The traveling angler is frequently faced with the first world problem of deciding between making a return trip to a favorite destination vs.checking off new locations from the bucket list. With so many amazing locations to visit across the globe and not enough time to see everything, returning to old haunts comes at the sacrifice of seeing one less new location.
Even at the expense of repetition, there are some locations which are so uniquely special that you simply have no choice but to make an annual pilgrimage. Agua Boa Amazon Lodge in Brazil is one such destination that makes the short list of places that I simply must return to.
It is difficult to choose worlds that accurately describe the full grandeur that is experienced when visiting the heart of the Amazon rainforest. The remoteness of the location is profound. The diversity and abundance of wildlife is unparalleled. The spectacular fisheries are beyond comparison. When the riches of the natural world are combined with a well run lodge and excellent guides, at some point you just have to throw in the towel and return!
Although I have enjoyed the great fortune of returning to Agua Boa over several years, each trip produces a truly unique experience. Water levels change from season to season on the Agua Boa and one of the factors that I appreciate more and more about this fishery is how robust it is in the quality of fishing it produces regardless of the water level. Regardless of whether the river is high, low or somewhere in between we always manage to find plenty of fish. The consistency of the fishing is one of the many factors that sets the Agua Boa program apart. The quality of the fishing we experienced during our recent 2024 trip when waters were exceptionally low only helped to reaffirm my faith in the Agua Boa.
Traveling to Agua Boa Lodge
Traveling to one of the most remote places on the planet is not without effort, but the complexities experienced during the Covid pandemic are now a thing of the past. There were several new routes to Manaus this season that many of our guests enjoyed, whether connecting through Panama City or enjoying the new direct flight from Fort Lauderdale. Regardless of the route we all met in the city of Manaus. Manaus is the bustling hub of the Amazonas state and is well worth an extra day to see some of the unique sights such as the floating villages, historic opera house and the sprawling fish market.
New updates to the pool and cabins at the Agua Boa Lodge for 2024
The last few seasons the team at Agua Boa has been busy in the off season updating the lodge. The remodeled guest cabins were a welcome surprise on our previous trip and this season we enjoyed several new updates including a completely renovated and expanded pool area. The entire pool was re-tiled. Several new additions included a huge pergola near the pool area as well as an expanded area near the pool bar that included a huge new covered patio with deep seating overlooking the river.
River levels and conditions for the 2024 trip
The northern Amazon system had just experienced an unusually dry season resulting in lower than average water levels. In many areas of the Amazon, outfitters running live-aboard programs were canceling trips due to the challenges of accessing fisheries in the large liveaboard boats when the flows were low. One of the perks at Agua Boa is that we are not limited by the demands of a live aboard vessel since the lodge is located midway up the system. Each day we head out in flat bottomed skiffs equipped with a blend of outboard jet and props which allow us to run in even the skinniest of waters. One of other benefits of the Agua Boa program is the numerous lagunas and oxbow lakes that are near the main river corridor. The lodge has cut trails through the jungle to many of these little gems and has also stashed skiffs that remained stationed at each laguna.
The fishing program at Agua Boa Lodge
During a week at Agua Boa guests fish 6.5 days beginning with the arrival day when the Cessna Caravans arrive at the private runway mid morning. After a late breakfast and making some lunches at the lodge guests get rods strong up and head out for fishing. The lodge has a dock right on the river where guides are met for the days adventure.
The fishery is broken up into beats with one guide spending his week in one beat. Over 100 miles of river is accessible through the different beats along with numerous oxbow lakes and lagunas. Each day our guests rotate guides so that you are visiting new water throughout the trip. Fly fishing in Brazil's Amazon rainforest is always an adventure and the enjoyment extends far beyond catch rates and big fish.
Fishing the lagunas and lakes
The most consistent action of our trip was found in the numerous lagunas and oxbow lakes found throughout the river corridor. Some of the lagunas are backwater bays of the main river while others are landlocked oxbow lakes that you have to walk through the jungle to access. The lodge has placed skiffs for poling in over a dozen of the different lagunas that are landlocked. Each year during the rainy season these oxbow lakes are connected to the main river during the floods, but when the river drops during the dry season the fish are isolated from the main river.
Each lake is different is unique with different sizes of fish, types of fish, etc. Some of the lagunas had few fish but some absolute monsters while others were packed with lots of active butterfly peacocks. This season many of the lagunas had enormous arapaima that were over 7 feet long and over 200lbs! Fishing in the lagunas tends to be exclusively with streamers on intermediate clear tip sinking lines. Sometimes we are blind casting over flats or to structure, while on other lagunas it is primarily sight casting to large cruising peacocks. Each day of the trip there were big peacocks landed. I don’t think there any days where someone didn’t land a fish over 15lbs. Most of our larger fish on this trip were encountered in the lagunas and back bays.
Fishing the main river
With the lower water levels it was exhilarating fishing the main river. The lower flows resulted in incredible sight fishing opportunities. The Agua Boa is known for its outstanding sight casting due to the unusually clear waters. Most of the Amazon fisheries have dark tea stained waters, but the clear waters of the Agua Boa allow for a superb visual angling experience.
This year the entire river was in play for sight casting. We often spotted huge peacocks from over 100 yards away. The challenge this season was fooling the big fish in the low and clear waters. Even though the fish in the river see few flies they were easily spooked if a cast was made too close to a cruising fish. Our best approach for the large temensis species was to lead them with a cast well over 10 feet from the fish and then leave the fly until they cruised closer before aggressively stripping to hopefully stimulate an aggressive take. Most of the big fish we would spook but every few opportunities we would make just the right cast for an incredibly rewarding visual take in shallow waters. Although our catch rates in the main river were lower than in past years we saw more fish than ever and it was some of the most rewarding fishing I have yet experienced in the Amazon.
One of my favorite things to do on the large sand bar flats is to cast to the smaller butterfly peacocks. These fish average about 2-3 lbs although some of the large fish can be as large as 8 lbs. They often hunt in small schools of 5-20 fish as they cruise the shallows but occasionally they will cruise in singles or doubles. They will even follow the freshwater stingrays much like permit do on saltwater flats waiting for a free meal.
With the butterflies I had a blast sight casting to them with poppers and gurglers to entice aggressive surface takes. Watching these fish go from a slow cruising speed to accelerating to a frenzied aggressive chase in microseconds when they see the fly is something to behold!
Incredible shots at arripaima
Arripaima are the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world. These amazing fish often measure more than 8 feet long and weigh in over 200lbs. This season was one of the best ever for opportunities on the arripaima. Several guests this season on other weeks had landed some and my hopes were high. Often when I have tried for arripaima it felt like shooting blind as you tried to guess where they were after they rolled at the surface. This season I had several first class shots at fish where we were able to see the entire arripaima a few feet below the surface. This produces your best chances to hook a fish when you can slow strip a fly right past their face. I had one big monster hit the fly but I wasn’t able to connect. One of our other guests managed to hook one but broke him off after a few seconds. Simply having a shot at these amazing fish is worth the trip!
Highlights of the fishing week
We had yet another amazing week at Agua Boa with numerous species of fish landed including 3 species of peacock bass, 2 species of catfish, piranha, oscars, jacunda, wolf fish, payara (vampire fish), dogfish, bicunda, matricia and many others. We lost track of big fish but estimated that our group likely landed somewhere around 80-100 peacock bass over 10lbs over the course of the week! The fish of the trip was an incredible 20lb peacock bass landed by Linda Stiles which is the largest peacock to date any of our guests has landed on any of our hosted trips. Nice work Linda!!!
Back at the lodge after a great day on the water
After a great day of fishing it is always a welcome respit to return to a nicely appointed lodge. The newly remodelled pool area with a full swim up bar was the defacto gathering place after fishing.
Thanks to the lodge team for another incredible week!
One of the elements of the Agua Boa program that makes it so special is the quality of the staff. From Carlos the lodge manager to the guides on the river the staff is simply exceptional. It is nice to see the same friendly faces year after year on return visits. We can’t wait to come back in 2025!
We will be returing in February 2025 for another hosted tirp to Agua Boa lodge. Click here for more details on our next hosted trip to the Amazon!