Sunday morning we have a 6 am meet up for the two-hour charter float plane flight into the camp on the Xeriuini. With all bags accounted for things are looking up. “Hey Siri where is my luggage” “Your luggage is with you”!! Thanks for the update Siri.
A clear weather flight allowed us to have a good look at the jungle and rivers as we fly north and west from Manaus into the Rio Branco river system. One buzz over the camp and we land on the river. We are a few kilometers north of the equator which makes this an area that Nancy and I had not seen in 2024.
We are met by Rob, Karim and crew. We also meet up with our guides from last year - Felipe and Hildo - who are going to fish with us again this year. And a third guide nicknamed Bala (Bullet in Portuguese, but that is a whole other story!).
Our cabins are assigned and we unpack and get our gear out for our after-lunch session. We're advised that the river is very different than last year with a couple of feet more water - so much more “normal” levels. Rods are set up accordingly with intermediate and fast sink tips for sub-surface fishing but of course still floating lines for popper fishing.
After lunch we headed downstream based on week one's fishing report. As we motored south we slipped from winter (Northern Hemisphere) across the equator at “The Equator Tree” (a very handy marker) to summer (Southern Hemisphere) through an area that I’d had one of my most productive days of fishing in 2024. We stopped and fished some spots with the flow much stronger and deeper water along the banks. We did manage a few butterflies, but it was an eyeopener that fishing was going to be very different this trip.
This was the first time fishing the Amazon for John, Greg, and Anthony. They were in awe of the parrots and macaws that squawk and fly over periodically and the beaches, which are spectacular, and for some reason squeak when you walk barefoot on them. The water is tea stained but still clear with visibility 2-4 feet so you could still see fish come to your fly if they were there. Greg did hook one monster that did not stop running but the fish gods intervened and said “not today”!
After a full day of fishing Monday with similar results, some butterflies, a chance or two at bigger fish and one beauty butterfly on the popper we were given the option to do an Eco walk & float in the afternoon on Tuesday. The camp had moved further south so we could fish areas that had seen no anglers so far in 2025. The previous group had helped clear the way into this separate spring fed river system that allowed access to hike into some upland mature forest that doesn’t flood (the true jungle). This was something that in 5 other trips to the Amazon I had never done.
On Tuesday, two boats met up with Karim (our eco guide) for lunch and we prepared to journey “up the creek.” We had Bala and Hildo as our guides. Greg did fish a 100 yards or so of water near the mouth of the creek and managed 6 butterflies in a row giving him a glimpse of what our fishing was like in 2024!
We motored our way upstream having to duck branches, bats, and one wasp nest! A true adventure to reach our hiking spot. The 1.5 hour hike into the jungle to a huge Brazil Nut tree and learning about the various uses of the different types of rubber trees, seeing how the villagers collect Acai palm fruit, and learning about using ants for odor camouflage turned out to be one of the highlights of the week. It added so much value to the Amazon Experience!
At about 4 p.m. we started on the way back downstream. The idea for the downstream portion of the tour was to float in the boats only using the current and to be quiet in order to see the birds during their active time as the sun started to go down. That float and the birds we were able to see and the pictures that Karim and myself (mostly Karim) took were amazing. Great encounters with Toucans, Macaws, and many others.
We ended up boating home on the river as the sun set which I absolutely love. In the end a spectacular day that we may have not done if the fishing had been “on”. This experience also offered a great reminder that these trips are all about the experiences don't need to be just the laser focused on fishing! Thanks Karim, Bala, and Hildo for a great day showing us your home. And thanks Rob for having the foresight to get an option like this organized.
Fishing Day’s Wed - Friday went the same but the river had dropped noticeably which made some of the traditional sand bar spots more appealing to the fish and we started to see more fish and have sessions of excellent fishing but still had to work to find “those” spots. In one lagoon we did catch a couple of the coolest looking butterflies I have ever seen. Very hard to reproduce in the pictures; the fish were 2-4 pounds but had neon blueish tints on their fins. I’ve seen lots of color variations in butterflies before over the years but never the blue tint. Stunning looking fish. We also had another 7-pounder that ate the popper (actually ate the popper 3 times which meant everyone in the boat got to watch the show) which makes any day a good day!
Saturday, our final fishing day, we headed up to see the Rio Novo for the first time. The water was very clear similar to 2024 and we saw several fish spook off sandbars on the way into the area we were to fish. John & I caught some average-sized butterflies in our boat but got to hear the stories from the other guys about their 12 and 15 pounders they got. They were ecstatic to finally have landed their big peacock on the final day. The highlight for me was to have an 8 foot, fat caiman purposefully swim to my popper and aggressively lunge at it multiple times. Remembering what my guide Carlos in Argentina (link to report) said in December “NO Dave hooking a big Caiman is a BAD idea”! So we watched the caiman popper show for a couple of minutes before heading up to the Green Water river.
To end off our jungle journey we boated up a clear green tinged spring creek which I’ve never seen before. Fish, Turtles, bats, and water vegetation that reminded me of a trout spring creek (or Chalk Stream) rather than a river in the Amazon. We had a very refreshing swim and got to listen to Greg and Anthony’s full stories of their big ones. The boat ride home to end the trip was relaxing and watching the macaws fly over was a great reminder of where we were.
Our wrap up dinner was excellent with a BBQ and some great guitar by Anthony and Evan.
Sunday, our departure day, we had some time in the morning before the float plane arrived. We were able to watch and listen to our regular visit Toucan Sam and his mate. This equator location of the camp was across the river from a high bank that had mature forest and some Brazil Nut trees. We were able to watch the Toucans and Parrots eat their way through one of the trees which was great. It finally was time to leave and we were off to Manaus to check into the hotel for the evening in preparation for our 3am flight Monday morning.
This was my 6th time into the Amazon and ALL 6 trips have been different. There are so many factors that affect the water levels, visibility, fish movement, etc. We know that the Rio Branco system and its tributaries in this NW area of Brazil has had two years of drought in a row and with the severely low water levels from 2024 we got to experience the fishery with the fish unusually concentrated, which was spectacular but looking back on it was a sign of trouble to come. The whole area needs some normal rains (like this year) to get the fish back to where they are “supposed to be” and have some successful spawning seasons. That said the fishing was challenging but the experience was excellent and makes me appreciate the ecological importance of the Amazon even more. Thanks everyone at Bucklist for another excellent experience.