The Lodge and the Fishing
The Agua Boa Amazon Lodge provides an amazing fly
fishing experience. It is one of the few places which has exceeded
my expectations all round and I have no hesitation in recommending
this lodge to any fly fisher.
The river and lagoons are accessed by boat from the lodge. A boat
and guide is provided for each of the 6 chalets and is available
from 7am each morning after breakfast which starts at 6am.
The lodge is very close to the equator and boats are back at the
lodge at 6pm each day as it becomes dark shortly after 6pm.
There are 6 designated 'beats' on the river with 3 being upstream
and 3 downstream and fishing is over approx 110 km's of the river.
Each day of fishing is on a new beat with a different boat and guide,
except for the last day which is generally a repeat of the first
(shorter) day.
This system provides the opportunity to fish all the beats on the
river and spend a full day with each of the guides. The guides are
all excellent and will ensure that you have a great day and experience
their beat in a most enjoyable fashion. I was impressed by the different
guiding styles, available water, variety of water and new experiences
each day.
Water fished includes the main river, lagoons off
the main river, lagoons accessed by channels from the river and
lagoons that are walked to from the river and fished from a separate
boat stored at the lagoon. The walks are generally from 100 to 800
metres and the lagoons are like small lakes. Excellent and varied
fishing was found in all locations. The fishing was hard and fast
with some lagoons providing a large number of butterflies and others
providing a mixed bag including some very large Temensis. These
fish are not only beautiful but extremely strong and great fun to
catch.
Rods in the 8, 9 and 10 weight class are ideal. I used an 8 with
a wf floater and a 10 weight with a 350 grain sink tip.
A 9 weight matched with a floating, intermediate sink tip or fast
sinking tip will also deliver the large flies well.
Fish are caught in many different ways including polaroiding across
shallow sand bars, blind casting to deep snags with sinking lines,
popper fishing the edges and to sighted fish, sight casting to fish
'surface floating' in deep water and targeting aggressive feeding
action around the edges and in the deeper areas of lagoons.
If you prefer to hunt individual fish then the guides will accommodate,
and I was amazed to be sight hunting fish in walk in lagoons that
had color in the water and the skills of the guides at finding and
getting you onto the fish.
It was a new experience to polaroid in colored water, deliver a
fly to a floating fish, have that fish disappear from view then
explode on the fly in spectacular fashion.
It is absolutely incredible to see a lit up 16lb
peacock coming across a sandbar and to tease him into picking up
a fly of the bottom similar to a bonefish take. Talk about exciting
fishing, broken 10 weights, clients going from 30 to 40 lb tippet
to try and hold onto these amazing fish and a new experience every
day.
Having recently visited the lodge I can say that this was one of
the best places I have fished and will definitely go again. Looking
at the photos of each days fishing makes it apparent how fantastic
and varied this place is.
Best morning was 6 fish over 10 pound.
Best lagoon session in terms of numbers was over 40 fish in around
4 hours mostly on poppers.
Landed 10 species of fish on fly over the week.
The warm climate with little wind, clear water and aggressive fish
make this a fly fishers dream location.
Standing in the pool, looking over the river, enjoying a drink and
pre dinner nibbles, reminiscing on the days fishing with the other
guests is the perfect way to stimulate the appetite for dinner and
build the anticipation of the next day's fishing experience.
Click here
for Fly Fishing Package and itinerary information.
Please enjoy the pics from the trip
below
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