It was day three of our jungle fly fishing trip to the Untamed Amazon on the Rio Marié River in Brazil. Our host for this adventure was Rio Marié’s live-aboard mothership. We all woke up and eventually made our way from our comfortable rooms to the living area for coffee, followed by a buffet-style American breakfast. Of course, it was pretty quiet, with a bit of sleep still in everyone’s eyes. Breakfast was served and gobbled down at various paces. I dug in quickly, as usual in the morning as I just wanted to eat, brush my teeth, grab my gear, hit the boats, and get on the water. Isn’t that why we’re here? Don’t get me wrong, the food was excellent all week – but come on, let’s roll!
Finally, at the boats with rods being loaded, introductions were made with guides, coolers were being stocked, and we were about to depart on today’s fly fishing adventure. My fishing partner for the day was John Lyons. He’s an experienced angler who has fished the Rio Marié several times. He’s traveled the world and even sewed a guide’s finger back together at Tsimane in the early 2000’s. Needless to say, I was looking forward to fishing with him. We were paired with the head guide at Rio Marié who has been there for about five years. His fly, the Rafa Marié SLT, has produced a serious amount of big fish to the net. Rodrigo Salles, shared owner of Untamed Angling, swears by this fly and has caught many 20+ pounders stripping it.
The weather was good today with no morning rain and the sun shining through the scattered clouds. Exactly what you want when chasing monster peacock bass – warm weather and warm water. Not ideal for the angler, but very ideal for getting aggressive takes from these predators. We didn’t quite have ideal conditions, but we were going to take full advantage of the day.
We ran in the skiff for around 20 minutes to the first lagoon. The boat slowed well away from the structure as the guides sprang into action. Our native guide rushed to the bow to drop in the trolling motor and cover the line-catching parts with a damp rag. It was time to wet a line and focus in. John grabbed his popper rod while I grabbed my rod with an intermediate sink line and large streamer. I checked my ferrule connections on my Winston Air Max (best to check before throwing a rod piece on the cast) and stripped off about 70 feet of fly line. I like to wet my streamer flies before I start casting, so I dipped my Jungle Junkie in the water to wet it and test the sink rate. I was using an intermediate line, but this fly had patience in submerging. Time to make some casts.
John threw his popper close to the willowish trees we were fishing and got a follow right away. Rafael saw the fish follow and immediately said, “butterfly.” He then told the boat, “we aren’t after those today!” We were only fishing for big, prized fish. John handed his popper rod to the native guide and in return received his streamer rod lined with an intermediate line. It was a different day and I was excited by the challenge. It wasn’t about the number of fish, but rather the number of centimeters and pounds. Our first target of two Acu didn’t work out, nor did our second. I had, of course, launched an errant cast into a tree that we had to retrieve right where they were. We then moved across the lagoon to a different structure and found another pair of Acu to target. After several casts by both John and I, we ended up snagged and needing to retrieve another fly right where they were. Again, it was time to move.
Rafa spotted another pair that were on a log, right in the middle of the lagoon. I was shocked, I would’ve expected them to be in structure. But here they were, just hanging out in the open. Large Acu and Paca don’t need protection from many predators in the Amazon. John and I kept casting at this pair with a few bumps and tail grabs. It was bound to happen soon, but when? John made a nice cast after 25–30 casts and was immediately rewarded by a hookup. The fight was on and this was a big fish. The big Acu was running and John was soon on the reel. Our native guide was so energized he was right on John’s shoulder. John requested that he give him some room, but only I heard the request. John repeated his desire for more room to maneuver and fight the fish. After another unheard request, I tapped Rafa and shared John’s want, to which he asked his partner to step away. John, being the veteran angler he is, proceeded to land this beautiful fish. Sixteen and a half pounds and 78 centimeters later, John was releasing this fish back to its underwater world.
Time to go back and try those first two Acu again. They were back at home and we were coming knocking. John still had on his lucky shad pattern fly and I was at it again with my Jungle Junkie. Woah, a big bump on my third cast, but no take. John followed with a tail grab. These fish were aggressive and came to the flies. Ten casts in and John was hooked up and the guides were on the move again. I grabbed my phone, but the fish was moving fast toward the structure. Oh no, it was into the small trees and weaving its way.
Rafa took the lead and told John, “keep the line tight, we can get this fish.” Rafael expertly maneuvered the boat close to where the Acu entered the structure and grabbed John’s rod before jumping into the chest-deep water. He twisted and turned the rod through the trees while keeping tension on the line. The monster appeared in the middle of the lagoon on the other side of the trees. But now, the fight was different. The peacock bass was no longer hooked in the lip, but rather the tail. Okay, no problem. Finally netted, this fish weighed in at 15.5 pounds and was again almost 78 centimeters.
It was now time for lunch and time to change spots. We headed out of the lagoon on the 90 horsepower Yamaha and drove about five minutes to our shaded lunch spot. The clouds had almost entirely taken over the sunlight, causing the day to darken a bit. All of us shared stories and talked about fly fishing gear over lunch. It’s funny how all anglers have their preferences in rods, reels, fly lines, and even clothing. Rafa shared stories from his time guiding, and we all talked about some of our greatest fly fishing memories. I think maybe John thought I was upset about the morning because he caught both big fish. He told me, “don’t worry, you’re going to catch a nice fish today as well.” I love how most fly fishermen support each other and wish the best for each other. I wasn’t unhappy at all, but rather happy to be part of John’s success. We all have our moments and should support others’ successes as well. I told John, “no worries, my time will come. I’m just happy you had such a great morning.”
We moved away from our jungle hideaway and headed to the next lagoon. We could literally see big fish surfacing in multiple spots as we entered quietly. We fished the front edge of the structure, leaving no nook uncast to. Paca like to hang out in these spots, ready to ambush, and you don’t want to skip those opportunities.
Rafa spotted two big Acu he wanted us to target that he’d seen moving above an underwater structure. I badly wanted one of these fish. I’m humble, but I still love to catch big, mean fish. I didn’t come on this trip just to watch and cheerlead for others. Although I’m happy and want them to succeed, I also want to be successful. It was going to be my time!
Rafa positioned the boat for our first casts and I immediately received a tail grab. John wasn’t quite in position as the wind had come up and the trolling motor was battling to keep us in the right place. Four casts later I could feel my fly get bumped, but more of a slap. I thought the fish was telling me, “get out of my zone or there will be trouble coming your way.” It was exciting to know these two were aggressively defending their space. John threw another 8–10 casts and decided to sit down and watch. I was in a better position to cast to these fish. Rafa wanted to change my fly and try something that got down quicker. He tied on a black/orange Andino Deceiver with bead chain eyes in hopes of getting the fly in their water column faster. We tried slow retrieves, jig retrieves, and even fast retrieves. Movement but no takes. I think the boat crew were getting frustrated and bored.
Rafa told me, “if you want to keep going we can.” We changed flies another eight times, then started using flies we’d already used. The battle of attrition continued with cast after cast, getting bumps or chases here and there. My arm was getting tired, but not my casting arm. The shoulder on my left arm was getting sore from stripping repeated flies at a long, slow pace, and I was wearing down.
My mind raced—was it time to move on and find a new pair? Rafa again intervened in my negative, worn-down thoughts. He told me, “most of my anglers would’ve given up by now and wanted to move on.” I had no idea how long we’d been at this, but I knew it had been a long time. I responded, “I’m not quitting on this. These fish are going to take soon.”
Rafa replied, “let’s give this fly another shot. I think one of them will take soon.” He tied back on the Andino Deceiver, and two casts later my line came tight. We’d finally gotten one of these Acu to bite! The line was soon stretched tight and onto the reel. All of a sudden I saw my backing knot and the boat was cheering as the Acu leapt from the water clear across the lagoon. I was shocked by the girth and length of this brightly colored specimen.
I stared at the reel as Rafa told me to tighten the drag. I clicked one notch tighter and the reel seized. The entire boat was telling me to let her run, but I couldn’t. Instead, my reel locked and no line would release. Switching back one notch, I immediately regretted the decision—the reel was now free spooling. Back to using the old-school palm drag and line strip if necessary. As I slowly closed ground and endured many runs, the Acu peacock bass finally entered the net and knew it had been beaten.
As the guides went about their usual practice of measuring each Acu and Paca, tagging them, and weighing them, I relaxed a bit. John congratulated me, telling me that it was 100+ casts by myself alone to get that fish to eat. He said he’d stopped counting at 100, but he knew it was more than that. This female Acu was 77+ centimeters and 14.5 pounds and literally took everything I had to stay patient. She was a great fish—even had a previous tag from 2022 or 2023 that was replaced with a new tag. I had originally thought this story was just going to be about this one fish, but instead I wanted to tell the story of the entire day. It was a special day in my fly fishing life and I always enjoy sharing those with others. Rafa had cut the tag off the last fish because he thought the numbers had been eaten by piranhas. As we re-rigged our flies for the next spot, Rafa realized the old tag still showed the numbers. He said he’d replace those numbers with the new tag in the computer when we got back to the mothership. Hopefully someday someone will meet that beautiful female peacock in the coming years.
The day wasn’t over and we’d seen some fish moving on the other side of the lagoon. My fly got thrashed in the last battle, so Rafa tied on the Jungle Junkie again. These Acu were on the surface, so sink rate wasn’t as important. We trolled across the lagoon and Rafa put us in position. A big grab on the first cast, but no hook set. Guessing just a test, or a “get the heck away from me.” John followed shortly with a slap of his fly—these are aggressive fish, most likely actively feeding. Unfortunately, on the next cast John got stuck on an underwater structure, and with #60 test you aren’t easily retrieving the fly. Rafa asked John to hold his line tight away from where I was casting.
I was dreading another long run at these fish. I mean come on, I’d just cast over 100 times to get one take. But the adrenaline from that last fish had erased any fatigue I’d been feeling. My shoulder no longer ached and instead felt well-rested. Mentally, I was dialed in on these fish, refocusing and removing those previous doubts. It was game on again, and this Acu had already shown itself—it was huge.
Five casts later, I felt a stall in my strip. I pulled tight with a hard strip and knew I had struck gold. This was a different tug, only something I’d felt in 2017 on my trip to Colombia. An instant burst to pull my line tight, plus some. Again, I saw my backing knot, but this time it went a bit further through the guides. My Winston rod was bent to the cork as I put tension on this monster. Rafa grabbed his camera in hopes of getting a breach from this colorful male. As I reeled up on him, I frequently extended the rod tip high in the air in hopes of getting a jump, but to no avail. This beast only showed with a slight roll, then thrashed away. After several attempts at landing him, I pulled his head up and slipped him in the net to end the battle. The Acu relaxed, I high-fived Rafa, and we looked for and trolled to the closest shallow beach. The guides prepared the IGFA measuring tape and the tags for this colorful peacock bass. At 84 centimeters and 19 pounds, I was elated. The entire boat was excited by this big fish. After many pictures, like every big fish today, we released this beautiful male peacock back to its mate.
My story wasn’t about how special anyone is, but how special fly fishing is. The teamwork from our entire boat, the passionate cheer we felt for each other, and everyone’s desire to catch the fish of a lifetime—that’s the real story, not the amount of fish we caught. We chased the dream and we ultimately achieved it. We had many laughs, great conversations, learning moments, and success. Remember, the success isn’t the big fish, but rather the adventure and the persistence to keep trying. I look forward to many more fly fishing adventures, but it is the people, fly fishing partners, guides, staff, and outfitters that make it special for me.
by Terry Jepsen of The Fly Shop