Left, web master and CEO of Trayco Adventures
Limited, Tyler "Tray" Thorsen with an 11 pound 5 ounce
Tiger Pavon. Tyler fell halfway out of the boat and nearly broke
his rod bringing this one in. Fortunately, the negatives of the
event didn't survive one of the tropical showers.
The peacock bass are actually not bass but are a member of the Cichlid family of fish. They are more closely related to your tropical fish than a garden variety Largemouth Bass. They are the strongest freshwater fish this group has ever encountered. In fact, we had the drags cinched down as tight as they would go on our 6500 Ambassadeur reels and still a large Peacock or "Pavon" could manage to pull out some drag. We lost several large Pavons that pulled us under and over the many logs and tree limbs in Lake Guri.
Tyler and Capitan with a 7 pounder
caught and released in "Billy's Cove", a tranquil spot
where Capt. Billy birdwatched and picked up a pattern for catching
big Pavons in the shallow backwaters.
The Payara is a fish that could be found in your worst nightmare. They have two dagger-like fangs that extend into the top of their skull. Other teeth are found between the two fangs on the bottom and on the top of the jaw. This one of 7 or 8 lbs was caught by Tyler on a homemade lure. This strike exposed the bare wood of the lure waterlogging it for the rest of the trip. Others had holes punched into Rattle Traps by a Payara and Larry Flak had one bite through 65 pound Berkley Fireline. Payaras make for fine eating and this one found its way into a fish stew. Payaras are so mean and nasty, they make their living eating Piranhas which can be found throughout Lake Guri.
"Capitan", one of our boat drivers dispatches a Payara. The best way to catch them is to first catch some small bluegill-sized Piranha. The Piranhas are then freelined in the river channels using a wire leader. Our Payaras were caught while trolling shallow diving plugs and Rattle Traps in the deeper coves and channels.
Tyler with a Pavon over 10lbs caught
and released from the bank in our Honeyhole. Our Honeyhole was
an area Capt. Billy and Tyler found after establishing the pattern
that the bigger Pavon were in the backwaters of coves especially
those that had access to deepwater and those where the wind was
blowing bait directly into the mouths.
Ron Sutton of USA Surf Fishing getting his "string stretched"
by a nice Pavon. His new Conoflex bass rod proved to be a formidable
adversary to any large Pavon.
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