By Erik Argotti
I recently had the opportunity to visit a couple of new destinations in Colombia operated by the outfitter, Afloat. The first was Akuani River Lodge, which was a peacock bass/payara (vampire fish) combo trip – four days of peacock bass on the Vichada River and two days of payara fishing on the Orinoco River. The second week was Akuani Floating Camp on the Tomo River, which I will get to in a second report. This is a day by day report on both of these jungle fishing trips.
The Orinoco is the second largest river in South America. It is an enormous watershed, flowing 1,300+ miles between Colombia and Venezuela. We were fishing the Maipures Rapids of the Orinoco River, where payara like to stage in ambush as baitfish get flushed through the torrent.
The Vichada River is rich with species. You can take a smaller set up (6-wt) and catch a bunch of species. However the target species are three species of peacock bass. Cichla Temensis, the biggest peacock bass, in both the non-breeding spotted form (pintalapa), and the more colorful spawning version. There are also plenty of butterfly peacock bass, Cichla Orinocensis, that are often found in good numbers. Mixed in are also a few Cichla Intermedia – known as the royal peacock bass – though the locals call them “Electrica”.
January 7
I took a 6:25 AM United Airlines flight out of Redding and landed in SFO just after 7:00 AM. I had some breakfast in San Francisco and we took off around 9:30 AM to Houston and touched down around 2:45 PM. We had an on-time departure out of Houston and I arrived in Bogota around 10:30 PM (an easy 5-hour flight). All pretty smooth flying. There were no lines at immigration. I picked up my bag, scanned it at customs, and went outside. I had to wait a little for the driver as the airport was busy with some traffic. I made it to the Hilton Garden Inn – located close to the airport – around midnight and met Chris, one of my anglers on the trip. He arrived a day early to take advantage of tours in Bogota. The Hilton Garden Inn is very nice, clean and very safe. There is not a lot around the hotel, but it’s conveniently located close to the airport.
January 8th
I was up at 7:00 AM for breakfast and met Jeff. Jeff, Tom and I had a Bogota tour scheduled. The driver for Impulse Tours picked us up at 8:30 AM and took us to the fruit and flower market and we met our guide there. It was a very cool tour. Colombia is the second largest exporter of flowers in the world. We tried a ton of exotic fruit and sampled some local bread and empanadas and salsas. We ate rumbutan, granadilla, sapote, anon, chontadora, lulo and a couple different varieties of avocados. Many new fruits I have never tried. They took us back to the hotel and a couple hours later we were picked up again by the driver and our tour guide for the Salt Cathedral. It was an hour drive to the Salt Cathedral. Pretty amazing cathedral and mine underground. Anybody going to Bogota should see the Cerro de Monserrate (amazing view of the city at 10,000’), the gold museum, the City Center, and the Botero Museum which had lots of art of Colombia’s Fernando Botero as well as other artists from around the world. This is a really enjoyable tour. Bogota is an amazing place. Anybody doing one of these trips should plan on at least an extra full day to see the sights. It is safe, a booming tourist destination, and really inexpensive.
January 9
I was up at 5:00 AM and we left the hotel at 5:30 AM for the commercial flight to Puerto Inírida. We had to get to the airport early because they were bumping people because of a fuel issue and it got switched to a non-direct flight – Bogota to Villavicencio and Villavicencio to Puerto Inírida. So they were flying light and filling up in Villavicencio. We all got checked in and some paid for their heavier bags ($3/kilo over) and we had plenty of time to wait around. We ate breakfast and departed at 9:00 AM. We landed at 9:30 AM in Villacencio, everyone got off the plane, they fueled up and they loaded us back on. We took off at 10:15 AM and landed at 11:45 AM in Puerto Inírida. Simon, Chris, Esteban, and Daniel – who was doing some filming for Simon – were there to meet us. Esteban had been at the Floating Camp and he is now going to be the host/guide at the River Lodge. He speaks good English and is a really likable guy. They loaded us in the tuk tuks (three-wheeled motorized taxis) and we made a stop at the pharmacy and liquor store on the way down to the docks. Puerto Inírida is a busy spot down at the docks. People running around, tuk tuks motoring everywhere, lots of boats getting loaded, garbage all over and seemingly no order to the chaos, but it all seemed to work. We got loaded into the big boat, ran down 10 minutes but had some motor issues so ran back up to town and stopped at a colorful floating mechanic shop. Lots of talk, but it seemed like we were alright. We got going again at 1:30 PM down the Rio Inírida to the Guaveare River, and then to the junction with the Orinoco River, then finally up the Vichada River towards the lodge. We got amazing views of Autana, a big mountain face in Venezuela. They did a first ascent movie about it in 2020. 4 hours later we made it to the lodge. We were greeted with appetizers and a cold towel to clean our faces. We were shown to our rooms and we all got settled in and showered. Cabins are spacious A-frame style, open air on raised platforms. A big double door you can close at night, toilet, sink and cold shower in each room, and two beds with mosquito netting. Very well built. One fan above the door that oscillates between both beds. We had dinner at 7:30 PM and ate a tasty mushroom Romaine salad with small tomato-looking fruit ( I think were lulos) and parmesan for starters. The main course was potatoes, fried onions, and local chicken they bought from the village just downriver. Simon gave us a rundown of the camp and fishing and what the week would look like. We were all in bed relatively early.
January 10
We were up at 5:30 AM to get the rods rigged, breakfast at 6:00 AM. Chris and I fished together. I gave all the guides TFS hats as “Narahura” – in their native language it means a gift. They all sported them. All the guides are native guides from two tribes, the Sikuani and Piaroa indigenous communities. There are two per boat. I started with a floating line, with a sinking tip on rod #2, both 8 weights. I put on a Bad Attitude Baitfish on the Titan Amplitude Floater, and a Cruiser Sardina on the Sonar Custom sink tip. We took off around 6:45 AM, went just 10 minutes upriver in the big boat to a beach and had a half-hour walk along an old dry channel of sand to the bongos and native guides waiting for us on a lagoon. The bongos (boats) are long and narrow, but stable with 40hp outboards on them. Lots of room to cast. It was overcast most of the day with some sun – perfect fishing conditions. The lagoon is massive. We started off with decent fish right away. I got three Temensis between 6 – 10 pounds. Chris lost three nice ones. One got off, one broke off and one, probably the biggest fish got stuck in the trees and got off. We also got 6 – 8 butterflies each and Chris caught a Cichla intermedia, they call Electrica. We had lunch at 1:00 PM under the trees with Jeff and Tom. It was a nice and fishy spot. Jeff and I took a swim and we headed back out around 2:00 PM for a shorter afternoon session. It was slower for us. We each landed a few butterflies. We were done at 5:00 PM, drove back to the head of the lagoon and waited for Tom and Jeff and hiked back to the big boat and made it home at 6:15 PM – the usual wet towel and appetizer waiting for us. Dinner was amazing. Beef with mushroom sauce and potato puree. Great flavors. Andrew is the Chef and he is very talented. He gives a big speech before each course on where the food came from and where he got his inspiration, the ingredients and how they pair up with each other.
January 11
Same schedule. I fished with Jeff and our boat driver – whose nickname is Mehu, which means electric fish – and who is also shaman in the village. He is a guy that works with ayahuasca and caapi (which is the root part of ayahuasca). I guess they chew on it and it has a milder effect than with some of the other ways it is ingested. We ran the bongos farther up the river (1 hour) and fished a lagoon we could access with these boats. Right off we got into a pod of small payara. I hooked a few but had trouble keeping them on. I got one right to the boat and it came unbuttoned. Farther up the lagoon we got into a bunch of butterflies and some nicer pintalapas (spotted, non-breeding Temensis), and a few smaller Temensis. It was great action. We crossed the lagoon and got into a few more smaller fish. Then I had a big fish inhale the fly. He flexed his gills and the fly came out. Jeff cast in and I’m pretty sure got the same fish. It was a beautifully-colored fish, probably around 12+ pounds. A little later I got a big male that ate my fly and a quick fight ensued – I landed him, a bit smaller than Jeff’s fish. We moved down the lagoon and had a slow spell but a little later I had another nice fish slam my fly. I only had him on for a second, then he was off. 5 minutes later I looked up, and right on the surface there were 3 big fish cruising along the edge of the trees. Jeff fired his popper 15’ in front of them and one pounced on his popper and inhaled it. He came right at us then made a serious run for the trees and Jeff stopped him just in time, but ended up with some bloody knuckles. Another 12+ pounder. That fish was cooler for me than Jeff. It was so amazing watching it move 10 feet to eat his popper, with no hesitation. From there, we worked up the bank and hammered on small fish. We must have hooked 30+ Orinocinsis (butterflies), pintalapas, and a couple Cichla Intermedia. It was pretty crazy. We met the other guys for lunch – during lunch, Chris caught 12 small pintalapas on the bank where we were eating. Tom got a payara right at lunch. After lunch it was slower. We got a few, but ended with a half dozen fish. Some smaller, a couple 5 – 7 pounders, and Jeff lost a beast in the trees at the end of the day. It took him right to the sticks and he couldn’t stop it, and it broke him off. He said it was one of his best days jungle fishing ever and he has done a ton of trips in the jungle.
January 12
We were up at 4:00 AM and met at the big boat just before 5:00 and headed down the river in the dark. We were heading to the outcamp on the Orinoco River at the Maipures Rapids. We made it to the camp around 6:15 AM. They dropped us off above the first huge rapids just above camp and we walked it while the boat driver ran the rapid. We got situated in our tents and headed out around 7:30 to fish. Tents are big and solid. Beds were a little hard, thin mattresses but there was a serious little fan that was a workhorse and kept us cool. The camp had 2 showers and 2 toilets located in tents, a short walk downriver and an open air dining tent. We met our two native guides and our motor didn’t start so Henry, one of our guides, literally ran and got a new motor, carried it down on his back and put it on and we were on our way. Impressive. The river is big and the rapids go for about a mile – huge boulders, very turbulent water. It’s a little scary running the boat. We drove down and parked in a narrow channel and walked a sketchy plank with a few small trees as runners. If you fell, you might end up in the Caribbean. You fish big heavy sink tips, 400 – 500 grains on a 9 or 10 weight and big flies. I fished two flies joined by wire or a big fly and tied a second trailer hook located way at the back of the fly with wire. These fish are known to slash at the baitfish and wound them then go back and eat it. The very first cast in a back eddy, I hooked a pretty good sized Payara and my drag wasn’t set and he burned over a huge rapid. By the time I got my drag cinched down, he was well into my backing. My drag was maxed out and somehow I brought him back over the rapid and landed him. It was a nice fish. Great start. I hooked 2 more in that small back eddy. We worked our way down and caught a bunch of fish. We definitely had a lot more hits and had many fish that were on that we lost. Lots of action. Chris figured he landed 8 or so before lunch. I probably got the same. They are strong fish that hit hard and sometimes you get a good jump or two out of them. We drove back at noon for lunch and headed back out around 2:00 PM. We fished a smaller side channel and got into fish right away. I got 3 fish in the first hole/tailout and lost a couple more. Two were really nice tall fish that jumped. I moved down to a couple other pocket water boulder holes and landed 4-5 more fish. We moved to another fast water edge and Chris fished from the boat solo and got a really nice fish. Probably the biggest of the trip. The last spot I had a few grabs and landed a smaller fish and a fattie I had the guide hold while I took a picture. We headed back to camp around 5:30 PM. It was a really good day. Dinner was great again for being in a remote outcamp but Andrew came with us so there was little doubt. They made us a big bonfire on the beach, but I was off to bed around 9:30. I had hundreds of tiny ants crawling on my bed. I swept them off but I didn’t sleep real well and they were crawling all over me throughout the night. I should have said “yes” to the net.
January 13
I fished with Tom and we kept Henry and the other young guide. We headed out around 6:45 AM and were planning on fishing straight through until 2:00 PM, eating lunch, packing up and driving upriver back to the River Lodge on the Vichada River. Fishing was tougher and I think I only landed 3 fish, lost twice that many and had a bunch of swipes, hits and misses. I lost a really good fish that took me down some rapids. Right at the end of the day Tom got his best payara. We headed back to camp, ate lunch and left to head back up to the lodge. There was a short stop at the village at the mouth of the Vichada River to talk with some guys about fuel, then we arrived at 5:00 PM. Appetizers were waiting for us and another amazing dinner. The appetizer was delicious. Beef Carpaccio with a parmesan crisp in a tasty sauce. The main course was local pork belly over seasoned rice. It was tasty but some of the pork skin was tough and you couldn’t eat it.
January 14
Jeff and I fished a lagoon close to the lodge, landing a few butterflies each. It was hotter than the last few days. The lagoon was pretty dirty, similar to the river. Overall it was pretty slow. We ran down 15 minutes to another laguna that was beautiful. Clear black water, lots of trees. I think we got one pintalapa (spotted Temensis). We took a swim and came back to the lodge for lunch since we were close. Simon had plans for us so we ate and ran, no rest.
After lunch the plan was to drive up an hour and hike to another lagoon where some boats were stashed. We got to the little inlet and started to drive in and another boat was coming out. There were four or five younger teenagers in the boat, a couple older teenagers and one older guy driving the boat. They all had traditional bows and arrows. After some discussion with our guides, I understood that we weren’t allowed to go back there. They were smiling, but you could tell that it was a heated discussion. Jeff jokingly said he was happy we didn’t end up with arrows in us floating in the river. We asked to get pictures with them and their bow and they said no. We were close to the spot we went to on the second day, the laguna where we could drive the boat into, so we headed in there. Jeff and I started out slow but when we got in the back, we caught a ton of butterflies and pintalapas, probably about 40 fish between us. So no problem on not being allowed in the other laguna. Jeff was pretty pumped as he wanted to come back here anyways. It was a good day.
January 15
The plan was to go to the place we went on the first day, which was just upriver and a half mile hike to the stashed bongos. Two of us were going to fish the main lagoon and the other two were going to take the bongo to another trail, and hike it a hundred yards to yet another lagoon where a boat was stashed with no motor. Tom and I did that hike. It was pretty slow. We moved a couple fish. I had one bigger one come up and follow my fly pretty close to the boat. We did see a toucan fly by us and land in the tree and give us a good view. At about 9:30 AM we decided to get out of there and we headed back out to the main lagoon. Once in the main lagoon, fishing was pretty good. We had a half dozen butterflies each, a couple bigger fish, and Tom got one around eight or 9 pounds. The other guys had a really good end of their morning, getting into a pod of butterflies – they got almost 20 in 15 minutes! We had a nice lunch on an island and were all feeling sleepy, but powered through it. After lunch we headed up to the top end of the laguna and it was slow at first, but I got one about 5 or 6 pounds and Tom got his biggest fish of the trip, with a few butterflies mixed in. Right at the end we moved to a big flat and got a bunch of smaller pintalapas and butterflies. I got a 6 – 8 pound pintalapa and on the very last cast I hooked and landed a monster, definitely the biggest fish of the week (mid-teen fish). It was a perfect last day to the trip. We had a great traditional smoked fish, a Boco or Yamu, known locally as a Bocon.
January 16
Transfer day. We were up at 4:00 AM, had some coffee and were loaded into the big boat before 5:00 for the journey back to Puerto Inírida. We had a little trouble starting the motor, but once it was going it ran fine. We ate some breakfast on the boat, and made it to Puerto Inírida around 8:30 AM. It was madness. Boats and people everywhere. We maneuvered our way through the chaos of boats and made it to shore and loaded our bags in the tuk tuks and headed to the airport. Esteban checked us all in, checked our bags, and we waited outside for half an hour. They called us and we made it through security and waited to board our flight. We got on board and departed just after 11:00 AM and it took just over an hour to get to Bogota. We collected our bags and loaded them into the van that was waiting out front to take us back to the Hilton Garden Inn. We got checked in and Chris and I went to get some lunch at a place close to the hotel. Returning to the hotel I met up with Alan, Fred, and Steve, who were on the second week of the trip, and we made plans to have dinner with Tom and Jeff. Great dinner at the hotel and we all headed back to our rooms about 9 o’clock.
Insights on the Akuani River Lodge
We had a great week at Akuani River Lodge on the Vichada River. Plenty of numbers to keep you busy with butterflies, pintalapas and some Intermedia, but also some nice quality Temensis. Some of the biggest fish were definitely never seen and were broken off. I really liked mixing up the fishing – 2 days of peacocks, 2 days of payara, followed by 2 more days of peacock fishing to end the week. Completely different rivers and styles of fishing. It really is a great place to get the payara/peacock bass combo.
The lodge is very nice, well-built and spacious. Chef Andrew was amazing and most people commented that it was some of the best food they have had, and that his introduction speeches before each meal were a nice touch.
Overall the whole trip process was seamless. All the logistics involved with operating a remote camp like this is a lot to coordinate. Airport drivers, commercial flights, charter flights, transfers, hotel reservations, 150 native employees, fuel, food, and gear. It was a lot, yet ran pretty smoothly. This is an amazing experience for under $5K, especially considering it is a 9 night, 6 fishing day trip. A remarkable value in the lodge/fishing world.
I would say the native guides were the only weakness, especially for people that are used to more interaction with the guides. They were great guys, helpful, and definitely knew the river and where the fish were, but they didn’t have any pliers, nippers or boga grips. There was not a lot of instruction, more just boat drivers. They might pick a fly and tell you where to cast. Ideally it would be nice to have a native guide with an English-speaking guide that knows fly fishing, or fishing in general. But keeping as is, I think having Esteban rotate through the boats is a must so everyone can fish with him once or twice. Simon really pays attention to the details and keeps his staff happy. He very much wants to make a difference in the native villages and works with them to help improve their lives. The natives own the lodge structures, Simon rents their boats, purchases fuel, and buys chickens, pork, plantains, yucca, etc, from them. He does a lot for them and really wants to improve their lives.
A few small minor additions that would make it nicer would be to add another light or two in the cabins on the Vichada. One over each bed and/or a couple of lamps. The rooms were pretty dark and you needed a headlamp to get into your bags. I would have a fan for each bed. Either a standing fan or ones mounted just above the bed on the wall. I know Chris was pretty hot at night.
I know it is hard, but it would be nice to see a reusable Yeti water bottle for each person to use for the week and have the guides bring a big reusable jug to fill up the water bottles. We went through a lot of plastic water bottles. A makeshift PVC shower head would be nice. Better than a jetstream of water on you. Again not huge, but having Wifi in the rooms would be nice. Everyone wants to be connected and send their pictures out at the end of the day or call their wife/girlfriend from their rooms on WhatsApp.
Lastly, it should be mandatory to wear life jackets while traveling between payara fishing spots on the Orinoco. Nobody really said that it was necessary, but if one of those boats tips, most guests aren’t making it out without a lifejacket. It should be mandatory every time a guest gets into the boat to put it on, even if it is only a short distance to the next spot.
My Gear
Rods
Winston Air 2 Max 8 and 9 wts. – 8’6” and 9’
Scott Sector – 8’4” 8wt
Lines
Scientific Anglers Sonar Tropical Custom Sink Tip
Scientific Anglers Amplitude Textured Tropical Titan Floating Fly Line
Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Jungle Clear Tip Fly Line
Reels
Bauer SLT
Hardy Fortuna
E r i k A r g o t t i
Destination Specialist
The Fly Shop, Inc.
4140 Churn Creek Road
Redding, California 96002
(800) 669-3474 / (530) 222-3555 / argotti@theflyshop.com / www.theflyshop.com