The
ichthyologist says that there exists more than 500
types of catfish in Brazil's river basins. Of the
big ones, there are only 13 species. These range
from the mighty piraibas that easily can reach 300
pounds, to the smaller cacharas of no more than 40.
Some are beautiful, like the pirarara, with its
yellow and red colors, and others look like
pre-historic beasts, such as the abotoado and the
armal. All have big moustaches, but none as the
barbado. Some dwell on the bottom, and some even
attack artificial baits at the surface.
They
all are disappearing due to the pressure of
commercial fishing in our rivers, the growth of the
Brazilian economy, building new roads to inland, and
allowing new settlements to appear in the middle of
the jungle. The great fires (queimadas) due to the
expansion of our agricultural frontiers cause the
annihilation of our ciliate forests. The ever
present need of fresh proteins to our inland
population so far away from centers of production of
meat and poultry, make the fish an easy target.
I
have mixed feelings about this situation. Of course
I, like the Americans, have a high regard for nature
conservation. I am myself one of the first to
introduce catch and release at Brazilian waters. And
I am also a professional fishing guide looking for
good spots to take my clients. Even so, how could I
blame a man, 100 miles from the nearest shopping
market, to kill a big monster like that, to feed his
children?
The
most popular way to catch them, between the local
fisherman, is to make a "pinda." They use
a very powerful nylon line of 300 pounds, attached
to a number 12 hook, same as we use for marlins.
This line is tied to a small but strong tree,
flexible enough to fight the fish, but strong enough
to hold it. The leader is made from a piano wire,
with a very heavy 30 pounds of lead weight to hold
the bait at the bottom of the river. Generally they
use a live 4 to 6-pound fish for bait. They put the
line in at sunset, and collect it in the early
morning. Of course we professional guides do not use
this kind of equipment. (But many of us sometimes
looking at our broken tackle regret it.)
Depending
on the fish I am looking for, I use from 50-pound to
12-pound tackle. We go to some ponds at the river
that we call "poços" and use dead baits.
But the trouble starts when we try to cast the baits
at a desired distance. You ever tried to send a 50
pound line with 2 pounds of bait with your rod more
than 60 feet? Monofilaments of course. Forget the
Spiderwires, (braided lines) because they do not
stand the abrasion of the riverbed. I lost a lot of
big ones because of this type of line. You really do
need a very stiff rod and arm.
The
biggest one I ever caught was a pirarara around 90
pounds. I was using an Abu Ambassador with 12-pound
line, and an equivalent rod. I was down trolling at
the Xingu River, The IGFA just had opened the line
class category for barred sourubins, and the 12
pound line category was open. As the barred sourubin
never goes to more than 30 pounds, I was very
comfortable with my tackle. To my surprise, suddenly
the reel started to cry, and the line started to go
away at a great speed. We turned the boat and went
down river. After a 55 minute fight it surfaced. It
was a monster pirarara, very near the world record.
(97 pounds). We took the photos, weighted it, and
let it go. It was the most beautiful fish I ever saw.
All in reds and yellows. This name
"pirarara", in Indian language means,
" fish that looks as "arara". Arara
is a beautiful bird that is dressed in bright red
and yellow feathers. I think that in English you
call them "macaws". Besides having very
good meat, the pirarara have an added value to the
youngsters that live near the river. If you eat its
liver, your skin becomes yellow, looking as having
yellow fever. And if the army drafts you, you will
be dismissed by the army doctors, as unfit for the
army duty. God bless the pirarara!!!
The
biggest catfish ever caught by a sport fisherman at
Brazil was a Piraiba (Lau-lau). Dr. Gilberto
Fernandes from Manaus, caught it in 1981 . The fish
weighted 256 pounds, and was caught at the Solimões
River after a 4 hour fight with a Penn 750 spinning
rod, with 50-pound line. Dr. Fernandes is one of the
top freshwater anglers of Brazil. He holds many IGFA
world records, including the beautiful pirarara. He
wrote a book were I learned a lot how to fish in the
Amazon basin. A Pesca No Amazonas. This book should
be translated to English, because it is a veritable
fishing Encyclopedia.
The
IGFA recognizes 41 world records in Brazilian
freshwaters. From those 25 are in the catfish
category. 13 all tackle and 12 in the line class.
Some
of the photos are courtesy of Mr. Nelson Lage, owner/operator
of the PESCAMAZON lodge, which can be located at http://www.pescamazon.com
