After a shower & siesta I'm ready to explore this vibrant & exciting place that is Santa Cruz del a Sierra, one of the biggest cities in Bolivia.
Of course this is a family trip for me to meet my girlfriends family, she's not been back for three years.
Also it's a prime opportunity for me to cast a line for some exotic species, after all this is a fishing not travel blog.
Just to make it clear Ive never done this type of fishing before but this is what I've learnt talking to locals "in my very limited Spanish" & using good old google, so don't shoot me down in flames if I'm not 100% factually correct haha.
These rivers are full of some amazing species of fish,after my research, here's a list of a few that I just can't wait to pit my wits against....
Very tasty 2 eat I've heard & my No1 target fish. Strangely can be hooked on lures & that's not common for catfish, but for this species it's a real possibility.
More commonly caught on live or deadbaits & I figure an extra large pike float will do the job well & keep the bait from the unknown & plentyful snags that I'm sure inhabit the river bed.
These beasts reportedly grow to 120lb, so extreme gear is definitely needed & I'll chat in more detail about that later on.
The peacock bass or tucunare
I've encountered these amazing sport fish before, once in the many canals of Miami, they drove me crazy by crusing around, close to my lures totally ingnoring them all day in the crystal clear waters.
I had slightly more success in Peru catching many small peacocks up to a couple of pounds on freelined worms & fine tackle.
Big bass are much more aggressive & hopefully more willing to snaffle my lures this time.
These stout, strong fish are just solid muscle & hence the fight should be amazing with deep powerful runs.
Sizes once again are crazy, with a 50lb not unheard of & a max of 70lb
These fish are largely vegetarian but can be caught on fish or meat baits as well as any fruits or nuts.
A spectacular fish that looks like a beautiful painting. I wasn't sure that where I'm going would have these amazing fish but I'm told there here for sure.
Again growing to huge sizes around 70lb this highly predatory fish will take just about anything in the water, fish insects & even small mammals.
Along with these fish the reality is there are hundreds of species I could catch & as a result of that I don't think "as a fisherman" it get anymore thrilling than that, never knowing what could turn up next !
On the other hand the proof is in the pudding & until I get a bait in the water who knows what fish will take my bait, maybe I won't find any of the above fish willing to give me a tussle & only catch a completely different species, who knows.
Gear & tactics.......
Having to travel light limits your amount of gear & multi section rods can be so good now, it's the only way in my book for easy travel
So I decided on three rods.....
Light - Savage Gear roadrunner 7ft with a Shimano 2500 reel, one spool with 10lb line & the other with 20lb braid.
For float fishing with the 10lb line & smallish hooks up to a size 6
& the 20lb braid for the lure fishing.
Medium - BlackRock 9ft 2.25TC with an Okuma reel 35lb braid.
Heavy spinning for fish to around the 20lb mark maximum
Heavy - Fox tarpon trek rod with a matching Fox 750 reel with 80lb braid for the big catfish
Lure fishing or float fished live or deadbaits with 1/0 trebles or 2/0 circle hooks
Also plenty of wire traces from 30lb up to 100lb industrial, heavy duty shark tackle.
I'm not sure what kind of waters I will encounter, so as it's winter here the rivers will be low & maybe some landlocked lakes as well.
I'll be trying to find inlets or outlets, two rivers converging, weirpools & eddys.
Typical fish holding areas in any country or water but I hope I can find some smaller rivers as that will be much easier fish from the bank.
As I know these small backwaters have the possiblity of holding very large fish as long as I get there before the caiman do.
I'm off early tomorrow & hopefully fishing in the next few days so let's hope I don't blank & have a few pics for part 2.
Until then, hasta luego !
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