Tsimane Lodge, days 4, 5, 6 - Pluma
ok, i’m still here at Tsimane Lodge (Asunta), waiting for the arrival of some very special guests (more later). here’s the second half of my first hosted trip in early September. we took the small Cessna about 15 minutes to the next community of Oromomo where i met up with my good friend Ramiro Badessich who i hadn’t seen in a while, and guides Alejandro Bianchetti and Fabian Anastasio. it had rained quite a bit the night before, so the Rio Pluma had muddied up considerably, and what was to be a 4-5 hour transfer (in low water), turned out to be but a mere 2 hours.
the next 3 days saw me and my group fishing the two forks that form the Rio Pluma (Pluma and Itirizama). the lodge is great, an almost carbon copy of the lodge at Asunta, but with a few minor decorative differences.
the fishing was quite good despite the muddy water (which cleared by day 2), we saw lots of fish into the 30+ pound range, some were hooked and lost. i followed some of the guys for a couple days, but had to stay back at the lodge as i got some kind of weird foot infection (from the water, presumably) that all the guides get, especially with waterlogged feet. also, i stayed back to relax and catch up on some much needed work.
here are some photos from Pluma. the top photo is Hayden Thompson (photo by Alejandro Bianchetti) from the last day with his 24 pound dorado. a long time fly fisher in freshwater, this is Hayden’s biggest fish ever. also some macaws, which are everywhere, but are hard to photograph unless you have your camera around your neck 24/7, which mine are too heavy to bother with. the photo of the catfish is a “surubi”, a striped catfish that is not only bad-ass looking, but also very tasty (sorry for the tiny photo, i’ll put a bigger on up later). the rest of the photos are pretty self explanatory. the stars are from the lodge porch at night. (photos © Joey Lin 2009, except the photo of Hayden and the photo of me, by Alejandro Bianchetti)
here is also a set of images of one of the Tsimane “communarios” hunting sabalo with traditional bow and arrow. sabalo are a carp-like fish that inhabit the rivers by the millions. they are hunted for food by the Tsimanes as well as dorado and just about anything else. it SUCKS to be a sabalo, i guess. (photos © Joey Lin 2009), more to come soon…
guys, i’m here at Tsimane Lodge #1 on the Rio Secure hosting a group. here are some quickie photos from yesterday, day 1 of fishing. Jim Hardy caught a pacu early in the morning. here is also a nice dorado caught by Frank Butler with Felipe. gotta run, we’re going camping upstream for a night. (photos © Joey Lin and Steven White 2009) cheers.