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Today is bloody hot! The kind of heat that burns your feet when they touch the floor of your metal boat, it colors you as red as a tomato by the time return at night and it sticks the fish down at the bottom of their holes in search of a bit of refreshment. Beyond that, the water level is still incredibly high…

It seems that Amazonia is experiencing the biggest flood it’s seen in the last decade. You can’t turn on the TV without seeing reports on Palafitas, the wood houses on stilts that make up the charming landscape of Manaus harbor. Entire families slosh in the kitchen where the height of the fridge has been raised off of the floor by using beer crates.

Preparation for 2014 Worldwide Soccer Cup, many of those frail houses have been destroyed and relocated in the north zone (check Hubert Hayaud photo reports) In place of : public parks but partially abandoned by the locals.

Flooding is everywhere, causing the fishing to become tougher. We’ve learned by now that if you want to find fish you must cast in the in the trees (paradise for skipping casters) and use great precision.

Precisely I am working on it! The key is a small tippet. One meter of 60lbs fluorocarbon, no longer otherwise you’re screwed!

I cast, trying to avoid the branches, keeping the tippet out of the leaves, and the hook away from all the floating roots: I am not here to do any floral decorating. The fly lands correctly, few strips and the fly is in the current, Bite! Double bite… but it’s not hooked!

I cast again quickly, double bite and still “unhookable”… The zonker of my streamer is chewed and cut everywhere: Piranhas!! Let’s move!

I was untangling my flyline, which turned soft like overcooked spaghetti due to the blazing heat, when I hear the most horrible noise ever. It began with a cracking sounds, then 4 or 5 explosions followed by a roaring fall comprised of a thousand howls crashing everything in it’s path. It was a falling tree, and very far away. Nazareno said it fell naturally due to being very old and very big.

Why am I skeptical ? When I witness – here in this fresh water fish paradise – beef being consumed on the boat at every meal. Brazilian loves their churasco and juicy picaña. These cattle come from local farms, but to build those fazendas you need to burn the forest, cut tree here in Amazonia. Well… Piranhas make a good and hot soup !

Nazareno works to scout out suitable spots with feeding fish within these high waters. The long boat runs starts. Most of our time is spent going from one place to the other. With the heat and the sun bearing down us what else can we do but drink the beer we have chilling in the cooler? And it is sweated out every 15 minutes…

The river is full of oxbow lakes. We find one that is mind-blowing, so peaceful and so rich with its dense trees providing thousands of places where mighty tucunaré can hide. Indeed 40 yards from us, we see a boat from another fishing company and the guide is photographing his client holding an 8 or 10 pounds fish.

Once again we move forward, I took benefit of this stroll to re-apply my mosquito repellent. Like a tourist, I arrived unarmed in shorts and a t-shirt. My legs and arms are one giant itchy wound, spotted in red like those beautiful Montana brown trout!

I am ridiculously bitten! Thank God there is no malaria in this area… You have two types of rivers in the Amazon, dark waters and milky waters, the milky waters are a breeding ground for mosquitoes and of course we jump for one to the other.

All of my friends are dressed like if they were going to war, Danilo has a decent Rambo wannabe suit with a tiny net above it! The worst are not the mosquitoes but a type of sandfly that leaves a dried drop of blood on your skin. It itches so bad that it wakes you up at night and makes you want to cut your legs off with a machete!!

Nazareno makes every effort to try catching better than small peacocks. I get back in shape with my bait casting skills and I throw the lure with a stylish Tiger Woods lateral swing. Blam ! My lure hits a tree full speed, the spool keeps on turning and a bird nest catches on a bird’s nest… Nightmare! I attempt to unhook the nest without any success and as the pressure rises, Nazareno yells at me : Gimme that ! which I do…with in 3 seconds my rod is back in my hand with the bird nest gone. I have no idea how he managed it… Have you been trained by the Daïwimano Team Nazareno ?

The day slowly turns to dusk and the river reflects light and colors that recall the paintings of Vermeer and other Dutch painters of the 17th Century.

We have about an hour left of sunlight. Nazareno plays his last hand and we enter forest once again, this time following a small stream. Soon the stream is no more than a trickle of water. But the guide keeps on pushing. I leave to boat to help and quickly shout at what feel like needles entering into my feet. Some of the trees look like they are covered with barbwire… We have to use machete. It’s takes us a good half an hour to travel such a short distance. By the time we reach the lake we We are sweating like melting ice cream. The water is brown dirty and dusk has finally found us.

I remember Betinho’s advice: fish the sandy beaches at the beginning and end of the day. A few casts more, says Nazareno. But we haven’t been here five minutes I grumble while casting along an island bank. Meticulously I try to make my lure swims the best it can when it disappears at the speed of light. Topwater peacock’s bites are just incredibly nasty and noisy. My reel’s brake tightened to the max and I can’t beleieve it is very peppy ! Shouting while the fish steals me 15 yards of line. Yeeeah !

I pull In Da Name of The Lord and Nazareno get scared: Let him get tired!  The fish must have understood because he is coming to the boat, its huge mouth wide open, splashing with colors the falling night. It’s a fat 8 lbs, 4kg plus! An Absolute beauty !

The fish is barely released before have to go back in our forest labyrinth. No more exploring this lake after that kind of excitement?  Tomorrow has to be bloody good one !