, small sloughs, oxbows and flooded igapos offer an amazing variety of fishable water off of the main river, while on the river, lagoon mouths, steep barrancas and plentiful standing timber provide even more fish-holding structure.      Winding from the west, a big, wide feeder stream, "Igarape Acu", meanders right through pristine rainforest.  This waterway has yielded many big peacocks during very low water.  At the southern end of the region of lagoons, the Matupiri narrows, becoming a riverbank fishery.  Parana Coari, (a cut caused by seasonal flooding) provides a rare bit of fast water and defines a long structure-laden island.       New sights, new experiences and new fishing water to explore, greet the peacock bass angler every day in this amazing place.  At any given time, there are areas with perfect water levels here.  The Explorer’s great mobility, combined with the region’s huge range of water types, allows us to probe this entire vast system, find the best conditions and concentrate our efforts where the fish are.  Our anglers are assured of the greatest possible opportunity for success and fulfillment on their trip of a lifetime.

    

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