Amazon

The word speaks for itself. Just reading the word gives me goosebumps. You don’t even need a picture here. Just close your eyes and say it. Amazon

Then I remember how pressed for time I am and I start feeling nervous. Why did I wait to do everything at the last minute?

I guess I was side tracked with other stuff, but in preparing for an upcoming trip in November to Manaus, I realized I couldn’t get the Brazilian visa.

Well… I can get it, but there was one other obstacle to resolve first. My passport has every page full of stamps. If that doesn’t sound like a lot of travel, consider that I’d already added pages previously. Now I need to add more pages before I can submit the passport to the Brazilian Consulate.

So I’ve got my fingers crossed, I’ve done everything I can and it’s just a matter of waiting… and repeating that word. Amazon

Mmm. There they are again. The goosebumps.

Tacunarè.

Do you know that one? It’s pronounced pretty much like you might expect. TAK-U-NA-RAY (roll the R a little and you’ll sound like a native)

I always preferred to say Peacock Bass, but now that I’m going deep into the… Amazon… I like saying Tacunarè. It sort of compliments the goosebumps. Makes me feel a little like Joseph Conrad and Marlow, and tales of a river into the ‘heart of darkeness’.

I know pictures are supposed to accompany blog posts. They say its better for the reader; keeps ‘em coming back. But sometimes the imagination is the best window into a new adventure, especially during the anticipation. Isn’t that when the trip really starts anyway?

I’ll reward my readers with pictures when I get back. I hope that will create some anticipation on their part... on your part.

In the meantime, close your eyes and whisper the word…

Deep Sea – Panama

Michael Q shared a video with me from a recent trip to Coiba Island, Panama, which is a regular trip for his crew… they’ve been doing this for a few years now.

The group’s guide was Coiba Sport Fishing’s Tom “Tarzan” Yust.

The video looks best in 720p resolution.

Enjoy!!

Happiness

If you wish to be happy for one hour, get drunk.
If you wish to be happy for three days, get married.
If you wish to be happy for a month, kill your pig and eat it.
If you wish to be happy forever, learn to fish.
– Chinese Proverb

BPF #7 “The bad ass Musky collection”

As my first real post of 2011 I’m happy to share the new edition “Issuu 7″ of Baltic Pike Flies. Simon has a recognizable style that shows in every fly he ties, while never failing to amaze…

Baltic Pike Flies

Issuu 7

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how my Sport Fishing Americas blog did in 2010. I was surprised at how SFA has gained momentum. I know there are better blogs out there by people who are more dedicated than I am, but since this is something that I do for fun and to stay connected with the “fly-fishing” passion I was pretty happy to see that there seems to be some interest in what I share here.

Thank you, everyone, who’s come to visit and Happy 2011. I hope you all catch a record this year, and if not, come as close as possible while enjoying this wonderful sport.

Here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

(I guess this could mean a lot of things, but I’ll take it as a compliment…)

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 16,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 37 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 85 posts. There were 358 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 156mb. That’s about 7 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was June 24th with 168 views. The most popular post that day was Invasive and Exotic Species.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were pescaydevolucion.com, pikeflyfishingarticles.blogspot.com, forum.ihunter.ru, riosclaros.com, and shoretroutfishing.blogspot.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for lamprey, tierra del fuego, sagres, muskie, and asian carp.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1 Invasive and Exotic Species December 2009

2     Backyard Trout Capital – Home of the Brave August 2009

3     “Leve Leve” June 2009

4     Chile – Fish farming after the earthquake March 2010

5     En efecto, el mundo es interminable. February 2010

In search of a record

A couple of weeks ago I posted an article written by Martin Maffioli of MyM FlyCast in Tierra del Fuego. I promised to take a shot at translating the tale for my English speaking friends. What follows is what I hope to be a pretty fair representation of Martin’s account of a trip he took at the end of last years fishing season with his good friend Sebastian.

Since Trout Season is now opening again for the new year, I’m sure Martin and Sebastian are already back on the water looking to relive a little (or a lot) of last year’s experience. For the moment at least, I’m living vicariously though this experience and others. I think I’ll have to do something about that very soon…

JB

Toward the end of the fishing season, my friend Sebastian called me and we started talking about his desire to do some fishing, but his call had an ulterior motive as well. After some time, he finally confessed his desire to achieve a personal record; the largest trout of his life. I didn’t hesitate for a moment and we started to put the trip together. Soon we had reserved our location, one of the most spectacular fishing spots on the planet: the Río Grande.

Why the Río Grande? Because it has the best Sea Run Brown Trout (or “inmates” as they have been referred to a Spanish bibliography). Stocked in the 1930s, they are born in the river and at the appropriate age they migrate into the ocean to feed and grow. Meanwhile they take on a silver coloration in order to adapt to the environment and eventually return to the river, usually to mate and reproduce. Very often this does not depend on the maturity of the fish. Unlike Salmon, Trout don’t die in the process and may return several times over the years. Another advantage of the Río Grande is protected and free from pollution, excess food sources, nets or natural competitors.

The pool we fished during the morning of our trip is located in Sector 10 and is known as the “Ojo Negro” (Black Eye). There, Sebastian caught three trout of 4, 6 and 5 kilos on a #7 Sage, intermediate line and Green Machine fly.

After lunch we went back to our pool. Sebastian was shocked to see so many trout leaping about. We decided to use a similar set up to what we had used in the morning: #7 rod, extra fast line, 2.5 meter leader and the Green Machine.

Sebastian caught 4 more trout in this order; 5kg, 4kg, 6kg & 3kg until about 8pm; the magical hour of sunset, at which time we decided to change the line for a sinking 3, 1.8 meter leader and a “humpy” fly tied with a salmon hook number 4.

On one of his first casts, just as the tip of the pole started a few light taps and as the line began to tug slightly, the surface of the water exploded! A magnificent trout leapt into view. After the amazement and the spectacular runs and jumps, the 20 minutes of adrenaline were burned in Sebastian’s mind… and the camera. A spectacular 7 kilo brown trout (15.4 lbs).

By Martín Maffioli

 

River Run Brown: +15lbs

MyMFlyCast.com.ar

Tierra del Fuego – Argentina