Piranha Fishing

As we had arranged the day before, Danni showed up at the Adamo at 6:30am. Phil and I had packed light for our trip: a water proof bag containing two diet cokes, one tomato, a bag of goldfish snacks, a camera and the hand held VHF. Danni had also packed lightly. He had a few shrimp swimming around his leaky boat, a spool of fishing string and one hook. He asked us if we had any rods, then told us to get them and a knife as well.

We kissed Sue goodbye and with great anticipation boarded Danni’s 25 foot long, 3 foot wide pirogue.

Danni’s was a home built boat, as most of them here are; a dugout canoe with a crude frame and wood planks installed to raise the gunwales. Fabric from old jeans and tar was used as a filler between the planks of wood to keep the water at bay. The boat leaked incessantly, and the faster the boat went, the more water got pushed between the cracks. One spot spewed like a little geyser shooting a stream of water 6 inches into the air and then into the bilge of the boat.

The first thing you notice when you step on board a pirogue is how tippy the boat is. You just don’t hop on. You gently board, balancing yourself while others aboard counter balance your weight to keep it upright. Once seated, you don’t move around much, particularly underway.

Phil was seated on the bow facing aft. I was sitting on a wood plank facing forward. Danni put the engine in gear and we began puling away from the Adamo. We started slowly, then a little faster, then a little more and finally our guide opened her up all the way. We were zipping along at over 40 mph with an inch of gunwale between us and the river's surface. Phil was grinning ear to ear. This was definitely very, very cool.

After skimming along the water for 5 minutes we turned off of the main river into a side cano (a small creek leading into the jungle). Our first task of the day was to find monkeys. Having shut down the engine, Danni paddled quietly, deeper into the jungle.

We could hear monkeys chattering and cracking branches as they swung from tree to tree; but we did not get to see any that morning.

Next we were off to go piranha fishing. By now the sun was beating down again. When you are so close to the equator, you can feel the sun searing your skin. Two weeks ago, in Trinidad, we were as close as you can get to the sun. It was directly over head and it was HOT. Danni brought us to a shady spot along the edge of the river. A cool breeze kept us comfortable as we watched him catch one of the shrimp swimming in his bilge, hook it and toss his hand line in the murky water.

Within a minute, he pulled in a small catfish. He asked for our knife and filleted the finger sized fish into strips of bait. He handed us each a strip and began baiting his own hook. Phil and I followed his lead. We dropped our lines in, and before long we were pulling in red bellied and black bellied piranhas.

Here's the crazy part. You unhook them and drop them in the bilge to swim around your feet! Fresh water is always coming in the boat, so you are really sitting in a big, huge live well. Surprisingly, the fish were not as aggressive as you might imagine. They lay in the bilge without moving around too much.

Back at the Adamo, we cleaned the fish and pan fried them. The verdict? Piranhas are a tasty, mild fish, but quite bony. I think the Adamo crew will stick to larger, not so bony fish.

In the evening, Danni showed up again to go find some monkeys. I guess he won't quit until you get what you paid for. Sue joined us on this trip. It was fun to watch her as we took off in Danni's low-slung, go-fast boat. She looked like she was having a great time, but also had a look of disbelief that people zip around in these boats everywhere.

Our guide brought us into a different cano this time. As we penetrated deeper and deeper into the jungle, the now familiar sounds of monkeys in the distance, came upon us. This time however, an entire troop of capuchin monkeys, heading to their night-time resting spot, used the branches overhead as a bridge to cross the cano. Danni's persistence had paid off, as I am sure it had many times in the past.