I just returned from a week aboard the Captain Logan yacht where I hosted a group of 11 anglers fishing the upper Rio Negro between Barcelos and Ste Isabela Feb 5 – 12, 2011.  Water levels were higher than normal but lower overall than they have been in January when most operators on the Rio Negro had been giving their clients a chance to reschedule due to abnormally high water conditions.  Our anglers caught a total of 638 Peacock with 38 weighing 10 lbs or better including two 17 lb fish, four 18 lb fish, two 19 lb fish and the largest weighing in at 20 lbs.  The preferred baits for the larger Peacock Bass was the venerable Woodchopper, of which Captain Peacock Expeditions purchased 300 of the remaining stock when Rapala discontinued them last summer thus enabling us to offer our clients this great bait for the next couple of years.  Trolling jigs and flies at the edge of the flooded cover were also very productive.

As the fish were staged under the flooded cover, our guides once again proved their outstanding ability by repeatedly slipping into the water to free Peacocks from the brush they resort to when hooked.  I have guided and fished all over North and South America in the last 25 years and never have I seen guides work so hard to get their fishermen their hard won trophies as I have with the Captain Peacock Expeditions guides. The picture below shows Jack after diving under the water several times before coming up with George’s Peacock Bass that gotten itself wound around a submerged log.  This is why I consider our guide staff the best I have ever seen assembled!