Five South American Fishing Trips that Keep Me Up at Night
Monstrous prehistoric arapaima from King WIlliam Adventures in Guyana.
I’ve now been to South America four times but I’ve never left the friendly confines of Brazil. I went to Rio de Janeiro as a teenager (no fishing), and over the past decade I’ve been to the Rio Negro region twice for peacock bass, along with an exceptional trip to Rio Juruena (in the Mato Grosso province) for wolf fish and payara.
I recognize my good fortune to have had those experiences, but fishing travel consistently leaves me wanting more. Rather than merely scratching an itch, each new trip opens new doors, and Brazil is just a gateway to the rest of the continent. It’s a region chock-full of fish and fishing opportunities, and since it’s more or less in my same time zone, even the lengthy trips are not debilitating.
We’ve caught quite a few South American species but there are quite a few experiences left to go. Here are five trips that look amazing that are currently at the top of my list, but of course they’re subject to change (and likely to be supplemented):
La Zona Golden Dorado
It seems like there’s a natural progression among globetrotting anglers who start off as largemouth bass fanatics—they first move into Amazonian peacock bass, and then onto the fierce and giant Golden Dorado. Skeet Reese told me that a 10-pound Golden Dorado tied tail-to-tail with an equal sized peacock would drag it from one end of the river to the other. Furthermore, they eat topwater baits. Sign me up for a double helping of that! The place to catch the true monsters is below the Salto Grande dam on the Uruguay River, in Argentina. It’s tightly-regulated, allowing only a certain number of boats on the water per day and only a certain number of days per week (four, I believe) so we’ll need to make the most of our casting time, but I want to hook into and land at least one over 40 pounds and then celebrate my accomplishment with a glass of Argentinean red wine.
Bolivia Golden Dorado
With my self-imposed and totally artificial limit of five destinations in this column, normally I wouldn’t be inclined to go back-to-back on the same species. I’m discarding that restriction here, at least partially because I’m sure I’m going to absolutely love fishing for Golden Dorado (although I’m guessing there will be a few moments of frustration mixed in). While La Zona is seemingly the place to have the best shot at a trophy-class fish, it doesn’t seem particularly scenic. You’re fishing within a few hundred yards of a big hydroelectric dam, after all. One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about my trips to Brazil is the feeling of getting away from it all—indeed, when you look up in the sky at night the lack of light pollution means that you can see more stars than you ever knew existed, and that makes you realize how small and truly insignificant we all are. The fish may not grow quite as big on some of the remote Bolivian waters, but I’m sure that the remote scenery and culture will make up for it.
Arapaima in Guyana
I want to catch the world’s largest freshwater scaled fish, partially just to say that I’ve done it, and partially because all of the videos I’ve seen of anglers hunting arapaima make it look remarkably exciting. More importantly, THEY EAT SWIMBAITS, so I’ll pack up some Deps 250 Slide Swimmers and make sure that my knots are extra-secure, and get to work. Our good friend Steve Yatomi has established a camp in Guyana and has stressed sustainability and involving the locals in all key decisions. Besides, I know that if Steve is involved, the food should be exceptional.
Galapagos Striped Marlin
I’ve wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands since I first learned about them in Mrs. Dater’s class in 6th grade, and I still giggle a bit if I hear the term “blue footed boobies.” It would likely be an exceptional vacation even without fishing, but of course there are fish in this remarkably eco-diverse environment. I got some inkling of the trophy potential through social media, but Ecuador’s status as a marlin hub was confirmed when our colleague and travel guru Elliott Stark wrote about his trip there. As I’ve written previously, while I caught a blue marlin in 1995, I’ve come up snake eyes on all marlin since then, and I need to change that—why not do it in one of the most meaningful sites in human biological history?
“Jurassic Lake” Trout
I struggled with my choice of trout waters, because I felt like if I’m only going to do it once I should go with a more traditional Patagonian salmonid experience, probably in Chile. Ultimately, though, size won out, especially since I’m not a particularly skilled nor avid fly angler. If I’m going to do it, might as well go where they grow big. In this case, that’s Lago Strobel in southern Argentina. From the pictures I’ve seen, it looks like a moonscape, but one loaded with relatively unpressured giant rainbow trout. If the 20-something inch rainbows I’ve caught in Alaska kicked the crap out of me, imagine what a 20-pounder could do. One article I read in Fly Fisherman magazine said that they can pack on 2 pounds a month here when they aren’t spawning or under the ice.
What other South American locations should I put on my list? In addition to omitting Chile because I chose Argentina for my trout fishing expedition, I’ve also left out Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Paraguay, Uruguay, French Guiana and Suriname. Venezuela is probably off the list for now for safety reasons (although I’m craving a tarpon trip to Trinidad and Tobago, not far off the coast), and while Colombia is tempting for a wide variety of offshore and jungle species, I’m not sure it’s safe yet, either. Are there other great options—both obvious and underexplored—that I’ve missed?
