Hosted Trip Set For February 2010!
You’ve heard about it from your friends or you may have seen it on TV, now it’s your turn. We are hosting a Peacock Bass Fishing trip on the Rio Negro aboard the Amazon QueenII
I hope you can join us. Please take the time to read the details below and you will see that this is truely a trip of a lifetime. For more details give me a call Greg Ray 918 407 2586 or email
Here are a few of the highlights about the Amazon Queen and the trip itself.
- Maximum guest 20 with a crew of 34
- Yacht 3 story 103 foot
- Cabins with 7 foot ceiling and private bath
- Double occupancy per room
- 6 days of fishing 7am to 5pm
- Fiberglass 17 foot Nitro Bass boats
- Traditional anglers are provided with Falcon rods and Shimano Reels
- Fly anglers bring their own equipment
- Trip is Friday to Sunday
- Fly out of Atlanta or Miami to Manous charter flight to Barcelos 1 hour included in cost Water taxi to yacht
- If high water use back up dates. Outfitter will advise ahead of time.
- Price is $5450 (not including flight to Manous, right now flights are around $1200)
The rate is a $500 discount for our group.
We will be cruising in luxury and in fresh water everyday.
Boarding the elegant Amazon Queen II, guests enter a floating 103-foot luxury hotel. Inside, they’ll discover air-conditioned staterooms with 7-foot ceilings, wide bunks and private baths, a grand dining room, comfortable bar and a well-stocked gift shop. On her top deck awaits a spacious observation lounge, perfect for relaxing and swapping fishing stories while the spectacular Amazon rain forest glides by. 
Featuring state-of-the-art power, navigation and communications, the Amazon Queen II is the perfect home base for a once-in-a-lifetime fishing adventure. Guests depart each morning in Nitro bass boats with their partner and an experienced native guide. After a day of the most exhilarating fresh water fishing on the planet, they return under fiery sunsets for dinner, camaraderie, a nightcap and good night’s sleep. Since her maiden voyage in 2004, the Amazon Queen II has set a new standard of luxury and adventure for 20 guests served by a crew of 33.
Peacock Bass
Called “tucunare” in Portuguese, the peacock bass is a born ambusher and one of the most ferocious freshwater fish you’ll find anywhere. Interestingly enough, the “bass” portion of the fish’s name is a bit incorrect. Peacocks are actually members of the cichlid family (like oscar).
Peacocks come in several varieties, including speckled, black-barred, butterfly and royal. In our area of the Amazon, we see all of them except royal. The world record peacock (a 27-pounder caught by one our anglers) is speckled. These varieties range in color and size, but the behavior is pretty much the same. Mean. Aggressive. Territorial.
Acrobatic brawlers on a line, they snap 30-lb. monofilament like thread, straighten saltwater hooks, mangle lures and send rods home in more pieces than you came with. They are almost exclusively diurnal and aren’t the least bit sun-shy, hitting most lures at the surface with explosive force. They’re not too choosey about baits, but landing them is guaranteed to be one of the toughest freshwater fights you’ll ever get in. You’ll love every second of it.
Types of Peacock Bass
Black Barred Peacock Bass
Butterfly Peacock Bass
Speckled Peacock Bass
Fishing Tactics
Below, we’ve included a few tactics for catching trophy peacock bass. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Our guides and staff are experts and know boatloads of tricks that’ll make your outings very successful. In the meantime, take a look.
Work Top to Bottom
When fishing peacock bass it’s best to try a topwater approach first. Use bigger lures like topwater plugs and be ready for multiple casts. It sets them off because they think it’s an interloper.
For smaller surface baits, try propeller plugs, poppers or walking spook baits. Only after working this method for a while should you switch to subsurface tactics, using jerkbaits (like Peacock Minnow, Crystal Minnow or Red Fin) and buck-tail jig rigs.
Remember-work top to bottom. Keep this basic tactic in mind and you’ll significantly improve your odds of catching trophy tucunare.
Aggressive and Nosey
Peacock bass move to strike when they see other tucunare feeding on baitfish or trying to shake off lures. To take advantage of this aggressive behavior, cast quickly and accurately to the area where the fish are feeding.
Fish as a team. It’ll help you take advantage of peacock’s that get riled up when other fish fight lures. When your partner hooks one, be ready for double hookup opportunities. Do a short sub-surface cast to catch one of the peacocks aroused by all the activity.
Don’t Stop
Peacock bass often hit surface bait hard, causing explosions that can leave you stunned. Don’t just stand there, though. Work the bait in a rapid retrieve across the surface. This’ll keep the peacock interested. If it’s interested enough to give you several surface strikes, but can’t seem to get a hold of the bait, grab a jerkbait or bucktail jig-rigged rod and cast to the last place you saw the monster. Work the area for at least five minutes trying different baits. Tucunare are persistent; you should be, too.
Change the Menu
Experiment with bait. Most of our anglers have trophy level success with big topwater plugs. If these draw strikes but no hookups, move down to a smaller propeller plug, popper or walking spook baits. If the surface approach just isn’t working, go under with a jerkbait.
Trolling
Try slow trolling along banks and through deeper lagoons with your bait dragging about 25-40 yards behind the boat. Make sure to rip the lure forward every few seconds.
Keep Moving
Don’t spend too much time in water without hits. Peacock aren’t shy. If nothing’s biting, nothing’s there. So try about 50 casts in the same area. If this activity doesn’t attract tucunare to you (especially big ones that get sick of all the noise), move on.
Pattern Tactics and Terrain
Lagoons can isolate thousands of fish. Cast to visible shoreline cover and the deeper waters at the center. Fish a lagoon thoroughly for 45 minutes. If there are no strikes, baitfish or activity, move on. Rocks of all sizes-especially boulders- concentrate butterfly and royal peacock bass. At rock structure, try up to a dozen casts with a topwater plug for big
peacocks. Then, try a jerkbait and fan cast the area. In running water, hit eddy pockets with a white 1Ž2-ounce bucktail jig-make it hop sharply. Rapid vertical presentation is essential, so use spinning gear wheneveryou can.
At sandbars, begin with big topwater baits before trying the subsurface approach. Peacocks like the deep-water drop-offs at lagoon mouths, sandbars, rocky shoals and pockets
at tributaries, so target them. Try crisscrossing the surface first. Focus on rocks, submerged timber, brush or other isolated cover. When on the Rio Negro, cast upstream, retrieving with the current across the point. Make sure to hit the calmer water on the points’ down-current side, as well as the points themselves.
When working timber, the hotspots are trees three to 10 feet off the bank, submerged two to six feet deep. Cast to the bank and retrieve as close to the trees.
Remember, your guide will know how to put you on some of the best spots!
Fishing Equipment
Here is one of my favorite parts. Unless you are flyfishing you do not even have to bring your own gear! They provide Falcon Rods with Shimano reels, that is as good as it gets!
Fishing equipment is furnished at no additional cost as a service to our anglers. We furnish three quality rods and bait casting reels (Shimano and Curado), 80-lb. Spectra line and all the lures that are needed for the week’s fishing. Still, you may bring your favorite gear and lures if you wish. This aggressive jungle species is well suited to fly-fishing, leaving many fly-fishing world records to be set. An 8/9 or 9/10 weight fly rod is recommended. Reels should have a good drag, hold at least 150 yards of backing and be spooled with weight forward bass taper floating and intermediate sinking lines. For leader: we suggest 6-8 feet of 17-25-lb. monofilament.
Spinning or Bait Casting Tackle We use medium to medium-heavy largemouth bass tackle. For rods we suggest six to seven-foot bait casting rods rated for 25-30 lb. line. Due to the strength of the fish and the abundance of structure, we strongly suggest Spectra 80-lb. test braided Kevlar lines (really, these fish snap Spectra 50-lb. with ease); for monofilament, the “Magnum” 14/40-lb. line (14 lb. diameter), with standard reels of at least 100-yard capacity. While fishing for peacock bass, there is no need for steel leaders, in fact, they can be a disadvantage since they take some action out of the lure. Note: Always inspect your line after a strike and after fighting a fish.
I hope this information has helped and that you are as excited about this opportunity as I am. For more details on this hosted trip please give me a call Greg Ray 918 407 2586 or email
