Tucanare, The Peacock Bass by Pete Gregory

(Autumn 2001 Edition)

 

  Tucunare, or to you and me the peacock bass is just one of 150 cichlids described from the Amazon region and is the largest tropical cichlid of this important family.  Many of the cichlid species are commercially important either as food, sport fish or for the aquarium fish trade.  From an angling point of view the tucunare is most sought after because of its size and fighting capabilities; it also tastes delicious and is regarded as the "cordon bleu" in local village restaurants. 

My first encounter with these handsome fish was on my first fishing safari in 1999, having left the Amazon itself and cruising ever deeper into the backwaters among forest and stunning scenery many different species graced our canoes.  All were caught on lures of one description or another, and of all the weird and wonderful fish that were hooked the peacock bass the most spectacular.  Looking similar to our own perch from a distance but with its body colours varying from chestnut browns to olive green, and some almost black, with a spined dorsal fin and black stripes.  However, its sheer size and the unmistakable eye on its dorsal fin are where any resemblance ends. 

Size for size it has the fighting ability of a Nile perch, with deep long runs then with no warning surfacing at incredible speed and leaping clear of the water before returning to the depths for a repeat performance.  My Thunderstick rod, fixed spool reel and 30lb braid were tested to the absolute limit.  The two most successful lures on this occasion were Rattl'n Rapalas (all colours) and Luhr Jensen Sugar Shads (all colours).  All the takes were hard, thumping hits with the rod tip lurching round - instant, unmistakable and rarely missed - these fish are suicidal when hungry.    

My second 'go-it-alone' trip to the Amazon was primarily in search of catfish, although I took a number of lures and spent a total of three days over a six week period messing about with a variety of species, lure fishing in various backwater spots just off the main Amazon river itself.  Many different species were caught including smaller Cichlid species. 

One of these days was a little special.  We had been fishing this particular lake since first light and had caught a lot of fish including: red bellied piranha, traira, agulhao, arowhana and cara-ach - all good sport on light tackle.  My Brazilian guide, Josimar Bezerra decided by mid-morning that it was time for lunch, so with the launch at full throttle we went in search of something to eat, it was as if Josimar knew exactly where he was going, and in a hurry. 

Josimar is a bit of a ladies' man whose character closely resembles that of 'Will Smith' (The Prince of Bel Air) and the 'Fonz' (Happy Days), he is well-known in and around Manacapuru and if you consider that there are five women to every man in Brazil then the bulk of his friends are gorgeous Brazilian women.  We arrived on a small beach on the banks of the huge backwater lake, with clean white sands and the appearance of a Caribbean island.  There was also a sizeable hotel and restaurant on the same spot, slap-bang in the middle of nowhere.  The hotel had barely any guests, probably because nobody knew it existed or where it was.  But it was a Saturday and the beach was crowded with hundreds of scantily dressed women, who instantly came to the shoreline to greet Josimar, or so we thought. 

Nobody was more gobsmacked than Josimar when they totally ignored him and wanted to know who the 'Americano' with the white hair was.  For a minute I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Temporarily it was stuff the fishing and let’s get socialising.  Josimar, still a little put out, was by now interpreting between us and starting to see the funny side of it all.  I just sat there with mouth open, drooling, with rod in hand (that's the fishing rod).  Everyone offered us food and drink.  

Now to bring the subject back to tucunare, from among the crowd a chap came along who spoke very good English.  He introduced himself as Francisco and was a rep working for the 'Agencia Amazonas Indian Turismo' and are jungle specialists.  We spent the next hour exchanging niceties, mainly about how friendly the women were and then he asked me if I was interested in taking part in one of their jungle walks.  I'd been warned from books and other visitors that these walks are expensive and generally poor value for money, so I declined the offer.  There was no fishing involved and I had already been invited to do a week's walk, which was fast approaching.  This would involve living rough in the forest sleeping in hammocks under the forest canopy and living off the forest as we went, it would start slightly upriver of Manacapuru and end about fifty miles away at the village of Caapiranca.  This I was certainly looking forward to, and it would cost me virtually nothing. 

Francisco made nothing of my refusal and wasn't pushy in any way, we got back to talking about fishing in both English and Portuguese, then he invited me to fish with him from his launch that afternoon.  He would take me to a large bay just around the corner from the beach.  This stretch was privately owned by the hotel and restaurant so before we went he had to get permission from the owners.  This bay had a reputation for holding large tucunare and only local fishermen, employed by the hotel, could fish it, with the catch ending up on the restaurant menu.  In parts of the world where poverty is rife my 'catch and release' policy goes out of the window, most of the fish I caught on this trip were given to locals on the banks at the time of capture.  It can be a matter of life and death for some families in a society where it really is 'survival of the fittest'.  But the river people are expert fisherman and you cannot but admire their skills with net, handline or bow and arrow. 

Permission was granted - the owners would welcome the 'Americano' to fish.  Josimar decided to stay on the beach, can't think why... Which was just as well because he hadn't been given permission so Francisco and I set off in search of the large tucunare.  We arrived at the spot after only five minutes and noticed a canoe leaving the area, in the bottom of the canoe were two of the largest peacock bass I had seen to date, both mid-doubles speared through the back and heading for the table.  The fisherman pointed us to an area of flooded forest where the fish were now holding up sheltering from the hot, mid-afternoon sun directly overhead. 

Knowing the power of these fish and seeing the snags that I had to fish among I decided to change my spool of 30lb test Power Cable to 50lb test and upgrade the 30lb test wire traces to 60lb.  I let Francisco pick out the lure, his choice from my limited selection was the gold/orange Rapala jointed floating, 130mm long and only 16g in weight.  The engine was cut and Francisco expertly steered the launch with a single paddle and left me to fish, mainly trolling.  In the shade of the flooded forest the cool atmosphere was well-received but at the same time it was natural to keep looking up, expecting something to drop on you and bite or sting which is what inevitably happens, the mosquitoes were certainly very active. 

As we gracefully worked our way in and out of the fully mature hardwoods the wake from the boat looked like an anaconda in pursuit.  The lure was clearly visible just under the surface on a short line and the tension was clearly visible to Francisco as he grinned and I held the rod in anticipation - a nerve-racking experience I can tell you.  It was evident that the area was alive with a variety of species that could clearly be seen in the shallow and clear water below us.  Many fish disturbed as the boat went by left surface boils and large vortices; these were obviously caused by very large fish.  On a number of occasions shoals of arowhana and pirhana would scatter as something much larger were giving chase, tucunare could clearly be seen as the culprits. 

Angling for such large fish in such a tight, snaggy and restrictive environment was extremely demanding.  Several fish hit the lure but only two were landed, the rest straightened the hooks as 'hook and hold' tactics were employed.  Not my favourite game but the two fish landed - an upper single and upper double - both took my rod to its absolute limit.  I was well pleased and shaking with excitement, these bass might be short, deep and solid and are not streamlined for speed like many other Amazon species.  But they come from somewhere, heaven knows where, and with its bulk behind it, boy do they go! 

Francisco suggested it would a nice goodwill gesture to return to the restaurant and offer the fish to the owners, they in turn were very pleased and offered us the chance to return to the edge of the forest just before dark as the fish move out from cover and hunt the more open water during the hours of darkness. This we did and I was fortunate enough to land several more large tucunare on the same lure (with new hooks!).  These fish were not bullied but played out, it was a truly memorable day and all these fish were released.