EP 336. A Rio Negro Adventure

 

The Bucket List Hunt of a Lifetime

In my recollection, it does not get any wilder than where I’m sitting bobbing on the river right now. 

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to Duck Season Somewhere, where today we are not talking about ducks, we’re talking about my absolute bucket list trip of a lifetime. I dared to take the first vacation I’ve had in 20 years. Almost off the grid in one of the most remote locations on God’s green earth. I am somewhere smack down in the middle of the Amazon jungle, chasing peacock bass. Joining me today to help articulate this experience is my host, Harold Regis. Thanks for a hell of a week, Harold Regis.

Harold Regis: That’s my pleasure.

Ramsey Russell: I don’t even know where to start. I’m going to start with this map on the wall. You all got a map on the wall here in the dining room?

Harold Regis: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: And we’re on a wood. How long is this barge here? Maybe, I don’t know, its 100ft?

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a small barge. You all have moved all week long. We’ll get into that in a minute. But I’m looking at this map and I look at it every time I come in the dining room. It’s a map of this province, which is what?

Harold Regis: Is the Amazon’s estate map.

Ramsey Russell: The Amazon’s, province of Amazon state map. And I got to reading just a minute ago. Let me tell you all how big this area is guys, this is 606.3 million miles squared of, once you get out of Manaus, Manaus is the capital. And I think I saw somewhere, it was a couple of million people living there. But once you get out and we’re out, we’re a 2 hour float plane ride out of Manaus, up the Rio Negro River. Once you get out of the city, for 2 hours you’re just flying over jungle. I’m talking Tarzan swing from a vine jungle out to where we’re presently parked. And you all kind of make us feel at home for such a remote place. How do you do that?

Harold Regis: Well, we try to do the best. It’s a kind of challenge. People don’t realize how is the real deal here, but we are like a big family. And to make this place more comfortable, we’re trying to do the best for customers feel like home, every day we’re just treating customers like real close friends. And when they arrive here, the idea is just making they understand how it’s going to be the game and pretty much they enjoy. It’s a time for them to stay off electronics and it is a time for stay disconnected for the real life and stay focusing and connecting, what this represents, what is where we’re talking about here is the wildlife. We are surrounded by wildlife and when they arrive here, they understand that and they emerge in this kind of game.

Ramsey Russell: In my recollection, it does not get any wilder than where I’m sitting bobbing on the river right now. It can’t possibly get any wilder. And I’ll be honest with you, my biggest hold up on coming on this trip, besides time, a lot of listeners are like, what do you mean, vacation? You’re always on vacation. You travel around duck hunt. No, man, that’s work. That’s what I do for a living. I entertain clients, I sell hunts, I organize trips. I’m always behind looking at import export details, travel. Man, the prospect is we were flying and you’d get smatterings of jungle through this broken cloud canopy. And it occurred to me, man, I’m not going to have a cell phone signal. I’m not going to have nothing. And Brent warned me, he said, oh no, you’re going to be off the grid. And that was a little daunting. And I really did not realize until about 2 or 3 days into it what an absolute relief it’s been. Now, you all do have Wi-Fi?

Harold Regis: Now we got Wi-Fi, yes

Ramsey Russell: I’ve been very careful. I have not and will not check emails until I get home. My wife will not tell me any business going on. She said, no, enjoy your time. Spend time with your son. I brought the Duncanator down here, my youngest son. And I’ve stayed off social media, but I don’t want to go back to that world, man. This is getting back to what it’s supposed to be. And it’s what I’ve really enjoyed. We landed, I think we ate a bite the first day and it was raining. What do you expect of a tropical rainforest, it was raining and we took off with my guide, Glady, short for Gladiator. I never learned his real name.

Harold Regis: It is.

Ramsey Russell: And the first afternoon was really and truly I could have flown home that day. I mean, I think Duncan and I caught 25, 30 fish. And I was done. I caught a 15 pounder and got my hands on a lot of the different peacock bass and wow, monkeys swinging through the trees.

Harold Regis: But don’t forget to tell about the store that you’ve missed something way more bigger than 15lbs.

Ramsey Russell: All right, well, I’ll tell that story and because there’s always the story about the one that got away.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

The One That Got Away

 I say to you, it was over than 15 lbs for sure. And it broke a 65 lbs line very quickly.

Ramsey Russell: And over the course of a week, the river has been rising the entire time we’re here. I mean, it has not been raining hard. It’s rained hard and the river is rising. Duncan and I, we’re from Mississippi. When it rains, rivers rise and when rivers rise, fish don’t bite as well. But we stuck with it. And we had a great guide that knew somehow knew this country like the back of his hand. And we’re not just talking a river channel and a couple of tributaries. We’re talking tributary, after tributary, after tributary. It’s like the Mississippi Delta, but there are no oxbows that I’ve seen. I mean, it’s like what those oxbows were a million years ago. There’s still water running through them. There’s no levees, there’s no nothing, it’s just wild ass river. Each of us caught some 12 to 15 pounders, a lot of 5 pounders, 6 pounders, and a whole lot of what I call tight eyes, a pound too. But, back home when we fish for largemouth bass, I use a bait caster and we use soft plastic baits. And you drag them on the bottom, keep your line tight and you can feel every little nuance of the bottom of whatever structure. You just feel it tap, tap. And it’s like slowly reel in. And when you go to drag it back again, a fish has picked it up. And you watch your line swim and you load it up, put your thumb on the spool, set the hook. You got them. Now you back your thumb off and let the gears in the pole do the work. Peacock bass aren’t largemouth. They don’t respond to the slow motion and the stop. They respond to the jerk.

Harold Regis: And the speed.

Ramsey Russell: They want that speed.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It’s one of those days, we were fishing. I don’t know what, we were fishing a lagoon, that’s the best I can describe it. We’d gone down all kinds of jungle trails to get there and I never will forget there was this massive hardwood tree with the top broken off like you might see in ancient cypress back home. And the top of it were some wild orchids growing. And it was just a break right there where the top of that tree had fallen. Could have been 10 years ago, could have been 100 years ago, I don’t know. But there’s still a little gap about as wide as this table. And I pitched in there, bam, caught a little fish. Pitch in there again, just about to the boat when, it’s like, somebody was trying to jerk me out of a mud hole and that slack called up. It almost jerked my hands out. The first thing I did was put my hand on the spool just like that, wap snap.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And for the first time, Glady, who is stoic and quiet and eagle eye and don’t say much and don’t react. Boy, here he react. No thumb, no thumb, no finger, no finger. And the whole time he’s putting on a new bait. He scolded me like a child. He said, big, big. How big did he tell you that fish might be?

Harold Regis: I say to you, it was over than 15 lbs for sure. And it broke a 65 lbs line very quickly.

Ramsey Russell: Like it all happened in a second and a half.

Harold Regis: Yeah, and that’s it.

Ramsey Russell: I was talking to some of the clients here the other day. We show up and it’s raining, and the river is rising. And what I’ve learned in the week I’ve been here is that the water is getting out of the bank, the quote normal bank and pushing way back up in the trees and that’s where the fish are. I estimated the other day as a forester, there’s probably 1000 to 1200 stems per acre in some of these thickets we’re fishing around. You cannot throw up in there more than about a foot or two without getting snagged. And even then you might get snagged. I would say within a mile of where I’m sitting right now, there is more underwater structure for a fish to hide than there are stars in the sky.

Harold Regis: Yeah, no doubt.

Ramsey Russell: Whether you see it or not, you’re going to get hooked. If you throw 1000 times a day, you’re going to get caught up 250 times.

Harold Regis: Even the guides, every time when we go out for fish a couple of hours, they hang on the trees too. They can hang some stuff too. It’s pretty much common.

Fishing in the Amazon

You said the number of fish you catch is half the responsibility of the guide.

Ramsey Russell: Describe an average day here. Just describe to the listener the average day, I’m on a boat and we’re going to eat breakfast at 06:00 or 06:30. The sun’s rising. Then what?

Harold Regis: Yeah. Normally when the people arrive here, try to explain then how is going to be the week. But for answer most of the questions about how it’s going to be the day and what I have had to do and things like that, the first thing that I tell people, it’s a time for you stay disconnecting from the world. Like we receive a lot of people that just put so much pressure on their shoulders when they arrive here. They’re like greeting for, I want a big fish right now. And the first thing that I’m trying to make and they understand, okay, this week is going to be a very different week for last week. So, every week is a different game. And the second thing that, I can tell them is, well, this is a time for you relax. If you put too much pressure on your shoulder, you’re not going to enjoy the modern nature, you’re not going to enjoy the environmental. So people arrive here with so many high expectations about catching world record fish or big numbers or whatever. And I trying to tell them that, well, first of all, you understand you’re in a remote area. It’s a time for you, thinking about your life, thinking about your business, thinking about your family.

Ramsey Russell: It’s hard to let it go.

Harold Regis: Yeah. And we got people that arrive here say, I brought my son because my son lives far away from me. And I think this is a time for us stay together and reconnect it again because pretty much I hear from the customers, but I totally feel blessed, stay without electronics on the table. Some of them, when they go to restaurants or whatever, they complain a lot about kids and teenagers or friends. Everybody’s just paying more attention for their phones than not pretty much, yeah. This conversation is so

Ramsey Russell: Go to any restaurant in America. Everybody at the table sitting there looking at their phone instead of talking to each other.

Harold Regis: So when they arrive here and they don’t have service during the day when they’re out fishing, it’s a time for them to reconnect again. This is the time for them to understand life is way more than electronics and it’s about the experience, the time that you have with your families and friends. So I tell them that you’re going to make your lunch and you’re going to go out with your guide. Today is the day. Normally, we fish half day when people arrive here. Today is just for you, understand how it’s going to be the game during this week. And tomorrow is your official day. Today, your guide, you’re going to see the way that you cast. You’re going to make some notes and bring them to me. And at night, we’re going to have a brainstorm and see things that we can provide to you guys or thinking about different things that we can help you to cast better or maybe you’re doing this in the wrong way. We want to teach you to do it in the right way. So after this, I can tell them, well, now it’s the official day. One day before they arrive here, it’s your official day. And after that, it’s just a real game.

Ramsey Russell: We pulled up, we were, whatever, getting moved in and you introduced yourself, introduced our staff and you said, the first thing I remember you saying is, but now understand this, we’re sitting in Manaus, waiting to board the floatplane to come out here and we were delayed an hour and a half, because of a very heavy rainstorm.

Harold Regis: Yeah, it was real bad.

Ramsey Russell: Real bad. And the first thing you said was, last week was awesome. The week before was incredible. This week is going to be very difficult because the river is rising.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: So I expected – rivers rise, that’s what they do. And I expected it. And the other thing you said was and I found this very genuine. You said the number of fish you catch is half the responsibility of the guide.

Harold Regis: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: And half the responsibility of the fisherman.

Harold Regis: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: What does that mean?

Harold Regis: Sometimes people complain. It’s not only about the rivers, they complain about the guide service. So, it’s kind of complicated from make they understand the guiders is not allowed to set the hook for them unless they pass the rod and let the guides fish. But the idea is to make them fish. So change your all limit. Make you feel more comfortable with the environment and the game. So 50% is because they’re going to bring you to some spots, when they realize they got some fish, it’s hard for us to say, wow, bring me to one spot. When are we going to catch 5, 10 and 20-plus? I say, no, it’s impossible. We go for some spots when the guides know exactly. It’s Eric that produced, like, 100 fish. And maybe in between those 100 fish, they got something big. But if the customer is not able to cast over there, so the guide cannot do anything about it. So we’re trying to make this a perfect match. That’s why the first day, it’s a day for them to understand how it’s going to be the game. And then the second day is the official day because they have a food day on the water.

Ramsey Russell: My guide, our guide, Glady. You’re right. He knew, how I threw from the middle of the boat. He knew, how Duncan threw from the front of the boat. He knew what our skill sets were. And with that trolling motor in the back, he would position that boat to where there were tags. Understand guys, you stop, there are 50 different little nooks and crannies. You can throw somewhere you may not even be able to see. And he would sometimes say he would point right to a place.

Harold Regis: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: That didn’t look any different anywhere else, but he’d point to it. And bet your ass that’s where I threw. And I don’t know, its like he was superman. Could see under the water sometimes, but I noticed by day 2 or 3, just the way he would drift up and position that boat. I knew without him pointing exactly where he wanted me to throw and I knew, I better keep throwing. When he put that thing in reverse to hold it against the current, he wanted me to hit that place till he was confident that the fish was not going to bite. And I know fish were looking at it, but they don’t always bite. A lot of times they would follow us up to the boat.

Harold Regis: It’s not only about this. It’s very complicated, too, because if the water is too shallow, the peacock bass can see you. So he’s going to put the boat in a different position a little farther. But some people are not able to cast 50 yards, 100 yards. So he has to make the perfect balance and have the dolphins and the dolphins is scaring the fish. So it’s a kind of mix. So the guy who’s going to try to put the boat in the right position for you, be able to cast in a position for you, not scaring that the peacock bass and stay away from dolphins. So it’s a different game. Like I say, this is a different way to fish.

Ramsey Russell: Speaking of dolphins, I grew up in 70’s and 80’s when Flipper on TV, this cute little gray porpoise that would paddle on his back, make these noises, and you swam with him. Damn a dolphin, right now, that’s all I can say. They can hear that trolling motor a mile off and they just pack around you. I had about a 2 pounder on the hook yesterday and all of a sudden, I had, however big a dolphin is, running, spooling me out because it was a fight tug of war over who got to get. And there were several times that, right when I lifted that, because you reeled those small ones in, as quick as the minute you lifted up, boom. He’d jump out of the water trying to get your fish.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: That’s the way he would. Damn a dolphin. These aren’t pretty dolphins. They’re pink or they look pink. They look like maybe spoon at the bottom of the black – 

Harold Regis: They got pink one and the small one, that’s like a gray one. But both are very smart.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, they’re very intelligent. They are fish eaters Buddy.

Harold Regis: One thing that, I learned from the owners this company, Paul Reese, he’s a PhD in peacock bass and brand too. Both of them teach me a lot of things. So, the thing that I learned from them is every cast. If you catch a fish, if you had a place like you’ve got, I don’t know, maybe 5 or 4, 3 or 2 dolphins, you should release the fish nearby the bank or the bush or nearby, when one place for making them do not be able to go and catch them. If you release, after you catch something, if you just put the fish on water, you’re going to see a splash under you or something coming nearby you, it’s a dolphin.

Ramsey Russell: Every fish we caught, because it’s all catch and release. He would make sure it was in the brush, when he let it go.

Harold Regis: Yeah

Ramsey Russell: but if not, the first day, Dunk was like, no, I’ll let mine go. He must have fed the dolphins at least –.

Harold Regis: Probably, that’s why you got so many dolphins falling your boat.

All About Peacock Bass

Yeah, I think the world contains around 26 or 27, 26 different species.

Ramsey Russell: They hear Duncan’s voice, and here they come. I want to talk a little bit about these peacock bass.

Harold Regis: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: What, there’s more than one species?

Harold Regis: Yeah, I think the world contains around 26 or 27, 26 different species.

Ramsey Russell: We caught one that everybody described as a butterfly. I never caught a big butterfly, but they were bright, ornate, yellow, red, and they had black spots down the side. And then we caught another one that had like tiger stripes. And then we caught another one. I thought the first day, till I paid attention, it was a dark gray, little bit of red, maroon and you can see real lines of spots like trout spots. Well, then I noticed that the color ones were the same but they were like a different color morph, what’s up with the color of these?

Harold Regis: Yeah, normally, Paul Rees, owner of Acute Angling, makes seminars to provide those information’s for customers and explain exactly each one of them. But we pretty much explain here, the most common fish that we got a small brochure for people that interested and see different things. We explained them, the difference between the peacock bass and the pacu and the butterfly and asu form. So right now, it’s a time for them to spawn or supposed to be spawned. I mean, the water is too high. When we got two seasons here, we have the float season when the water is pretty much high, the forest is on the water, and the dry season, the dry season is a time for them pretty much reproduce. This is a time for them got their families and babies. So when they got high water or the float season, the peacock become a pacu form. The brown one with white dots is a way to protect themselves. They use it as camouflage, stay away from the other predators, especially dolphins. But when they’re ready to spawn, they change the pacu form for asu form and they become a little more bright and beautiful. They’re the same fish, but when they’re ready to spawn, they become an asu form. When not ready to spawn, they are pacu form. So in between them, they have the other pacu form. It’s almost like Nassau, but he’s not. He’s teal with some white dots, but you can see he’s a little more bright with the real dark stripes plus the white dots. They’re almost ready to spawn. But when they are in a full version of asu form, they’re ready to spawn. And we got small ones too, the papulcas, they’re pretty much small with their orange belly.

Ramsey Russell: What are some of the other fish we’ll catch? What are some of the other – we caught several different kinds of fish.

Harold Regis: We can catch trairas, people confuse trairas with wolffish.

Ramsey Russell: Wolffish.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: We caught a traira yesterday, I think.

Harold Regis: Yeah, you caught a triara, your guide told me what it was.

Ramsey Russell: Had a red spot behind it.

Harold Regis: We tried to tell them that, okay, we got a place for you catch wolffish, here you’re going to catch triaras. Triaras are small, very delicious, by the way, but contains – Yeah, it’s a lot of bones inside and I personally don’t eat that much unless someone prepared for me because that has too many bones. You can catch jacundas. The pink one that you saw, I think a couple of guys caught a couple of jacundas. And they got a superstition about this, I don’t know if you?

Ramsey Russell: No, tell me.

Harold Regis: Well, the people say, if you caught a jacunda fish, it’s bad luck. The guys true believe –

Ramsey Russell: I don’t think I caught.

Harold Regis: So the guys truly believe, if you caught a jacunda or in Portuguese jacundaa, it’s bad luck. So that’s why they’re trying to avoid touching those fish. They give them to the customers, they just want to release, let’s say stay away from jacundas because it’s bad luck.

Ramsey Russell: I travel with my own bad luck. Really and truly, it’s like we were talking at dinner the other night, somebody’s like, golly, you book this trip a year and half, how do you have no idea to know that the river is going to be high and flood, I said, I knew. They go how? Could I showed up, I just knew, it’s never going to be magical. I have to make my own luck, which brings me up to a good point about that pity rule. It’s almost defeating because you told me the first day, you said average 100 cast a day, 1000 cast a day man is going to make. And let me tell you how that is. You don’t just throw it and reel on the bottom like a plastic bait. This is a big streaming looking jig that’s going to get tangled on anything it hits and you throw and then you reeling and you snapping it. It’s keeping your rod tip to the water, you’re snapping it. Snap, snap. Well, one day, just because I counted how many snapped to the boat, 30. That means 30,000 snaps. Let me tell you what, my shoulder and my wrist begin to feel it, and my fingers begin to feel it. Everybody here said, man, my hand’s tired, my fingers are tired. That’s what that ibuprofen on the counter for.

Harold Regis: Yes.

Catching the Cat Daddy of Peacock Bass

The more you throw, the more you going to catch. And that next catch could be the big one.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Mine for sure. But the way I looked at it, okay, it’s tough fish and the water is high. I caught a 15 pounder, I caught some 12 pounders, I caught some 8 pounders. I broke off the cat Daddy. And the way I look at it, yeah, most of the cast are not going to land a strike, but every single cast I throw is one cast closer to the next fish. And that’s how you make your own luck. When the going gets tough, tough get throwing, baby throwing. And I’ll tell you something else about my guide, just so you know, I keep talking about getting tangled up. Son, you’re going to snag stuff you don’t even see. And the worst part is when you see that spot, you see that fish kind of bowl and you see that water move and you make the most perfect cast you’ve ever made in your life. And on the first twitch, you hung up.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Now you don’t screw up the whole damn area.

Harold Regis: Yeah, I have to move.

Ramsey Russell: The other day, of all the millions of sunken logs, somehow the other day, I just blindly cast towards a sunken log and caught a fish. Duncan threw behind me. Caught a fish, caught a fish. It’s like every second or third cast we’re hauling them in until he got stuck and then I got stuck. And then by the time the boat went over to get us unhooked, they shut off. Brings up a good point. A lot of the fish we caught were small, 2, 3lbs. And Glady kept pointing. He looked like a gladiator he was steering. He wanted me to throw that same place. And I asked him, I said, do you think there’s a big one? And he nodded his head with all the certainty in the world that a big fish was there. Why didn’t that big fish bite?

Harold Regis: Because he’s very old and he’s not that fast. Okay. A small peacock bass can run 25 miles on the water for catching your bait.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Harold Regis: So the reason for you not catching the big ones first is because the small ones we’re going to catch because they’re way more fast.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Harold Regis: So when your guides say keep in casting, it’s a reason for – Because they want you to catch the big ones, but you have to make it the babies get tired of the same bait and let them catch.

Ramsey Russell: You got to give all them little ones a sore mouth, get the hell out of the way. So the big ones will bite. It’s a game of attrition, it’s like statistical. The more you throw, the more you going to catch. And that next catch could be the big one.

Harold Regis: And another thing like, talking about the big fish that you miss.

Ramsey Russell: Let’s not, keep talking about that why don’t you?

Harold Regis: So it’s all about chance, okay. When I tell people when they arrive here, the key is to save energy. So you fish like 06:00 or 07:00 to 11:00, have your lunch, lay down or just spend like an hour, an hour and 30 minutes. We provide some hammocks for you, tie under the trees and you relax. Then you go back fish 01:30 to 04:45. Because this, it’s a secret, like you’ve spent too much energy in a couple of first days. If you got something real big, your mind, we’re going to tell you to cast, but your body not going to be able to do it because it’s so tired, you’re going to casting. So when I tell people you stay focused on water, when your guide tells you a big fish, you’re not going to be able to speak with human English, but they understand keywords that make you feel more comfortable. Sometimes, when they say big fish and point to the right, to the left, it’s because they’re seeing something that most of the customers or anglers cannot see, but they can see. So when they tell him, cast, this is a time for you to pay attention and cast. But if your body, even if you’re minor, so exhausted, you’re not going to be able. And even if you hang or if you set the hook, if you don’t control your emotions, because a small peacock feels like, I got a 10lbs bass. It’s a small peacock.

Ramsey Russell: They hit like a bolt of light.

Starting with Small Fish: Building Up to Bigger Catches.

So the first reaction after they set the hook is trying to make the line, get out of their mouths. They’re going to run to the bush.

Harold Regis: Yeah. So the first reaction after they set the hook is trying to make the line, get out of their mouths. They’re going to run to the bush. They’re going to try to cut the line. So if you do not pay attention or if you just touch the line, you can break and they’re going to disappear. And the guides, the thing is, they’re pretty much not competitive, but they want to see the reaction from customers. It’s a pleasure for them to see all of them with big trophies. So like, I was explaining how it’s going to be the numbers in the different levels. So for you to catch something over 10lbs, it’s not that easy, but it’s not that hard. But you have to start with the small one first. So when you get there and you miss something big, it’s making them feel not upset, but kind of sad, like, oh, my gosh. This was a chance for him to see how big they are, how beautiful they are, because they know most of the people, when they get back home, they just make rep calls of like, I got a big peacock bass. I needed to see every day bass in my wall. People just have different kinds of stuff like that, so they know that and their name is going to be there, too. Because some customers, I’ve been to Amazon, and I’m fishing with Glotty, I’m fishing with Benny, with Sappo, Jonathan. And this is the real deal for them. They want to see customers happy. If the customers are happy, it had a chance for them to come back.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right. He talked me into coming back. And really and truly, I had looked at this like a one and done, and it may be a while before I’m able to look back. But the other day, Brent had sent me down here with some small little zara spool. He said, whoever you fish with give them to him. And I gave them to him and they’re still sitting on the boat. So the other day I asked him, I said, why didn’t you tie these on? And I said, are they good? He goes, they’re great when the water is lower, but right now the water is too spread out, they’re no good. And he said, the water needs to be more into the banks. And then that’s a great and just having talked to him for about 30 minutes, about started with that bait, talked about the water, talked about everything else. I want a chance coming back down here, that I’m going to hit it just right. Right now my arms are tired from throwing. And you were right about, one thing I thought about the last couple of days was how, I now have a profound respect for truly professional bass fishermen. They go out for a tournament, the weather, whatever. But I found myself as a recreational fisherman, not even a serious recreational fisherman. It takes an enormous amount of physical energy because I stand, I don’t sit. When I throw, I stand. And a lot of mental focus on making that bait. Right there, right there. And don’t forget the heat and the heat. But let me tell you what, when those clouds thin out, we’ll see this weather in January, for me, somebody asked the other day in Boston, Wyoming, asked me what the weather was like, and I said, I like Mississippi. This is like Mississippi in the summertime. And when that sun comes out, baby, it beats down on you. And I would find myself, I’m going to guess around cast number 900 to 950. I was too tired to have that mental acuity to consistently make those casts where they needed to be. My hung up in the tree ratio increased. And that’s when I said, back to the house and we’d crank up. Here we come. That’s why we were coming in about 03:00 because at 03:00 I was just flapping water out there. My chance of catching a fish had gone way down by 03:00, I was just tired from throwing and thinking about that throw every time. One of the biggest surprises on this trip was how good the fish were to eat. They were good. What was the first fish you all served for dinner? You all cooked it over hot coals upstairs.

Harold Regis: We served you on the first day at tambaqui fish.

Ramsey Russell: What kind?

Harold Regis: Tambaqui. We call tambaqui. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Does it grow here?

Harold Regis: Yeah, we got it here in the Rio Negro, too. But we bought from a fish market down in Manaus. They had a place for. We got a place for your catch those, too.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Harold Regis: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: The food has been very good. There’s always been fish on the menu. It’s a buffet style. There’s beef, pork, chicken, vegetables. Very authentic Brazilian, I think. Always fried plantains. I love the little, you all called it tapioca roll-ups.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: That was very good. But yesterday we grilled out on a sandbar for lunch and we ate peacock bass. And then Glady took Duncan and me out, and we tightlined for piranha. I could not believe how piranha is really a bluegill with teeth. The flesh is very similar to bluegill. And the peacock bass is very similar to largemouth bass. And it was absolutely delicious.

Harold Regis: Yeah, we got a lot of folklores around piranhas. I mean, we got people when arriving here asking about piranhas, if they’re safe for swimming and things like that, because they’re watching too many Hollywood movies.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah. I’m not getting in the water. I can tell you that.

Piranhas in the Amazon

It’s a very good eating fish. 

Harold Regis: Piranhas is going to jump out of the water and eat me. So the first thing that I listen especially for men’s, like my wife say, okay, you go to the Amazon, but make sure you’re going to stay alive and stay away from the river, stay away from the piranhas. And I kindly tell them, well, you should not be afraid of our piranhas because it’s not like in movies. In the movies, they’re pretending, Piranhas are so graphic. It is, if you’re bleed on water for hours. Or if you’re cleaning fresh meat on the water, at one point, you’re going to smell and come and attracting this fish. But people spread so much folklore about it. That’s why we don’t have a lot of women. They’re so afraid of piranhas and the caimans and snakes. But piranha, it’s a real good fish.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a very good eating fish. But I can tell you what I’m not going to do in piranha waters is go skinny dipping. I ain’t got nothing to spare. It ain’t going to happen. But I tell you really and truly now, it ain’t the piranhas. There’s a tremendous amount of caiman around here, and they get a lot bigger than I thought they got. I mean, we saw some 9 or 10 footers out there, some big ones. Shoot, I say the man, that could have been 10 or 11 foot at times. What other wildlife is out here?

Harold Regis: We got some birds, different birds –

Ramsey Russell: Lot of bird life.

Harold Regis: Yeah. So you can see a lot of Macaws flying around.

Ramsey Russell: Saw wild calls

Harold Regis: We got wild pigs, pumas, sloths, all the-

Ramsey Russell: Jaguars.

Harold Regis: Jaguars too. Yeah, but it is a huge land, people expect to see it and come. They’re going to stay away from us. Every time when they’re here, the human presence, they’re just going to disappear. They’re going to find a way to protect themselves. They’re not going to be friendly. This is not like a private zoo when the people can go in different corners, but it’s all about environmental. We got another place, a lodge, where you can see twice more wildlife.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Harold Regis: Yeah, you’re going to see twice more birds, animals, caimans, but it’s specific for catfish, all the kind of catfish that you can imagine, jundia jawu, piraiba, redtail, sodabane, all of this.

Species of Ducks in the Amazon

One of the most prolific tame ducks back home. But right here in the Amazon basin is where it originated, where it genetically originates and spreads out throughout Latin America. 

Ramsey Russell: We were, we had planned on going catfish, and Duncan and I had to go tight line for catfish, but the time to catch catfish is on a steady fall, and the river’s been rising the whole time we’re here, so what’s the point. But we enjoyed catching the piranha, which just shocked me, to go out and we cut up a fish, threw it out there and we saw Macaws, we saw another parrot, no idea what it was. The name of this podcast is Duck Season Somewhere there’s a species of duck, I saw a lot of down here, the wild muscovy called pato real and for those of you all who don’t know what it is, it’s that black and white duck with all the waddles that you see in zoos. One of the most prolific tame ducks back home. But right here in the Amazon basin is where it originated, where it genetically originates and spreads out throughout Latin America. And we saw a bunch of them and I’m glad he noted my interest in it, but we saw quite a few of them.

Harold Regis: I saw 2 this morning.

Ramsey Russell: Well, that’s a species of duck I haven’t seen. I asked you the other day, I said, I just kind of half-kiddingly told you. I said, are we going to see any big snakes like the anacondas? What I was thinking, because Duncan and I guarantee if we saw about a 10 footer we were going to catch one. We don’t hash plan. One of them grabs the tail, one of them grabs ahead. To which you replied, there’s two things I don’t really like on my boat and that’s a drunk and a guy that goes looking for trouble like that.

Harold Regis: Do you know why? I’m kind of afraid of drunk people. So one day not going to say name or whatever. So this guy, a real nice guy, but he was drunk and he decided to cross one side to the other side naked.

Ramsey Russell: The boat?

Harold Regis: Yeah. He just left the boat, taking his clothes off and tried to.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Harold Regis: So he just crossed one side to the other side, touching the ground and say, hey, I made it. And then he came back. I was so afraid, I took him on the boat right away. It was nearby him. Just to guarantee nothing is going to happen.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Harold Regis: So that’s why I’m saying, when people are drinking too much, they can do some.

Ramsey Russell: Hold my beer. Watch this. Yeah.

Harold Regis: Crazy stuffs .

Ramsey Russell: Tell me about these frogs you were telling me about.

Harold Regis: Yeah, we got some colorful frogs, but unless –

Ramsey Russell: Blue, red.

Harold Regis: Blue, purple, yellows. But they’re poison frogs. For see one those who have to go and make an expedition, go into the real jungle, like spend a couple of days or hours, I don’t know. But it’s a very different game. So we try to tell people about it because we never know if they stop by in one place and a colorful frog jumps on a boat. Hey, let me take a picture and touch. Yeah, this can kill them.

Ramsey Russell: You said don’t even touch it.

Harold Regis: Yeah

Ramsey Russell: Because that poison will get into your bloodstream.

Harold Regis: Yeah. You’re not going to be able to have any rescue on time. We are far away from civilization. In the case of an emergency, we have a system for saving us a helicopter. We’re going to fly here. But you need time, at least an hour. Waiting for them to come. Depends on wherever you are fishing.

Ramsey Russell: Are those the frogs that they put the blowgun darts into, that they touch them to shoot animals?

Harold Regis: Yeah, some of them shoot animals. It’s an indigenous thing. They do things like that.

Ramsey Russell: Back to this map right here. There’s a lot of 606.3 million miles squared and there’s a lot of indigenous communities that are far removed from civilization. There’s a lot of national forest or national wildlife areas. There’s no humanity whatsoever other than a native village. Describe some of these native villages. We didn’t see any, but when I look on a map right here and I see Miller, absolute positive. Nowhere, a little dot that says native American community. I’m thinking those people have very little interaction with the outside world.

Harold Regis: No, they do. Unfortunately, like I said, leotronix is a big deal. Some of them got satellite TV, some of them got –

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Harold Regis: Yeah. Some of them got cell phones too.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Harold Regis: Yeah. Not because they got service, because they want to listen to music. So they buy a phone and once in a while when they have to go to the city and buy grocery stuff they just use the phone.

Ramsey Russell: Do you think it’s possible there are any indigenous communities that have not yet had contact?

Harold Regis: I true believe this is true, yeah. We don’t know where, but I true believe with still some people that stay in touch with civilization.

Ramsey Russell: I know during COVID Brazil was shut down for a while during the pandemic. Was there a fear of coming out here? Somebody might infect some of the locals with an unknown?

Acute Angling’s Commitment: Beyond Profit, Caring for Environment and People

But acute angling cares about environmental, cares about the people that lives in a village. And I feel blessed. That’s why everybody here is kind of 100% commitment with their jobs.

Harold Regis: Yeah, it was the Brazilian government’s deal and we respected that. We stay a week, a week a year at home. But like I said, we got a lot of people that depend on this business. We got some village that normally the companies support, not only money, donations, gasoline, diesel and they made handcrafted and sells. So it’s a lot of people that depends, because we pay the tax for, each customer pay a tax for and the money goes for those villages. And they kind of needed this. So acute angling didn’t stop to help them. We sent donations, we sent food, we sent moneys and times we did everything that. I mean, Paul and Gary and everybody did the best for providing at least something for a year. And you’re not going to see a lot of feeders doing this because people are pretty much looking only for providing some money, make some money. But acute angling cares about environmental, cares about the people that lives in a village. And I feel blessed. That’s why everybody here is kind of 100% commitment with their jobs. They’re going to try to do the best for the company because the companies take care of us and take care of the families and everybody’s around.

Ramsey Russell: What about some of the locals we encountered, like back home? We call them river rats. And that’s not a bad word, That’s a good word. It’s people that, even in Mississippi that live off on the rivers and little boats. And every day we’ve just gone everywhere. There’s no town, there’s no Duncan made the observation of the day. We haven’t heard a single airplane flying over. There’s no faraway city lights, just us. When that generator is not running, that keeps this place air-conditioned and powered. There’s nothing. Nothing but the wind, nothing but the monkeys, nothing but the macaws. Surprisingly, there are no mosquitoes. Very few mosquitoes.

Harold Regis: They can grow here.

Ramsey Russell: There’s ants, there’s bugs, but the water is too tannic to support.

Harold Regis: If you’re taking a glass, if you will, look into the water, you’re going to look like a cup of tea or like a real black tea.

Ramsey Russell: Like a black coffee or something. Yeah, exactly what it looks like. But we’ll be just out in BFE and pass by a fisherman or a local guy or not a bad fisherman, just a local or little houseboats. Do they live out here full time? Are they going to communities to sell? What are they doing?

Harold Regis: Some of them, they fish for aquarium tropical fish.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And sell it to the market.

Harold Regis: Sell them to Manaus and in Manaus they got different companies that sends those tropical fish to the United States, Europe. And they pretty much spend a year, going to the jungle, sleeping in jungle, sleeping in hammocks, using the boat for collecting the tropical fish and bringing them back to Brussels, and sell to Manaus and things like that all the time. They’re happy, people think they’re miserable, they’re just unhappy, poor of them. They’re pretty much happy living like that.

Ramsey Russell: I got glad, we pulled up in a place the other day, and I saw a man in a boat, I would describe as a P row, and he was doing something under some trees and, I asked Glady, what he was doing? He said, turtle. I said, can we go over and meet with him? And he had one turtle in his bag so far, and a big old flat-looking fish like a stingray. Is that what it has been?

Harold Regis: Yes, it can be.

Ramsey Russell: And Gladys said, he was going to chop him up for turtle bait and apparently had a net. But it was like, the turtle wasn’t a snapper. It wasn’t a soft shell. It was just a green, what I call a red-eared slider. It was just a turtle like you see on a log, basking in the sun in Mississippi. And they eat those turtles?

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Have you eaten them?

Harold Regis: I ate once and twice. Twice, I think it’s kind of a big deal if you go and see them and if they offer you and you refuse.

Ramsey Russell: You can’t be rude.

Harold Regis: Yeah. They’re going to look at you and say, why are you not accepting my food? Do you think you’re better than me?

Ramsey Russell: He’s just being hospitable.

Harold Regis: So then they can be rude and rough. That’s why I kind of accept a couple of times.

Ramsey Russell: One of my favorite recipes, I’m going to end on this note, is the first night we’re here, I’d come in from fishing. I’d take a shower. I’d get me two ibuprofen. I’d go upstairs, watch the sunset, and drink some of these cocktails you all make down here. What is that?

Harold Regis: It’s a Brazilian cocktail, what we call Caipirinha. But we baptize this jungle juice because, we’re in the jungle. We baptize it jungle juice.

Ramsey Russell: It tastes a lot like margaritas, but not tequila. It’s something one of your native.

Harold Regis: It’s made by cachaca. Cachaca, it’s made by sugarcane.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a Brazilian liquor, but it doesn’t taste like rum.

Harold Regis: No. The process is kind of different, but it’s made by sugarcane.

Ramsey Russell: How do you make that drink?

Harold Regis: It’s pretty much simple. You take the liquor, what we call Cachaca. One or two, I don’t know, shots, small shots. But it depends on how much you want to be happy or faster or slow. So we add a little cachaca. Then we cut a lime, we mash, add two spoons of sugar, mix it with ice, and that’s it.

Ramsey Russell: All right. I’m going to take my metal mixing cup. I’m going to put three or four limes.

Harold Regis: Maybe one is enough.

Ramsey Russell: Well, quarters. That’s right. One lime, quartered up.

Harold Regis: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: Tablespoon or two of sugar. And then I’m going to muddle it down.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And

Harold Regis: Add the liquor.

Ramsey Russell: I didn’t know, you all had shot glasses and a measure. I just added liquor.

Harold Regis: That’s why I was telling you, about how much you want to be happy.

Ramsey Russell: I did about a 20 count.

Harold Regis: Or how fast you want to be happy.

Ramsey Russell: And then put a couple of ice cubes, shook it up, poured it in a glass and it filled up that highball glass. Perfectly even.

Harold Regis: Yeah, that’s it. Simple.

Ramsey Russell: No club soda, no nothing.

Harold Regis: Sometimes I make it with orange juice too. I mix both of the limes and orange juice. So, I call Jungle juice 2.0.

Ramsey Russell: And what’s the Brazilian name for jungle juice?

Harold Regis: Caipirinha.

Ramsey Russell: Caipirinha.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I’m going to take that recipe home because, I really enjoyed it.

Harold Regis: I got another bottle for you, that I separate.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, good. Thank you very much. And I’m going to hide it from Duncan. I know, how that kid is. Araldo, I’ve had a absolute wonderful time. I love to duck hunt. I mean, I really obviously love to duck hunt. 20 years in the business, my clients, I deal with a lot of clients, like your guest, like I am for you this week, that are taking a bucket list hunt or doing something. And this has been a real bucket list adventure beyond the fish. We caught the fish, but my son and I, who I hadn’t seen in years, got to sit in a boat with a highly skilled, knowledgeable guide in a part of the world I’ve always dreamed of going to. I’ve heard descriptions of the Mississippi Delta. Probably looked like this a thousand years ago and it meant a lot. I mean, it was amazing. Everything was new. The trees, the water, the fish, the birds, everything was new. And I just had the absolute bucket list adventure of a lifetime. I could not have been happier. Like I said, man, I got home the first afternoon out, shook hands, said, I’m ready to go home. I mean, it was that good. It was just okay. This was what it’s about. And then I just kind of settled into it, and we had a great time and it had a lot to do. I know this to be a fact. No matter how good you are, you’re not God. You can’t control the river, you can’t control the tide. You can’t control the weather. But when the going gets tough and I saw this in Glady, it’s like the harder the fishing is, great guides work harder. They don’t coast, they work harder. And that man dug deep. We hit a lot of different patterns looking for those fish, and he never quit. And I tell you something else he didn’t do. Let’s say Duncan tangled up 200 times, and I tangled up 200 times. He never raised the eyebrow to get untangled. And I don’t believe there’s anybody on earth that can untangle a jig from a limb any better than that man can.

Harold Regis: They can take it out of the water or out of the water and the trees very quickly.

Ramsey Russell: Very quickly.

Harold Regis: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And my point being, this remote, this kind of experience, I know it doesn’t just happen by accident.

Harold Regis: No.

Ramsey Russell: A lot of work. How big is your staff here? I know you got 4 or 5 fishing guides.

Harold Regis: I can tell it’s more than 100 people in Brazil.

Ramsey Russell: How many on the boat?

Harold Regis: Here on the boat?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Harold Regis: We got 4 guides. We got 2 cooks and a guy that taking cares of you all, serving the drinks. And another guy that cleans, around 10 people.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, that was very impressive is how spotless. It’s like, he power washed that boat every morning. He show up and looks like brand new, the equipment brand new. I know for a fact, he restrung our rod whether it needed or not.

Harold Regis: This is a rock band. We have the real deal is the guides on the water.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Harold Regis: So they’re real lead singers.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah

Harold Regis: But behind the scenes, we got the people that are working for them. So we are working behind the scenes. The guys, they’re the rock stars. They’re in the water with you all. But we have to work behind the scenes to guarantee when you get back, they stage and everything is going to be okay. So this is like a rock band. Every day is a different concert. No, stop. Sunday to Sunday. Every day we wake up and do the same thing. Every day, it’s like, I wake up and say, oh, what are we going to do today? Well, maybe we’re going to do this, maybe we’re going to do that. But we never stop. So this is like a rock band. We never stop.

Ramsey Russell: Never stop, the music keep going.

Harold Regis: Yeah. People are looking for fun. So when they goes to some concert, they’re not going to think about if the singer is kind of tired, if the guitar player is tired, the drummers are pretty much tired. They just want to see the concert.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Harold Regis: So when they arrive here, they’re expecting to do the same thing. Like, I’m just arriving here, I want to fish.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, that’s what I came here for. And I got my money’s worth. Folks, thank you all for listening to this episode of Duck Season Somewhere, the most remote location it’s ever been recorded. Whatever your bucket list in life is, go do it. Maybe it’s duck hunting, call me. Maybe it’s something else, go do it. See you all next time.