Geoffrey Zann and his 23 Pound Peacock Bass
The 2nd week into the season and the fishing only gets better. A picture is worth a 1000 words but it still can’t say it all. This week the water is still dropping as if it knew to keep that steady drop to produce great fishing conditions. The group once again had a great trip with lots of fish and lots of monster fish including numbers; everyone landed their peacock from the mid teens with some going over the 20lbs mark.
The count for the week was 2746 peacock bass total with 176 being 10 lbs. or better and 12 of those being 20 lbs. or better.
Richard came down with his son Cody and after trying to break his own high teen Richard ended up with a whopping 22-pounder and Cody landed two 15-pounders. Jeff and his brother Bill went head to head on size, Jeff landed an 18lbs and Bill landed a 17lbs.
This week we had lots of couple and ladies here in the battle for big fish. Bob and Liz once again come down for their long awaited vacation going after Grande peacocks, Bob landed a 16-pounder and Liz landed a huge 19-pounder. Kenny and Judy had a first hand experience here in the Amazon, Kenny landed a 17-pounder and Judy landed two 15-pounders. Sandra and Mike also had a great time with Sandra landing a 14-pounder and with a 15-pounder. Marsha came with her friend Irma and these two were fisherwomen also, Irma was on the hot streak of the gate landing a monster 22-pounder and Marsha soon caught up with her 20-pounder. Now comes for the heavy hitters being Patti and C.L, with Patti landing two 22-pounders and C.L landing a 23-pounder on their last day. Boy oh boy the women really turned on the fishing on the guys with a 2 to 1 ratio for the women. Great job girls, they really chopped, chopped, chopped.
Now for the single fisherman who fished hard all week for those monsters. Starting with Craig who landed a nice 19-pounder and his partner David with a 16-pounder. Geoffrey landed a monster at 23-pounds and his partner Brandon also landed a 23-pounder. By the way Brandon’s birthday was this week and we had a big surprise for him at the village who sang a special happy birthday for him in Portuguese.
The next group of friends had their hands full with all these nice fish not to mention the blisters some got from chopping all day, but it all paid of in the long run for them just like it did for everyone else with those wonderful memories of the explosions of the Peacock Bass. Clifford landed two 19-pounders, Irvin landed a nice 17-pounder, and Mike landed a 15-pounder while his brother Steve landed two 16-pounders. Phil landed two 17-pounders and Buzz tied the pack with a nice 19-pounder not to mention all the others in the high teens.
We want to thank Patti and her group of girls who brought down so much stuff for the villagers that it landed on a special day here in Brazil. They brought down sandals, clothes, shoes, school material and much more. This week Brazil celebrated Children’s Day and the villagers had a big surprise when they saw the 8 monster duffle bags for them. Patti didn’t know about the holiday and the villagers didn’t know they were going to receive such a surprise for the children. The villagers always come to the lodge and ask for help when they have a holiday or special activities and they did, but the real surprise came when we found out that they didn’t have anything for their festivities and especially for the kids. As some of the villagers said, they didn’t have anything for the children and didn’t know how it would be this year for their families. Not only did the girls bring surprise gifts but the rest of the group pitched in to buy food, drink, fuel and other needed materials for the villagers. The village of Cumaru (a village down river from the Lodge) was this year’s location for the festivities and they invited the surrounding villages to come. Well to make a long story short, all the children got gifts and even the adults got gifts, there was over 300 people in the village and everyone got that special gift.
From Presidents of Cumaru (Raimundo), Sao Luis (Magro) and Nova Esperanca (Cavalcante)
“First we want to thank God then we want to thank Phil and Ruth Marsteller and all the work and support they have given us and our villages over the years. If it wasn’t for the Rio Negro Lodge and the Rio Negro Foundation, and especially all the anglers that come down year after year to fish for the Peacock Bass who give support to the villagers by providing jobs and a better way of life how would our villages be today. We want to thank all of you who came down and made this day (12th of October) a special day for us, especially for our Children.”
My staff and I would like to thank you for coming and fishing with us for the peacock bass and we wish you a safe trip home.
God is great and so was the fishing.
By Marc Cobos
Rio Negro Lodge
