Ecoldge Da Barra Trip Report: 2016

The week at “Ecolodge de Barra” was one of the most enjoyable weeks of my life in many years. The fishing was “ok,” but the people and the place were so amazing that the fishing could have been terrible, and I think it still would have been just as fun. Surrounded by jungle and water as far as the eyes can see, with newfound friends sharing adventure and laughs from sunrise to sunset…it really was that grand of an adventure.

The trip to started with an introduction to my hosts, Bob & Thiago, over dinner back in Manaus. I was tired from the Rio Marie fishing and travel, but realized that it was once again time to put the “game face” on and embrace the new. We had a great dinner in some tucked away Brazilian steakhouse where we discussed some of the history of the lodge while getting to know each other.

Turns out, Bob has been pioneering commercial sport fishing around the world and even ran the fishing for a middle-eastern Sheik at one time, living in the desert. Thiago is much younger and runs the fishing program for Ecolodge and kept his English guarded during our first meeting. The evening ended early as we had another long day of travel coming our way at sunrise.

Getting There

The 2-½ hour charter flight took us from Manaus to the Barra de São Manuel community located on the banks of the Tapajós River. The heat of the Amazon is something that I don’t miss today as I look out at snow falling on the Bridgers. Good thing for water, and lots of it.

The Angling Overview

We fished for a few hours on the Tapajós River that afternoon, which was a great introduction to the diversity of the area. Giant riffles spring up around lava beds spread throughout the river basin. Although the river is nearly a mile wide in spots here, the structure is easy to read and diverse. We blind fished the edges and found a bunch of peacock bass in the 2-4 pound range that were happy to eat poppers and streamers with reckless abandon. Peacock bass fly fishing with a 6-weight for fish of this size is fantastic sport!

As we were fishing a back-eddy seam, the guys started jabbering away in Portuguese (which I understand zero) with some excitement and a questioning tone. Interesting what you can understand just by listening to inflections and tones. Anyway, there was a small snake that was basically playing dead in the current. Apparently, it was a highly venomous species. The only thing that we could determine was that it was playing dead to lure in a fish so that it could bite it. We messed with it a bit, and it swam a few feet and went limp repeatedly, but it was obviously fine as I poked at it with my rod tip. We moved on.

There were other fish hooked that evening, too, but the sunset over the jungle that night was one that I will never forget. The immensity of the jungle is overwhelming to me when I’m in the middle of it. To see the colors of the sky reflected on the water, the warmth of the jungle colors replacing the hazy blues in a matter of minutes, was stunning to watch. I was reminded of why I love to fish that night as we returned to the lodge in the disappearing light.

We spent the second day trying to understand the diversity of species and situations that one could expect in a typical day of fishing out of the Ecolodge.

Payara has been a species “on my list” for a few years now, and they are common in these rivers. Known as the “Vampire Fish,” Payara have a mouth full of prominent teeth, including two oversized incisors on their lower jaw. With all those teeth, getting a solid hook set was more difficult than expected. I must have hooked 20 in a couple of hours in one spot, but only landed a couple. These fish are typically found feeding early and late in the day, but Bob & Thiago had a spot on a mid-river shoal where these fish could be found rolling and eating flies on the swing throughout the day. They were a great fish on the fly and to photograph, but nowhere near as strong or viscous as Peacock Bass.

We targeted a wide range of fish species throughout the week, most of which I couldn’t pronounce again if you said their names five times in a row…slowly. There were fish that looked like small Barracudas, fish with no tails that ate dry flies, giant Wolf Fish, little fish with big teeth, and large fish with small teeth. The amazing thing about this place was that there was always fish around and always something new around the next bend.

It rained pretty hard a couple of times early in the week, and the rivers came up in flows and turned slightly off-color. Change is never good when fishing river systems, and the bite definitely turned off for a day or two. So, we focused on some smaller tributaries the last couple of days, working the various sloughs and oxbows in search of peacock bass for the most part.

These rivers were much smaller and would have felt like home, if not for the 8-12’ Cayman around every bend. I have never been someplace with so much water that there was always a viable option, even in the worst conditions.

Expanding Their Operation

The Ecolodge has been around for several years but is just starting to emphasize fly-fishing. The local guides I met and fished with were obviously very fishy dudes and deeply understood the fish and the water. The local guides speak no English, so the Ecolodge also staffs every boat with an English-speaking guide. This makes a huge difference when it comes to trying to understand the situation and techniques needed for success in such a diverse fishery. The combination of host/guide was unique in my experience, and a real highlight of my fishing experience here

I think that the next few years will be a very exciting time to fish this region on the fly as the program is really in its infancy. They have so much water that they can rotate through some of the better spots, providing days or weeks of rest between angler pressure. There is a diversity of species and situations, unlike any other place I have ever fished.

The local fisheries’ knowledge base is rich in history, but they are just starting to understand how to apply this knowledge to the fly world. They have the natural resources, the enthusiasm, and the amenities to really establish themselves as a “best in class” fly-fishing operation.

This is a great destination for the intermediate to advanced angler looking to experience Brazil peacock bass fishing in the Amazon River basin. The big draw to the angling here is the diversity of species available to the fly angler. These waters are not known for “trophy” peacocks like the dark waters of the Rio Negro basin, but fish in the 8-10 pound range are common.. A typical day of peacock bass fishing here looks like 30-40 Peacock Bass in the 2-4 pound range, with a handful of larger fish that will be in the 4-8 pound class. Payara, bicuda, brekken, arowana, pacu, giant wolf fish, shovelnose catfish, and on and on the species list goes, are available just about every day of the season.

The Amazon River basin is one of the world’s truly wild places left pretty much intact. Visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife every day, including porpoises, caymans, monkeys, and birds of every shape and color imaginable. The biting insect were non-existent during my stay, but Mosquitos, sandflies, and various “no-seeums” are to be expected, so insect repellent is a “must-have.” Although this is a remote destination, there are small communities spread throughout the river system.

*This article was written in late 2016, and the lodge has since been closed and reopened as it navigates the post-COVID travel world. Contact The Fly Shop in Redding, California, for current updates.

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