Monday, December 14, 2009

Payara Fishing on the Orinoco River

After school on Friday, Daniel, Matthew, Michael, and I headed to the river village of Mapire (Venezuela). Here is a pictoral essay of the trip.

Our guide Rafael arrives with his boat.

On our way, about 8:00 AM. Beer me!

Mike (F.M.) Beer him!

Daniel was the expert net handler.

My second payara.

Teeth

My catch for Saturday; 5 payara.

Matthew hooked a monster which he fought for about 20 minutes. We were unable to land it.

Rafael, our skipper.

My lure is beat-up and a battle scarred. It has teeth embedded in it.

The tropical sun cooked us.

Exotic birds...the place was thick with birds, including at least one pair of osprey. I hooked a cormorant when it ran into my line. Fortunately it was able to work itself free. The interesting thing was that its mate and other friends flew back to help it.
We don't give animals much credit when it comes to some kinds of intelligence.

Our final count (minus 2 we ate): 9 payara; Me - 8, Daniel - 2; 3 sardinata; Daniel - 2, Matthew - 1.

3 comments:

Small Adventures said...

Looks like a killer trip,Mims! You have my envy,Sir :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog. It must be fantastic living in Venezuela - nice and warm. Where I am it is -6 Celsius and it is cooolllldddd.

Bleeding Healer said...

that must be ausumn fun =)..you are very lucky sir..=)have great christmas..