dirvin21

There will be a few parts to this report simply because there is loads of content, I will do a bit of tackle info and share random photos in the last one. To start at the beginning for as long as I remember I've always wanted to see the amazon, and six months ago the opportunity to book in a trip came up for Amy and I to fish the Essequibo river in Guyana. After a couple of days in Miami Amy and I had a late arrival in Georgetown Guyana after about 3 hours sleep we were up and off to the airport for our charter flight to nowhere. Georgetown is an interesting place, it was only just over an hour flight and we got our first good site of the river And landed at our "airport" We were on the river in no time and had a 4 hour boat ride up river to our lodge we saw loads of macaws on the way The evening was a whirlwind and before we knew it was early morning stuffing in breakfast and getting out to fish We were part of a group of 8 anglers paired in 2's with a guide who are local amerindians and incredible blokes We got into the fishing in no time casting hardbodies out into a channel, despite popular belief it started a little slow the pirahnas were willing to hit but very tough to pin, it didn't take too long before Amy landed the first fish A bicuda, first fish contest to Amy and to prove it wasn't a fluke Amy also landed fish number 2 A black pirahna (the first of many), these things fight hard but destroy tackle and the novelty wore off fast. Getting impatient I started casting a small surface lure into a near by creek mouth it took a few casts but I stirred up some peacocks and after some miss hits my first fish was on the board A beautifully coloured lukanani peacock bass we then moved to some rocks to landbased fish, chasing peacocks working my surface lure again ot was slammed at my feet after an incredible fight I had my first yellow peacock for the trip Shortly after I managed a small bicuda And of course pirahna. We moved around a bit catching bicudas and pirahnas we had a bit of a hot bite at one point Amy having a surface lure annihalated by a xos payara We did manage some better size bicudas Among other fish After lunch we had bit of a hot bite on the small peacocks which were great fun, then I was nailed by a big fish it was a nervecracking fight around the submerged timber but I managed to boat a solid peacock A solid brute probably my biggest for the trip Amy managed our first couti Which was turned into catfish bait We fished hard for payara (you'll see them in the next part) Amy jumped a couple off. We stopped on a beach for a break and our guide showed us some turtle eggs And Tapir tracks As a last stop we fished for catfish near the lodge Amy's rod went off in no time and she was soon battling a serious fish, Amy finished the day with a big surubim catfish, I was busted off minutes later with aching muscles and exhausted we headed back to the lodge.. so many fish and that was day 1 To be continued.....

It's funny how easy it is to associate gross freshwater with infection when in fact tropical sea water can be far worse, sine of the worst bacteria are associated with coral

Coming to the Hastings?

It has quite good defined boundaries with national parks, state forests and public land, you can also easily flick between topographical and sat maps

I agree with ID I've seen plenty of random trevally species over the years

That's the basic theory behind it, I used to do it, now I do max 2 rods with different lures but mostly just 1

A very nice fish For a record submission to be considered you need the capture to be part of a fishing report with a link in the submission Cheers Dave

I get similar messages regularly, just block the number

Hinchinbrook and the gulf of Carpentaria are the main areas I know of, apparently very hard to catch I've been to Hinchinbrook but never even layed eyes on one

Medium-heavy baitcast I have a samaki archer 10-17lb bmh Reel is a shimano curado 200 30lb braid and 30lb leader Lures are 65 - 90mm hardbodies dive depth 2-3m Succesful lures Zerek tango shad 68mm and 89mm Atomic deep divers 85mm Strikepro 70mm can't remember the name Samaki reddic 85mm I prefer natural baitfish type colours Most lures require treble upgrades I don't find soft plastics very consistent In NSW, just my observations

I guess you finally just earned one😉 Great fish mate, looking forward to your next visit so we can spend another session chasing satan

The reddies are good fun Mike, we caught stacks of them at Googong

I haven't caught a Hastings cod either which is surprising I'm still dreaming of an estuary (or any) cobia

I've seen jacks up there, and a massive GT a few days ago

Hit the Nambucca with Bob aka @Pickles and James aka @James Clain the aim was to put them onto their first jacks. We had an early start, the weather and water seemed perfect but the fish didn't think so. Did manage to break the doughnut with a small black spot But the jacks were playing hard to get. We persisted for minimal action apart from Bob hooking a nice bass and landing a few bream on the light gear. We worked the prime banks with jack lures and whilst giving James a lesson in cast accuracy I managed to hook the target species Only a small one but any jack is a good jack. We kept working hard but the fish just didn't want to comply although the youngest member on the boat may have dropped a brown coloured fish beside the boat that wasn't a flathead 🤔 We ended the session by lunchtime, the fishing was incredibly tough but you can't conplain about spending a morning with a pair of 10/10 blokes It never ceases to amaze me how many friends I've made through fishing and a lot of them from fishraider Dave

I just use a tackle box, trick is to not take too many lures

Depends what plastics you're casting With 2.5 inch paddle tails I use 1/12th to 1/16th 2.5 inch Grubs I'll go as light as 1/20th I fish small plastics for maximum hang time in the water targeting fish like bream and trevs It's more about precise casts pinpointing where the fish are

Sound like big eyes, yhe give away os the black spot at the top of the gill plate

That's a big eye, the Nambucca is usually full of them It can be a tough river at times, personally I like ti fish a few km's upstream of Macksville

They will eat a lure, lightly weighted soft plastics and cranka crabs floated down against pylons Big jetty bream are incredibly wary so your presentation needs to be almost flawless as in sinking naturally and stealth is also very important

Looks like a big fan bellied jacket

Some nice bass mate Gotta love tte good old Eastern water dragon commonly known as "ya bastard" amongst bass fishos

I find I lose very few plastic tails and the chewed up ones I make sure they come home and go in the garbage I've read fish tend to vomit up soft plastics they've swallowed not long after

it's a great area to fish, can't wait to head up there again

I live in Port Macquarie and regularly ksyak the Hastings river which is well known for big bull sharks, I've never had an issue Interestingly some years ago large bull sharks were radio tagged in Sydney harbour and swam within metres of oblivious swimmers with no hint of attacking You're more likely to be injured in your car on the way to launch than have an issue with a bull shark