Monday, September 29, 2008

Fishing





Went fishing on the Orinoco this past weekend. We went to the small town of Mapire. Not much going on there except life on the river.

We left El Tigre early Saturday morning and saw these crazy vultures sunning themselves on the fence posts. Had to stop for a few pics. My camera was set on ISO 1600 (for low-light conditions) so the pics are somewhat grainy. Anyway, it was a trippy sight indeed seeing all these birds posing like they did.

Got to Mapire and the Orinoco is HUGE! It is about 1 mile across at Mapire. A few weeks ago, it was even higher, but the water has receeded some.

We went to several places on Saturday on the Orinoco, but had no luck. On Sunday we motored 1 hour west, up river, about 16.5 miles to the confluence of the Rio Caura. The Caura is a black river, full of tannins from the vegitation upstream.

We started trolling on the Caura. I was trolling a white and purple diving lure and got a hit almost immediately. I landed a "sardinata" in the boat, got it in the cooler, decided it was time for a beer. Even before I was halfway down with my beer, I had another hit.

I decided to give Oscar the purple lure, and I put on a silver lure with red spots. Our guide decided he found a good spot and turned off the motor and we started casting. On my third cast, I got a big hit! I landed a 8 lbs sardinata! Killer!

Total I got 9 fish, Daniel had 2, Oscar 1, and Matthew 1. It was great fun!

Also there is a life on the river like nowhere else. I bought cheese from a river lady. And saw some guys bring in a couple of young bulls by boat. Wild country!

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