Arawana

[DLJeff]

Anyone had enough recent experience with arawana to offer some fly suggestions? I know they eat small baitfish patterns that set high in the water column and especially if you can keep it in front of them for a long time. I also know arawana will jump to knock insects out of over hanging trees so was wondering if anyone has tried large insect imitations, maybe a big green katydid or leave hopper. Re-stocking my fly box for next year and think I'll spend more time figuring out the arawana this time. Thanks.

[Rockman]

Where did the fish's tail go? Just curious.

[Mark Kranhold]

I know they will jump 5' out of the water to catch a bird flying overhead. Maybe a good tropical bird pattern :) Where did the tail go? Croc, pahrana?

[jbird]

Its easy to immitate a fly hanging from a tree. Ive done it many times with various species ;)

[DLJeff]

You guys are a lot of help. The betting money is that pirahna took his tail. We a big temensis one time that had the back half of the fish chewed down to bones by pirahna. Not much goes to waste in the Amazon. Those damn pirahna will nip off your fly line by attacking knots, color changes (such as if you colored a braided loop or didn't color the loop), and even the braided loop. Anything that looks like a small baitfish can be attacked. And with some of the white pirahnas as large as dinner plates, they can attack some pretty big fish.

[Chris Evison]

From what I've seen on Peacock trips the Arawana is very surface oriented. Try poppers, gurglers, airheads and the pole dancer. Throw them with a 10wt on an outbound short tropical line. Great fun when you get into a school of Arawana.

[Bull_Dog]

Where did the fish's tail go? Just curious.

One of a Piranhas main food itemes is other fishes fins. They will eat the fins off a fish and then simply leave them alone. The fins grow back and the food source is replinished! Seen many fish in the Amazon without tails.

[Bull_Dog]

Aruana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum) Peixe Macaco or Monkey Fish spend most of their lifes in the top 1-2 feet of the water column. They are constantly looking up for food. They tend to gang up in quiet lagoons and under overhanging trees in the shade. Aruana are often seen jumping in the trees (hence the name Monkey Fish) to catch birds, insects and even snakes and lizards. They are a prehistoric looking fish that basically is all body right down to the end. Almost like an eel.

“Catching an Aruana is action packed since most of the time it is done sight fishing.” While you are cruising along casting for Peacock Bass you will inadvertantly come across a school of Arunana. If you do not spook them you can back up the boat and get your top water flies ready, sneak back to where you saw them and make a cast into or near the fish. sometimes the entire school of fish will attack your fly all at once. They are aggressive and usually leap high into the air numerous times during the fight. It is definatly worth the time to stop and cast to a group of hungry Aruana.

http://peacockbassflyfishing.com/aruana

[DLJeff]

Thanks for posting that Bull Dog. I love those canned descriptions. Personally, I've found aruana (arawana, arowana, and any of the other multiple ways it's spelled) to not be as aggressive as that states. They can be spooky and very selective, not unlike tarpon at times. In a way they're more challenging that the peacock bass. I think that's why I'm going to spend a little more time looking for them and testing fly patterns and presentations on my next trip. I'd alsoo like to spend time fishing for pirarucu but my boat partners usually get tired f that after awhile.

[Rockman]

It is now legal to smoke arawana in Colorado in case you all did not know. Just saying! He He!

[Bull_Dog]

Thanks for posting that Bull Dog. I love those canned descriptions. Personally, I've found aruana (arawana, arowana, and any of the other multiple ways it's spelled) to not be as aggressive as that states. They can be spooky and very selective, not unlike tarpon at times. In a way they're more challenging that the peacock bass. I think that's why I'm going to spend a little more time looking for them and testing fly patterns and presentations on my next trip. I'd alsoo like to spend time fishing for pirarucu but my boat partners usually get tired f that after awhile.

LOL. I actually wrote that but you are right I have seen them be pretty spooky. I think a lot of it depends on if they have seen or felt your presence in the boat etc. I have a video where about 10 Arawana came at a Zara Spook all at one time. It was really cool. I wish it wasn't such an amatuer video but I was involved so it was.

When are you going down there again? Where have you been before?

Rob

[DLJeff]

I'm going back down there in February. I prefer the Agua Boa. I spend as much time with my binoculars as i do fishing. Last trip we came across this big jag sunning on the bank early one morning. He let us get really close before wandering off. We jumped out and tried to follow him but he just melted into the jungle and disappeared. Later on the same trip I watched a harpy eagle fly thru the trees. Two sites I'll never forget.

[Loomis 1]

Email guy@fishingwithlarry.com. Guy Schoenborn has hosted several trips to Agua Boa and should have a recommendation for flies. I am going with him next November, my 1st Amazon trip. Even if you aren't his client he loves to talk fishing.

Bill Siler

[DLJeff]

After some thought (with the judicial application of brain lubricant) I decided a nice big green katydid that sits in the surface film and can be twitched might be the right bait. I'm giving these a few shots besides the usual small baitfish assortment.
6120

[David Lee]

Nice fly !!

Try to contact Rod Harrison in Australia - they have a VERY similar species called a Saratoga that they chase w/ surface flies .

Hope this helps !!

D.~

[Larry S]

From the piranha's perspective, there's nothing like a good piece of tail!
How about some mouse patterns?
Best,
Larry S

[DLJeff]

Good suggestions David and Larry. I lived in Australia from 1995 - 1998 and did a little 'Toga fishing so I am familiar with those. And I have a few deer hair/foam mice patterns I tied for Mongolia last year and they should look like a big old beetle or something.

[Larry S]

DLJeff,
Sending you a PM.
Best,
Larry S

[Morgan]

Another bucket list trip for me right there. Id love to go to the amazon to chase peacock bass and arowana! I keep them at home in my aquariums so they are fish I love to see and would really love to catch. There are a few different types of aro's in the amazon. The one pictured is a black/blue aro. They are a bit more rare than the silver arowana that you often see pictures of. They both get quite large but the silvers do get a bit bigger. Often topping 3ft+ in the wild. I would imagine a large green hopper would work great...big like the size of your middle finger.

DLJeff that is a really cool picture of the Jaguar. SOunds like you have some good trips down there. One of these days i'll make it down. But for now i'll have to go check out Florida or Hawaii for my pbass fix.

[DLJeff]

Back from the Amazon and happy to report I caught a few aruana. One guy in our group caught an 8lb aruana which is way on the big side of the scale. I never found the right spot to try my leaf hopper though. I was waiting for a spot with lots of over hanging branches and aruana cruising underneath. Nearly all the aruana I saw this trip were around deadfalls. I did manage a real nice one on a wool head baitfish pattern that floats just below the surface. And weirdly I caught one on a peacock fly while using a 250grain sinking line in the middle of a lagoon. I guess it just goes to prove that any "givens" in the fishing world are easily disproved.

[jbird]

Jeff, did you encounter any Payara, Traira or Arapaima? The Arapaima has a similar boody shape as the Arawana but grow to immense size. Any of these three species would give me nightmares if I ever enountered one in person. I believe they are found in the most remote regions (especially the Traira) That would be extremely cool to find some of these prehistoric beasts and trick them on a fly!

[DLJeff]

Jay -
One payara was landed this trip. I think a second one was LDR'ed. We usually see a few small trairas but I can't recall getting one myself. I did get a rather large cachorro this trip and their teeth are nothing to scoff at or make a mistake while removing your fly. My boat partner and I had several really good casts at an arapaima (piraricu) that I estimated at 100lbs in a lagoon. It stayed close enough to the boat and high enough in the water that we could site cast to it. Got one head turn and a short follow but it didn't seem very interested in eating. We also landed all four species of peacock bass plus a few hybrids, oscars, jacundas, cachorro, aruana, pirahna (white and blacks), pacu, and a couple others I can't remember the name.

[jbird]

Well I had to wade thru some interesting google results on cachorro. LOL!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachorro

Cool lookin fish. Looks like a nuclear ladyfish mutation!

[Morgan]

Jay -
One payara was landed this trip. I think a second one was LDR'ed. We usually see a few small trairas but I can't recall getting one myself. I did get a rather large cachorro this trip and their teeth are nothing to scoff at or make a mistake while removing your fly. My boat partner and I had several really good casts at an arapaima (piraricu) that I estimated at 100lbs in a lagoon. It stayed close enough to the boat and high enough in the water that we could site cast to it. Got one head turn and a short follow but it didn't seem very interested in eating. We also landed all four species of peacock bass plus a few hybrids, oscars, jacundas, cachorro, aruana, pirahna (white and blacks), pacu, and a couple others I can't remember the name.

Jeff do you have pictures of the diff sub species of peacock bass? Four is a good number for a trip. But there are a lot more than 4 different sub species of cichla. WOuld love to see some pics.

[DLJeff]

6526652765286529Gangster -
Here's a couple pics that illustrate some of the different cichlids we caught.

The first one is a temensis. Note the three vertical bars. I noticed that Bill HUtchinson posted a trip for peacock bass in Puerto Rico and the photos in his post show a cichlid with four vertical bars.

The second pic is a borboleta or butterfly. They get up to around 8 lbs and are the most common. Sometimes we caught so many we would hold our cast if we saw borboletas.

The next pic is a nice pair of spotteds. They are greyish with cream colored spots and dashes running horizontal. They get up to 10 - 12lbs. But Carlos (lodge manager) told me that they had some fishery biologists there a couple weeks ago and they said what we called spotted actually have the same DNA as the larger temensis. So they might be just a color phase. Many of them have the three vertical bars like the temensis.

The last pic is a close up of a spotted and you can see the bars and cheek spots.

This last pic is a large male temensis. The males grow this large bump on the top of their heads when they get into breeding mode. I'm not sure anyone knows the purpose or function of the bump. But it's pretty cool when you catch one. Cichlids evidently breed all year round down there because you can catch them with the bump any time.
6531

[Morgan]

Jeff those are just 2 different sub species of cichla(peacock bass). The first one w/ the large vertical bars is the adult pattern of cichla temensis. When smaller they have the spots on them like the others you posted. As they get larger(mature), the spots dissapear. The green one you call a butterfly(common name for a few different sub species of cichla), is a cichla orinocensis. They are found throughout a few different regions. A few other cichla species can be found in different river systems all throughout south america. Brazil has some of the most unique and sought after sub species of cichla for the home aquarium.

None the less...a very cool thread. The amazon is number one on my bucket list for fishing destinations. I would love to go fishing as well as collect a few for my home aquariums.

[Morgan]

Cichla Orino
C. Piquitti..azul
C. Melanie...xingu
C. Kelberi

The full tank shot has adults of Orino, azuls and a kelberi. There is over 10 sub species of cichla.
Im a bit of a fish nerd. I love my fish...whether fishing for them or enjoying them at home. Peacock bass made the aquarium hobby for me a bit of an addiction. I have spent a small fortune on my fish throughout the years.

[DLJeff]

The Agua Boa web site has some good photos and info as well. I think I read somewhere that there are many cichlid species. Supposedly the azul is down in that area as well but it's harder to distinguish from the others and easily hybridizes as well.

[Morgan]

The azul is very easy to distinguish between different sub-species to the trained eye.
Pic 2 in my post shows azuls..pic 5 has 2 adult azuls. They do not hybridize as easy/often as one would think.
There are Cichla piquitti(azuls), in the rio arguaria river as well as Cichla kelberi.
SOme sub species of cichla look quite alike to the untrained eye...even as adults. Cichla monoculous, cichla occelaris and cichla kelberi all look very similar. As juvie's they are very hard to tell apart even to the trained eye. As they become adults they all have those stand out charecteristics that make it quite easy to tell apart. When it comes to peacock bass in the home aquarium I am quite the nerd. I research and them on a daily basis. So targeting them on the fly makes them very appealing. I currently own 4 different sub species of cichla. But have owned 7 different species in all. One of the cooler things that makes them really fun to collect in the home aquarium is the difference in pattern they can have from collection point to collection point. Like a Cichla orino from the rio meta vs a Cichla orino from the rio negro. The patterns are unique from each location. Just like trout and many other species of fish.

One of these days I will fish the amazon rivers for cichla, arowana as well as the payara's. For now I will just continue to oogle and awe at all the info posted. Sorry to derail your thread. On with the pics :)

[DLJeff]

Here's a couple shots of a good size aruana I caught while my boat partner was landing his payara. That was a very memorable double.

[Morgan]

Very cool shots Jeff! Catching an arowana sounds like a blast.