Lake Guri, Venezuela

[Legend]

March 30, 2009

Greetings Fisherfolk,

I spend my time taking folks fishing for peacock bass on massive Lake Guri in southeastern Venezuela. Last week I was thrilled to have two old friends, Charles Hammontree, owner of Caribe Lures, which makes the now famous Pavon Prop surface bait for peacock bass, Steve Townson, international fisherman and host of "The Fish Finder" TV series, which is aired throughout Europe, along with Angel Gonzalez and Juan Carlos Fridegotta, both from Valencia, Venezuela and on the governing body of the two largest fishing clubs in this country respectively.

The first day of fishing I teamed up with Charles, and along with Angel and Juan Carlos in their boat, we headed up the La Paragua River to a new area we discovered a few weeks ago. Steve ventured off on his own to scout around, but I bet he wished he wouldn't have. Charles and I, using Pavon Prop 7" baits, small Rapala X-Raps, and my favorite, Strike King Thruster Tails (Little George type bait on steroids), boated 43 peacock bass up to 15 lbs that first morning. Angel and Juan Carlos added another 25 fish to the pool up to 13 lbs.

Having bombed out at the first spots he, not the guide, had chosen, Steve joined us around mid-morning and proceeded to boat a good number of fish up to 15 lbs. Although Steve and Charles both are known for their jig fishing skills in Brasil, where they won the International Peacock Bass Tournament two years in a row, I soon had them and the rest of the gang fishing with various models of Little Georges or similar type baits. The number began to grow almost immediately with big fish mixed into the deal. Fish of 8-10 lbs were common with larger ones hitting throughout the day. I personally had 80 lb Power Pro braided line snapped like sewing thread by a large fish plowing for the green trees dotting the area.

Using Super Spooks in another upriver area, Steve landed a 17 lb beauty, and the rest of us caught quality fish on the same bait. When we fished the coves on the lake side of the Headwaters Fishing Club area later in the trip, the Super Spook was definitely the big winner. Angel and Juan Carlos, while fishing for only two hours their last morning at the camp, had over thirty fish hit their Super Spooks.

Charles, Angel, and Juan Carlos had to leave a day earlier than Steve, so the last day Steve went out with another client fishing, and I told my wife, Zulay, who is at best a beginner fisherperson, and her girlfriend, Misterdan, who is even more of a novice, that they could go with HFC guide, Ramon and fish that morning. They went to exactly the same area where Charles and I had slaughtered the peacock bass the first day, while Steve decided to contradict his guide's opinion and ordered him to go somewhere else. Well folks, when the water quit frothing, Zulay and Misteran had caught 43 fish up to Zulay's 12 lb beauty, which by far was her biggest ever, and Steve had to return to the camp that evening and tell me he had only managed four fish, although one was a respectable 13 lbs. For this to happen in front of me was great for this report, but definitely not good for Steve, who took some serious ribbing from me. It is a recognized fact that Steve is a good fisherman, but sometimes even the mighty shall fall.

Next we had the pleasure of entertaining a group lead by none other than my very good friend, Martin Tovar, who just turned a spry 80 years of age last weekend. Joining Martin was his son, Martin Jr., Jacobo Reyes, Miguel Puig of the Puig Cookie Company, who left me a box of fine snacks that I definitely didn't need to be eating but loved anyway, Octavio Greci, Gustavo Rivas, and two brothers, Juan and Luis. A frontal passage slowed things down on Friday afternoon, but Saturday morning saw some good fish being boated. Jacobo's 13 lb brute led the pack, but there were several other 10 lb fish along with many 8-9 lb fish boated. Yo-zuri’s and Super Spooks led the charge. As has been the case many times this past few months, fish of gigantic size were hooked by two of the fishermen, but luck was not on their side, as the monsters ripped off line and escaped into the heavy cover.

Folks, the spawn is now officially behind us, and the fish are beginning to feed heavily in the shallows throughout our area. This translates into great topwater action for big fish. You do not want to miss your chance to land one of these monsters, so just drop me an email stating your preferred dates to come, and I will do my very best to help you plan the fishing trip of a lifetime.

Regards,
Steve Shoulders Headwaters Fishing Club
Lake Guri, Venezuela

[welder]

Great post and some nice pictures.
What kind of Alloy boats are you running down there ?

[Legend]

04 May 2009

Greetings Fisherfolk,

Over the past couple of years, HFC has enjoyed a large increase in the number of local Venezuelans visiting the camp. We are thrilled to have each and every one of them, but it has not been without a few problems arising. The main problem is caused by the fact I grew up in East Texas, and the people there speak a dialect of English unheard in other parts of the world. Mix that with my own brand of Spanglish, which is a personal language I speak which uses both Spanish and English. Unfortunately for those wishing to understand me, I tend to mix both languages into words which only I know the meaning. Since the majority of my new Venezuelan clients speak English, they valiantly try and use this ability to avoid conversing with me in Spanish. All would be well except for the fact I tend to wander off mentally and start talk to them in East Texan, which leaves them with a dumbfounded look I see quite often. So for all my Venezuelan friends, I have decided to give you a few pointers on what I may or may not be saying to you in future conversations.

When I am astounded by something, I might say to you, "Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit." This is good.
When commenting on the weather, I might say to you, "Its been hotter than a goat's butt in a pepper patch, or its so dry the trees are bribing the dogs."
When someone is being less than truthful in their comments to me, I might say to them, "Don't pee down my back and tell me it is raining."
When asked how things are going, and they are going good, I might say to them, "If it got any better, I may have to hire someone to come enjoy it with me."

Why just this past weekend I was happy to have David Brown and his pretty wife, Jana, come to the camp along with their two children, Casey and Jesse, who are 9 and 11 years old respectively. David grew up in Wisconsin, and Jana grew up in Washington State, so although I am sure there were a few things I said that baffled the heck out of them, we managed to converse quite well throughout the entire trip. Sign language and crude drawings did help on occasion.

I had told David on the phone last week that I had a place we could take the two kids and get them plenty of action on peacock bass. On day one David took his daughter, Casey, with him, while Jana took Jesse with her. Since everyone had split off into parent/child teams, I followed suit by taking my 13 year old daughter, Isabella out with me.

The area we went to fish is teeming with both numbers and quality size peacock bass, and it wasn't long before fish were being boated in all three boats. Isabella and I boated 34 peacock bass up to 11 pounds that morning, while David and Casey boated 22 up to 12 lbs, and Jana and Jesse had 17.

On the morning of day two, the pairings were the same with the exception of Isabella and I staying at the camp. It was obvious we were not needed, as David caught a 13 lb, 11 lb, and three 10 lb peacock bass, and Jana had a 13 lb beauty to her credit. Little Casey had hooked and fought a monster size fish for some time, only to see it tear loose near the boat while making it's third big jump of the fight. Santos, their guide, told me the fish was easily in the high teens, so better luck next time, Casey. Jesse also had big fish on, but bad luck kept all the fish over 9 lb from being boated. The two boats loaded with the Brown family landed over 60 peacock bass that second morning.

That second afternoon, Casey managed to land a 10 lb peacock bass that almost took her out of the boat had it not been for dear old Dad grabbing her pants at the last second. You can't imagine how proud I am of both Casey and Jesse for what they accomplished this past weekend. They challenged the hardest fighting freshwater fish in the world to do battle, and they showed each day they were up to the job. I truly enjoyed this weekend with the Brown clan, and hopefully it will not be long before their return.

I would also like to compliment Jana on her 13 lb fish, and most of all on her tremendous effort to eat one of HFC's famous porkchops. She didn't quite make it, but she tried her best. Heck, when the knives and forks quit banging, Jana couldn't even eat her homemade chocolate ice cream that evening.

Payara season is just around the corner beginning in June, so this along with fantastic peacock bass fishing is a must do item for the person who loves fishing. There are dates still fully open through July, and several openings on other weekends. Give me a call, or drop me an email, and I will help you plan a dream fishing trip.

Everyone have a GREAT week!!!


Regards,

Steve Shoulders - Headwaters Fishing Club,
Lake Guri, Venezuela

P.S. Many of you have accused me of having no class or culture at my camp, so now you must eat your words, because Rodrigo has finished a couple of more murals on the outside walls of the cabanas.

[Legend]

Originally Posted by welder

Great post and some nice pictures.
What kind of Alloy boats are you running down there ?

"In keeping with my tradition of using the unusual, my boats are custom made to my design of 100 gauge allweld aluminum by Lobell's Marine in Praireville, Louisiana, which is just outside of Baton Rouge. They are 20 ft long by 8 ft wide, and originally they were designed as a bay boat, but I had them add 6 inches to the height of the gunnels to keep dry in bad weather with high waves. They can move through water 6 inches deep. The guide has his work section in the rear, where his trolling motor and all necessary equipment is stored away from the fishermen. My clients have said they are the best commercial fishing camp boats they have ever used.

The attached photo should give you some idea as to how much ample room these boats have for the clients to move around in without causing the boat to tilt.

Regards, Steve"

[Legend]

May 12, 2009

Salutations from Venezuela:

The story I am about to tell you was told to me by a local Pemon Indian from the village across the La Paragua River from the HFC camp. There was another Indian present during the telling of this tale, and he says that it is true. You be your own judge.

It seems that one day while in search of food for his family, Richard, who is the Indian in question, was fishing along the bank of the La Paragua River with his Indian friend, Jose. They were trying to catch an Amara, which is a large Amazonian fish that grows in excess of 50 lbs, and has teeth like a shark. They were using pieces of cut up piranha for bait, and for the first few hours their effort had proved fruitless. Don’t believe me, just ask Al at South Fishing….he can tell you!

Then about mid morning, Richard felt a sudden yank on his line, as something took the bait into its mouth. Having quickly retrieved all the slack line, Richard wrapped the 70 lb monofilament line around his hand and proceeded to set the hook as hard as he could into whatever had taken his bait. In the blink of an eye, the line began ripping off toward the depths through Richard's cut and bleeding fingers, but he didn't let go, because this was the way Indians had caught fish for centuries. As the big fish continued to pull more line into the water, the dugout canoe the Indians were using was slowly being towed out into the river channel away from the protection of the shoreline. Still, Richard and Jose continued with an age old practice of letting the big fish fight itself down before even attempting to land it.

Then something strange happened. Both Indians were well aware that the big river fish invariably head for the depths of the river channel to do their fight, which is why they were shocked to see this fish reverse course and head for the shoreline again. As the dugout reached a point not fifteen feet from the bank, Richard watched helplessly as the line began to rise rapidly for the surface. This also was odd, because both men knew Amara seldom if ever come to the surface when fighting. Well, this one was coming up, and it was coming up fast.

Then the monster size fish broke the calm surface of the river, as it shot skyward in a heart stopping leap. Richard and Jose were also immediately aware of the fact they were not fighting a big Amara, but a peacock bass of truly gigantic proportions. Never before had either man seen a fish of this species that big, much less had a chance to land one.

Jose quickly removed his t-shirt and gave it to Richard to use as a protective covering for his lacerated hands, and the battle continued unabated with the fish taking out yards of line only to be pulled slowly back towards the boat inch by inch. With the muscles of his arms and back screaming for relief, and blood from his hands dripping into the bottom of the dugout, Richard took time to thank the river 'God' for the chance to fight the grandfather of all peacock bass, and promised to pay special respect when it was over. But the fight was long from over, as the big fish made powerful runs around and under their dugout.


Then suddenly, the fish rose to the surface not ten feet from the boat, and just hung there on the surface staring deep into Richard's eyes. Richard says he thought the fish was trying to talk to him, but he could not understand it. All he knew was that this fish was huge by anyone's calculations, and this fish was soon to be his family's food for the coming days. Such was the way of the Indian.

Having recovered some of its energy while staring at Richard, the big fish began to jump, dive, run under the boat, run around the boat, and make more short powerful runs for the river channel. Throughout all of this, Richard held on for dear life. Then just as he began to slowly but surely drew the fish near enough to the boat to allow Jose to grab it by the tail - the unthinkable happened. The fish made one more might turn causing the steel fish hook to straighten out, and the monster fish, now free of restraints, slowly sank back to the depths from which it had come.

Now you or I would have been traumatized by this terrible turn of events, but Richard merely said a quick thank you to the river 'God' for having been given the chance to witness such fish. Then he and Jose began to discuss what had just taken place, and they both decided this fish must have been at least 15 kilos in weight. Neither man had seen a fish near that big before, but hopefully they would again sometime in the future.

Friends, these events did not take place like ten years ago, but two weeks ago very near the area we are currently fishing with our clients. I wish I could tell you that we could put each and every one of you on such a fish to fight, but we can't. We do know fish similar to it are there for those anglers lucky enough to have a chance at them.

This past weekend HFC had a group of anglers arrive for the first ever trip to our camp, and hopefully it won't be the last. Lead by the father, Peter Bradley, there were also his sons, Peter Jr., Paul, and Michael, their cousin, Guillermo Katz, their charter pilot and HFC veteran, Jacobo Reyes, and his aircraft mechanic, Enrique. Michael and Guillermo had never fished before in their lives for anything, so they were in for a special treat.

The first fish Guillermo had ever caught in his life was an 11 lb beauty landed fifteen minutes after starting to fish. Michael, who didn't have Guillermo's luck, still boated 8 fish up to 8 lbs the first session, and lost several others. Peter Bradley Jr. led all fishermen the first session with a 13lb chunk of peacock bass.

On the second day of fishing, Peter Sr. hook and fought a truly giant peacock bass, only to have it tear loose under the boat after having battled with this beast for five minutes. Yozuris and Rapalas in the 4-5 inch models were the primary baits used, but Jumpin Minnows and Super spooks also boated some quality fish up to 13 lbs. The fish were coming up´and slapping at the prop baits, but for some crazy reason they would not take them in their mouths. All in all, this group boated in excess of 200 peacock bass with a good percentage of them 8 lbs or larger.

We are still fishing our newfound area upriver form the camp with great success, and with the seasonal rains beginning any day, this area will only get better. Payara fishing has been slow to date, but with the rains beginning that will change dramatically, so get you spinnerbaits ready.

Folks, as good as our fishing has been the past few months, the prime time for big péacock bass is now upon us. For the next few months, top-water action will be plentiful, and this is when a man can make his fishing dreams come true. Don't be left out on the action, because all it takes is for you to drop South Fishing an email stating your preferred dates and number of people in your group, and I will do what I can to help you plan a trip of a lifetime.

We are open year-round, except Christmas and New Years. After all we need some time with family too.

Regards,

Steve Shoulders Headwaters Fishing Club,
Lake Guri, Venezuela