us that, due to very low water, the
Rupununi was not navigable so we’d
have to drive from Annai further
downstream to Kurupukari and then
take the aluminium boats with 30-40hp
outboards all the way up to King
William falls. Taking a whole day -
about 130 miles.
The plan worked perfectly up to the
last part. All the boats were heavily
laden with fuel, camp supplies, tackle
and people and the one that Andrei and
I were travelling in was slower than the
others for various reasons in the very
dangerous low water conditions. Mark,
the captain, had to spy out hidden rocks
as we crawled along. He’d never tried
to run the river this low before and was
very safe and cautious. When a heavy
tropical rainstorm hit us in the
afternoon we had to reduce speed
even more as the rain hid the small
perturbations in the surface of the
river indicating rocks. The unfortunateoutcome was that Mark, Andrei and
I found ourselves soaked and about
three hours and three sets of waterfalls
short of the camp as night fell. Without
camping equipment or food and three
large caimans (local alligators) lurking
around our small beach it looked like
being an interesting night. Last year
Mark and Brian had been telling me
how small vampire bats with rabies
will nip those foolish enough to spend
the night in the open. This is real
unspoilt Amazon jungle here with
dangerous snakes (bushmasters and
fer-de-lance) and animals (jaguars,
pumas etc.) all present. Several pairs
of eyes looked back when I shone the
torch up into the bush.
Earlier, as we crept through some
rocks, Andrei had caught a peacock
bass about 2lb on a Spook type surface
lure which was killed because it was
badly hooked. Dinner! I gathered damp
sticks and Mark soon had the fillets
roasting over a small fire. We searched
the boat for other sustenance and got a
packet of biscuits, 6l of lovely El
Dorado Demerara rum and two crates
of very warm Coca-Cola. A couple of
stiff rum and cokes and peacock bass
with sweet biscuits served on a plank
set us up nicely for a fearful night of
very little sleep but, thankfully, no more
torrential rain.
An early start next morning and arescue from Raymond, coming down
from camp, saw us jumping his fast
empty boat up the second set of
waterfalls to crash down into a scene
of devastation. There were bottles of
pop, suitcases, coolboxes, harpoons
and all manner of useful stuff floating
everywhere. The supply boat with
Elvis at the helm had turned over and
sunk attempting the last waterfall.
Some beer, the tools and cooking pots
and various niceties like sheets and
towels were lost but our brilliant local
Macushi Indian captains and staff
had the boat raised and engine working
by that afternoon. Poor old Elvis then
had to go on a three day odyssey back
down to get more beer and supplies
from Kurupukari.
Once installed we were able to get
on with the business of fishing. Catfish
were the focus at King William camp
but Steve Townson and I had an
enjoyable afternoon session lure fishing
for peacock bass and jigging baits for
payara. This is a Lure Anglers Society
magazine article but I won’t try and
shelter readers from the realities of
South American fishing. While many
brilliant species including payara can
be caught lure fishing, cut bait on
medium to heavy boat outfits is the way
to go for catfish and I would never
restrict myself to lure-only when a
more effective method is available.
The Essequibo River is one of the
largest in South America and has a
wonderful variety of fishing spots with
different species inhabiting them. Rock
piles, of which there were plenty most
of the way along the river, would
contain peacock bass hiding from
piranhas in the cracks. Rapids and
waterfalls held big vegetarian red pacu
and payara and the deep holes below
these typically contained big redtail
and jau catfish with the possibility of
the enormous shark-like piraiba catfish- locally called lau-lau. Generally
‘THE SUPPLY BOAT WITH ELVIS AT THE
HELM HAD TURNEDOVER AND SUNK
ATTEMPTING THELAST WATERFALL’
I lured this sunfish
from under a small
bush on a rock pileOur hated adversary
- the black piranha
My best peacock
bass – taken on a
modified bucktail
jig of my ownThe ABU Atom
20g spoon was
the go-to peacock
bass lure
The rock piles
are a perfect
sanctuary for
many species