The Return of The Redtaill

The Return of the Redtail

by Terry Ginis

    I wondered to myself if returning to the place where I caught my biggest fish was a good idea. After all, they say you can’t go home again, so what was I doing trying to re-create the greatest catch of my life? Surely, I was foolish to think that I could ever get anything close to last year’s prize of an 80 pound Redtail catfish. Still I’m drawn back to the same spot in Brazil-the Rio Teles Pires. I had to go back; just to know what happened was real.

    

    The journey to the fishing lodge seemed even longer this year. Perhaps my anticipation of great fish, or just wanting to escape to the middle of nowhere, made the two-day journey seem like weeks. Anyone who has waited at an airport for eight hours for an hour and a half flight can sympathize with me. Finally, after two days-success!

    I landed at the remote airstrip with my translator (provided by the lodge), and knew right away this trip would be memorable. Driving on the dirt road through the jungle, suddenly the driver stopped and told my translator something. She casually told me that the driver had spotted a tarantula walking along the road. Say no more! I grabbed my camera and was racing back to get a photo before anyone knew what had happened! Well, this was something I hadn’t seen last year. I just had a feeling that I was going to have a few of these encounters in the eight days I would be at the lodge. The fishing would not even begin until early the next morning but I was more than ready for what lay ahead.

    I was told the rainy season had actually begun a month early, so that meant that the river was already starting to rise and getting a really big fish would be harder. The plan of the day was to travel upstream and work our way back to the lodge for lunch, then head downstream until it started getting dark. As we sped upstream, I was reliving the happy memories of last year and 

trying to place all of what I saw into my long-term memory bank. It gets harder as you age to recall the feeling of exhilaration by the simple act of racing down a river and not having a care in the world.

    The first spot we stopped was one that I had recalled from last year to be where I had caught my biggest fish-a 100 pound Jau catfish. The river was high and fast, but we anchored at the side and cast out the two heavy rods. I bought another big rod and had 100 pound monofilament, along with last year’s big rod with the 80 pound monofilament. A few hours of waiting brought two Jau catfish, not exceeding 25 pounds. While some would say that was a decent catch, knowing what could potentially be there made me want to continue to another spot.

    I caught many nice fish, some even new to me, but my goal is always to catch a big catfish. By the end

of day two, I was starting to get worried. It seemed that no one was catching anything large-which made me feel a little better. After lunch on day three we headed out again. I could only think that I was almost half way through my trip, and I hadn’t even had one big take. Then it happened! That take that tells the angler something monstrous has just swallowed the bait and is heading for the middle of the river. I had to really struggle just to get the rod out of the holder. This was the big rod with the 100 pound monofilament, so I knew that losing this fish would be the fault of the angler and not the tackle.

    Last year’s big Redtail was much more of a struggle because of the lighter tackle, but even with the heavy gear, I could feel this was a true monster. I recalled my guide’s advice from last year and when the fish took line, I just held on. When it stopped I brought up the rod and reeled in. This went on for a good ten minutes-not much time for a big fish. When it finally surfaced, I couldn’t believe my eyes! This was not only a Redtail catfish-this was a Retail that looked like it 

had swallowed a couple of basketballs!

     I knew the drill-the guide puts it on your lap and you get a few photos and then he lets it go. My problem was that this fish was so heavy that I had difficulty keeping it on my lap despite putting my foot on the side of the boat to help in its support. After a few photos, I begged the guide to take the fish before it ended up on the bottom of the boat. When asked, my guide estimated it to weigh approximately 50 kilo. The metric system not being a strong point for me, my translator told me it was a little over 110 pounds! No wonder I had difficulty in holding that beast! I can add that it was safely released back into the river with no ill effects of giving me the biggest thrill of my trip.

   

    In future articles I will tell you about what happened to me during the last half of my stay. It involves two more Redtails, an ancient species of catfish that I never dreamed I would catch, and other catfish that can only be caught in that magical place. There is a video of me bringing in this fish-but as of this writing I haven’t received it from the lodge. As soon as this is available to view, I will let you know where to find it. I haven’t seen it myself! I was too busy! You can contact me at terryginis@yahoo.com with any questions or comments.