760 | Fly Fishing Colombia with Andres, Nick, and Jason – Baku Lodge, Giant Peacock Bass

Dave (2s): One of the most iconic fish you’ll see across social media is the peacock bass, massive, vibrant, and found deep in some of the most remote jungle waters on the planet. Today, we’re heading into one of those places, Baku Lodge Outta Columbia. They’re the local indigenous community, welcomes you like family, and you’ll hear firsthand from three people on the ground and on the water of what it’s really like to chase giant peacocks in Untamed Waters. This is the Wet Fly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip, And what you can do to give back to fish species We all love. How’s it going? I’m Dave host of the We Fly Swing podcast. I’ve been Fly fishing since I was a little kid, grew up around a little fly shop, and created one of the largest Fly fishing podcast out there. Dave (45s): Today, Andres, Jason and Nick are gonna take us deep into the Colombian jungle to show us what it’s really like to target these giant peacock bass, some up to 25 pounds. Along the way, you’re going to learn why colo is much safer to travel to than most people think. How this adventure is surprisingly affordable. We’re gonna talk about that today, a full week at this lodge, a price we talk about at the end that is pretty amazing of what you get here and what to expect when you’re out there and how to prepare for your first jungle trip. Plus, you’re gonna find out what the under loop cast is all about from Nick. Nick, the stick. He gets it done. Today, we’re gonna talk Lampson, liquid outfit, and all the rest. Dave (1m 26s): Here we go. Without further ado the boys baku lodge.com. How you guys doing? Doing Andres (1m 34s): Great. Yeah, good, bud. Dave (1m 36s): Awesome. This is great to have you guys on here. I, I’m excited because I always talking to Nick, Nick Torres from Lamps in there. We’ve had some, some pretty amazing journeys over the year, Nick, we’re, we’ll probably talk a little bit about some of the trips, notably the Alaska trip, which we tend to go back, but you’ve been on the podcast a number of times. Andres, Jason, you guys are new. We’re gonna talk about Baku Lodge, a couple of species, peacock bass, the vampire fish, some fish that we’ve talked about, you know, Columbia. I think it’s a place that’s definitely a bucket list place. I mean, I think probably everybody listening wants to get down there and I want to kind shed some light on this to let them know what it’s like, maybe how to get down there and how to put together a trip. Does that sound okay for you guys? Andres (2m 17s): Absolutely. Dave (2m 18s): Okay, cool. Well, let’s, let’s just jump into a quick little round of intros and maybe Andres maybe we’ll start with you and just do a, just tell us who you are and maybe how you came to be connected to Baku Lodge there. Andres (2m 31s): Yeah, okay. My, my name is Andres Campos. I’m originally from Columbia, but I live in South Florida in Miami. I’ve been there for 20 years and I started doing this since I was a kid, like fishing and hunting because my grandparent was a big guy and, and being named Columbia for, for hunting and fishing. And he started, this is like probably 30, 40 years ago. And my family’s been in the business for, for that time. So I got together with Jason. Actually Jason had the, I think always said that he’s the one that started all this because he called me one day and, and, and asked me if I knew someone that had a lodge down here in Columbia to send some people to fish. Andres (3m 11s): And I, and I kind of, at that particular time, my uncle who had this lodge for a few years was a living lodge. So I knew that. So I just told you guys, Hey, just wait a minute. Let me just make some phone calls. And I did, and I called the community here that we talk about it later and they told me when we are looking for someone to run the lodge, and I say, okay, I’ll do it. And that’s how really it started. That was that easy. But I mean, it’s a lot, it is a lot of story behind my family and fishing, and my uncles and my grandpa and my granddad was a pioneer on pickle butts fishing in Colombia and also in Brazil like 34 years ago. So I mean, our background in, in, in fishing is, is been pretty big and very important for the Colombian and Amazon Basin, you know, or in our river too. Andres (3m 57s): So then we had this lodge that we, we’ll talk about it, and, and my uncle had it for like two years and I jumped in and we had our first season this season, which went very, very well. And we are looking forward for the future coming you. Wow. Dave (4m 11s): Amazing. We’ll definitely get into some of the family. I always love hearing some stories of the family and the history too. Yeah. So, so cool. Well, let’s keep this going. Jason, why don’t you give us an intro of how you came to be connected. Well, we heard a little bit of it there, but are you, have you been doing a lot of these trips out in the kind of southern part of the world, you know, in recent years? Yeah, Jason (4m 31s): Yeah. I, my side hustle, so to speak, I do, I work with a company called Truck Safaris, 50-year-old company that kind of, along with, I mean, was involved in it with Eric’s, Eric and, and Andres’s family for, you know, 30 years maybe. Yeah, maybe more. And I, I travel a lot with them and the owner of the company asked me a few years ago to come check out what was called Las Laguna was the name of the lodge. And it actually was across the river. It was just more of a camp. And I flew in and spent a couple of days with Andres’s uncle, caught some freaking monster peacocks, but really fell in love with the Pacheco people that they’re our hosts, the community here, indigenous tribe, just kind people and, and hardworking and, and just kind of bonded and connected, albeit with very poor Spanish. Jason (5m 32s): And yeah, so when I called up, well, I’ll say that social media can be terrible, but in the case of Alogia was great because Andres reached out to me and I said, Hey, I, I hear you’re going and you know, let me know how your experience is. And so we kind of made contact through Instagram and then, you know, I was asking him about flies to use. He, he sent me a bunch of flies and didn’t even know me and sent me probably a couple hundred bucks worth of flies and to Olivia that he had. Right. And he made a real, like, of his experience and he included pictures for mine. And, and then, you know, his son’s a competitive shooter, so he came to Jacksonville to compete in, in sporting clays. Jason (6m 18s): Yeah. And we got together and we just, you know, we bonded and, and so I definitely fell in love with Columbia and, and wondered, I’ve always had a dream of, of fishing lives. I mean, I think most people who fish enough like dream about a place that, a special place that’s like home, like cheers, but in the jungle, right? And, and so yeah, I mean, I, I, I, I reached out, I was like, Hey, what do you think about doing something down there? And he was like, yeah, my, my uncle’s, he’s, he’s pulling out and we, we got this place across the river from the old camp, and this is a very nice, amazing, like, walled rooms with, they’re cool with fans, you know, a lot of little touches, you know, but, but it’s still in the middle of the jungle. Jason (7m 7s): And, you know, we just had a vision to make the experience, you know, and, you know, try to bring groups in who had the passion that we have. You know, we’re calling friends and they’re putting our groups together, you know, Nick got involved, sent us a bunch of fly gear, you know, he’s here now and, and like this is the dream is, is just sharing the, the experience of this amazing place with other people, people, you know, and, and, and new friends that you meet. Dave (7m 35s): Nice. Yeah, I love that. I love the, the Cheers analogy that’s always was a classic show. And, and it makes a lot of sense because you want that place, right? You want that place where you can kind of keep coming back to and, and you kinda know everybody. And I think that probably the people, like you mentioned the indigenous people is a big part of that. But, well Nick, let’s, let’s hear from you. Give us a quick little update. You’ve been on this podcast before, but for those that are new, tell us who you are and what you do. Jason (7m 60s): Sure, Nick (8m 0s): Yeah. My name is Nick Torres. I work for Lamps and Fly fishing. I’m the community manager there. I manage our pro program marketing, do a few things. But yeah, so Andres reached out to me last fall. He had been fishing some of our gear there in Florida already and was just like, you know, I really like your guys’ stuff. I’m taking over the family business down here in the jungle and, you know, we could use some gear. And after hearing the story about, you know, his, his pedigree and his, you know, family history and how long they’ve been doing stuff down here, really pioneering the peacock bass experience in, in Columbia, you know, I was like, it’s a no brainer, so let me send you a bunch of stuff. Nick (8m 44s): And they’ve been fishing it all year and then he reached back out to me and was like, you know, we love this stuff. We’d love to have you down. And basically I was like, you don’t have to twist my arm to have a good time. So I’ll, I’ll see you in March. And here we are. Dave (8m 58s): Yeah. And so what has it been for you, Nick? You get there? I’m not sure, I think you’ve been down in some of that part of the world, but what’s it like for you to get back there? Have you been there? Have you been that area? Nick (9m 8s): So it’s been about 33 years since I’ve been to Columbia. Oh, wow. When I was eight years old. My dad’s from Argentina, mom’s from the States. I grew up in South Dakota when I was eight. My parents kinda got a wild hair and decided to sell everything we had. And my dad bought an old beat up suburban diesel and we drove from South Dakota to Argentina and I got to spend about a week and a half in Columbia. This was back in 1991. And so it’s always been a dream to, to get back down here. And especially, you know, once I really got into fishing, peacock bass have been kind of an obsession of mine for a long time. Nick (9m 49s): I’m, I’m a big bass guy. I like catching any kind of bass, but these are kind of the, the king of bass. Right. And so I really had to jump at the opportunity to get down here and I’m so happy I did. Dave (10m 1s): Nice. Jason (10m 2s): Yeah. I can attest to the fact you don’t have to twist next arm to do it to do anything fun. No. You don’t have to get anywhere near as hard. That’s Nick (10m 10s): The name of the game. I’m all about the fun. Dave (10m 13s): Yeah. I know people on this podcast have heard the stories, but the, the road trip Nick and I had up into Alaska was, was one for the we, we’ll never forget for sure there’s, it’s gonna be pretty hard to beat that, that road. I mean, but I am interested, you know, Dave. Yeah. What was your take Nick on that, on that trip? Nick (10m 29s): I mean, that Alaska trip was one for the books. I, it’s something I’ll always remember getting to connect with you and Adam from Fish Hound Expeditions was just so cool. And that was, you know, one of the most remote things I, I’ve done. But I, I gotta say where I’m at right now, it’s by far the most remote place I’ve been on the planet. And it’s so cool to just get away and get to a place like this. Yeah. Jason (10m 54s): When you were in Alaska, did Nick make you stay up till all hours of the night? Or did Dave (10m 59s): Oh, we got stories. I could go an hour hours. Talked about the stories. The one, the great one that I love about Alaska is that we stay up late at this poker tournament. I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was amazing ’cause Nick almost took, it was Nick (11m 10s): The VFW in Dave (11m 12s): Tna. In tna, Jason (11m 14s): The vfw. Really? Dave (11m 15s): Oh, it was so good. It was so good. But yeah, you remember that night, Nick, the, the old poker tournament, oh, Nick (11m 20s): Can’t forget it. Hustled a bunch of old guys at the VFW for your Jason (11m 24s): Money. You, you have no shame my man. I mean, why Nick (11m 28s): I like to play cards, Jason (11m 29s): Say, yeah. Dave (11m 31s): So what I’d like to do, you know, is paint the picture of, of what this is. I mean, I think that, I’m thinking, I’m starting to think about this right now, what this looks like in the middle of, you know, the jungle. You’ve got all these amazing fish and I think the peacock bass is one. I think you guys are, maybe this area is known for some of the large, the largest bass down in there. But talk about that. Whoever wants to take it, what is, what is it about peacock bass that gets people so fired up and are they bass species? Are they similar to a, like a small mouth bass, large mouth bass? Jason (12m 0s): No, they’re CIDs totally different species. But you know, they definitely have, you know, sort of a, a large mouth bass shaped to them. And bass anglers are, are very drawn to fishing for peacocks because it’s the very similar type of fishing, using the same types of lures and flies, but just like four or five times, six to 10 times the size of about flies and lures. But, but yeah, the thing is honestly, people come down here to catch a big peacocks and you know, we, the average fish we get here is typically, you know, eight to 10 pounds. And we get a lot of fifteens and twenties. Jason (12m 42s): Andre’s caught a 25 pound peacock this year on the fly. And in fact he alone has like how many I got, Andres (12m 48s): I this one I caught like 15 fish over 18 pounds. Jason (12m 51s): Yeah. So, and a lot of, a lot of our clients have have caught plus 20 pound peacocks. But I think ultimately, I mean, they take a lot of top water for conventional guys. They love top water and, and even like a five pound peacock on top water, it’s like an explosion. They’re, they’re mean, they, they pull hard. You have to have, you have to have stiff rides, you have to have 60 pound test line, you have to have your, your drag like tightened all the way down. And they just, even with all that, I mean, they can take you into structure and you have to be on your a game at all times. So I think the reason why people, you know, come to fish, peacock bass is because it’s like, that experience is like large mouth bass fishing on like steroids for like, I mean for like 20 years. Jason (13m 39s): Like, it’s insane. The takes are insane. The fight is insane. And then landing the fish, they’re just beautiful fish and they make great pictures. Nick (13m 48s): I gotta tell you Dave, I’ve never felt a freshwater fish pull like these fish. It is, I mean, they are violent, they’re aggressive, they’re mean. And it’s just so fun. I mean, I don’t know how Andres landed a 25. Like I’ve had, I’ve had a couple of fish so far in like the 10 to 12 pound range that kicked my ass. Let’s be Andres (14m 11s): Real. Yeah. I was lucky. I was lucky to have it on the, on the open water. I had no structured nearby. So yeah, we wouldn’t have a structure like close by. I, we will never get that fishing. Yeah. We Jason (14m 20s): Had a, we had a client earlier this year, a very, a very good fishing guide in Florida who he, the fish were on bed and he hooked the, the same fish twice and both times broke him off. And then, you know, very disappointed. But on the last day, on the last half of the last day, he caught that fish. And yeah, I mean it’s, it’s just, and and I think the idea of, of fishing in the jungle, like it takes you back to almost childhood. I mean, Nick and I were talking about this is like pretending you were Tarzan or whatever and, and you know, this is it, man. I mean, you’re, this is it. But it’s a, it’s a nice place. Jason (15m 1s): The food is great. Like all the, the, our team loves people and the tribe loves people, but you know, the people do this trip annually, they’ll come back year after year after year because of the total experience. Right. Yeah. Dave (15m 16s): And what is it, for somebody who hasn’t been down the jungle, how would you describe that? How is it, you know, what is the jungle like? Are you, is it the noises, the plants, the animals? Like what, what what makes it different down there? It’s Andres (15m 26s): Hard to explain because it’s like a unique place that you can compare to anything. You just, I mean, the heat is probably the same as South Florida sometimes, but at night is very cool and sometimes it’s as quiet as it can be and there’s nothing moving, nothing No, no birds flying. And some other days it’s just the whole jungles kind of wakes up and, and, and his is monkeys screening and, and Macau and the fish jumping and, you know, it’s like a, in the middle, like one of those Disneyland, like the, what’s it called, the blue with the, with the Macau and the movie. Yeah. It’s just like that. And somewhere that is just quiet and peaceful and I mean, I love both part, but, you know. Jason (16m 6s): Yeah, I think it is, it is like you hear a lot of sounds here like at night after the rain. I mean, it’s like the, we have some light here. I mean, you can kind of see a little bit around, but you’re, but you’re in the midst of mostly pitch dark and just hearing all the noises and stuff, like thinking about what’s that? We did have some Jaguar tracks. Yeah. Some outside, outside camp one night and Andres (16m 31s): They found coming. Jason (16m 33s): Yeah. We had some crazy snakes and stuff. But yeah, I mean, I think it is, it’s, it, it’s a little bit like, I think it feeling of like, what were the ancestors, what was their life like, you know, what was it like to, you know, be somewhere, you know, in a primitive environment. I mean, we spoil people here with the, with the facility, but, but you still have that feel. I mean, when you wake up, you hear the sounds and you know, you walk out to grab a drink outta the cooler, you know, there’s always a chance the jag might come in here. I mean, you know, Nick (17m 5s): I’ve been looking for ’em, I’ve been trying to spot one, but we’ll see, we’ll see if we get one by the end of the week. But no, the facilities are amazing picture, you know, thatched roof buildings. We have a dining room, we have a tackle room. Everybody has their own private cabana room. Beautiful. Yeah. Couldn’t be happier with, Andres (17m 26s): And everything was made by the Indian community. Oh, really? So that’s more special. Yeah. Yeah. They did everything. And it’s, this is such a nice job with it. And you can tell you’ll seen the pictures. Jason (17m 36s): Yeah. I mean, Andre is, we talked about like what we wanted to do here that was different or better an improvement over the previous place. And, and we’ve both been to many other jungle lodges. Yeah. And we definitely wanted to have attention to detail. So like he, he has been so good with the members of the Pacheco tribe to create this really special like, yeah, when you roll up the first time and you walk in, it looks native, but it’s like the, the of the fauna and you know, all the little, the wood details and like, he added all these, the wood on the doors and you know, around the bathrooms and stuff like that. Jason (18m 19s): And it’s just like, I mean, it, it just, I don’t know. I mean it’s, I put us up against any jungle lodge in the middle of nowhere. I mean, it’s, it’s a really amazing place. Andres (18m 29s): Also, food is very important for us. I mean, for me food is like, I mean, we can’t control fishing, you know, how fishing is. But I mean, if at least you, you are having a tough day out there and you come back and you have a good dinner or lunch, and then you have a good bed and good weather and everything and everything else goes fine. I mean, it makes it easy, you know, for, for an anglers that are having hard time catching fish. And if you catch fish and you have everything else, I mean, that’s, that’s a, that’s a trip of a lifetime. Jason (18m 55s): Yeah. And I’m, I, I’m definitely, you know, one thing we do when we talk to people who are talking about coming here, you know, this is a place, as you mentioned earlier, where you have a really good shot at getting a 20 pound peacock, like a really, really good shot. Like the water’s a little high right now, and you know, it’s a good thing. We have really good anglers here because you’re having to get really close to structure and stuff. And, but typically when the water level is normal, you’re gonna catch quite a few big fish and you’re gonna have a great shot at a 20 pound peacock. And it’s, this Andres (19m 30s): Is, and also the vampire fish, Jason (19m 32s): Well, the ra as well, man. I mean that, that’s, we just had a, an angler catch a 22 pound, 22 pound ra, which is wow. It’s a big boy. Yeah, that’s a big, we, Andres (19m 43s): We don’t advertise ra because I, we will specialize in pickup bus, but ra can change your week, you know, I mean, I love ra I mean, RA’s gonna fly or badass, Jason (19m 52s): But this is not a place, this is not a place for people to expect to come. And like, I’m gonna throw in and I’m gonna get a fish every 10 minutes or 20 minutes. Like, you come out here and you hardcore fish for, you know, a few big fish a day and hopefully you hit the jackpot and hit that 25 pounder. Andres (20m 10s): Yeah. I think every, every client on this trip, on this system. So at least you, you, you breaking your own records, Nick (20m 17s): You gotta work for these fish Dave. But if you’re like me, I enjoy working for my fish. And if they come too easy, you get a little bored after a while and I’m like, but the rewards have been awesome. I haven’t had a day without at least a couple decent fish. Almost snapped a couple route. Well we did break one rod. Oh, you did? Broke one round. It, it wasn’t a lamps in, it wasn’t a lamps in the rod, luckily. But the lamps rods have been holding up pretty good so far. They’re holding up pretty good. Dave (20m 48s): If you’re looking for a world-class Fly fishing experience, it’s time to check out Mountain Waters Resort. Nestled along Newfoundland’s legendary Portland Creek. This spot has a history that runs as deep as the Atlantic salmon that call it home once they Fly fishing. Retreat for the great Lee Wolf. Today it’s your turn to step into these historic waters and swing up your salmon This year. You can head over to wetly swing.com/mountain Waters right now and make it happen. That’s wetly swing.com/mountain Waters. Let’s get out there today. Discover Smitty’s fly box for premium flies. Their monthly subscription service delivers expertly crafted flies and materials tailored to your fishing environment, boasting over 30 years of experience. Dave (21m 30s): Smitty’s is your trusted source for a diverse range of flies, enhance your fishing experience and make life easier with their carefully created selections. You can subscribe right now at smitty’s fly box.com and join a community of passionate anglers. Well, let’s take a little, little gear break and talk about that a little bit on, on the rods. What is, you know, if somebody’s setting up for this trip, are they typically bringing their own stuff down there or is this something where you want to get geared up and and are you guys have all that gear for clients? Well, Nick (22m 2s): Now, now Baku has a lot of gear. So if, if somebody doesn’t have, you know, a nine weight or an eight weight that they, you know, if they’re coming from trout country or something and they don’t have one, Andreas can definitely provide one. We brought a bunch of new stuff down this year, so we’re fishing our liquid max outfits. That’s, I Andres (22m 22s): Tried that today. Yeah. Yep. Nick (22m 23s): That’s kind of our big game rod reel outfit. It’s been working great. I’ve been using a lot of the Cobalt nine weights and cobalts are kind of like our, our saltwater rod. But you know, they, they transfer across a lot of different fisheries and they’ve been perfect for down here, especially the nine weight for throwing big flies. Yeah. Andres (22m 43s): That covered this. I mean, I covered everything pretty much. Nick (22m 46s): Yeah. Didn’t you get that 25 on a, on a Andres (22m 49s): I got that Nick (22m 50s): On a nine weight. Yeah. On the liquid outfit. Yeah. So it, it’s been really fun putting the gear through the ringer this week and so far it’s been holding up to the test, so I’m happy. Dave (23m 2s): And what are you guys doing? What is the line? Talk about that a little bit. What, what’s the setup? Are you guys fishing? Is it all dry lines on the surface? Or how do, what are you using? Andres (23m 9s): We, I mean we use like floating lines for poppers when you wanna use pops on, on on fly. Intermediate has been the most successful line for this season so far. Nick (23m 20s): With the water a little bit higher, I would say you definitely want an intermediate line, but I know like they’re saying when the water does drop, the floating lines are are pretty much Yeah. Goes Andres (23m 31s): The buffer. Like candy when the water is dr is is low with the, and and, and it’s nothing like catching a pickup on a fly and a pop, you know, it just on a, on a top of water, you just, yeah. That’s the ultimate this season I got two on a, on, on a top water, big ones that’s, and the rest of them have been streamers on intermediate. Dave (23m 49s): Gotcha. And you’re just imitating bait fish and casting out and stripping it, casting towards structure and stripping it across. Is that what you’re doing? Andres (23m 56s): Yeah, pretty much. I mean, I kinda, I mean it’s hard to get like side fishing here because the water will be darker, but what I do when I go out there and I have time because it’s different me that I spend three months here in, in the jungle that I have a lot of time to try different things. But for the clients just catch as, as many times as you can, just try to throw to structure and listen to the guys, the guys know where they’re moving, where they are. So just listen to them and they show you where to cast and you’ll, you’ll, you’ll get ’em. Nick (24m 27s): It’s bass fishing, I mean Yeah. It’s, it’s, it’s exactly what I do back in Idaho for large mouth and small mouth throwing at structure, trying to get it under the trees. But we’re just using bigger stuff, you know, and, and we’re catching way bigger fish obviously and more beautiful. These things look so cool. Dave (24m 46s): Are you catching some small fish as well? Is there a big diversity in size? Jason (24m 50s): Yeah, we, we catch butterfly peacocks also known as Masos and you know, they’re smaller. I mean they, we’ve we’ve picked up yeah, quite a few of those. Andres (25m 1s): Yeah. But the butterflies average is about three or four pounds. Right. Jason (25m 5s): And you can And they’re powerful too. Yeah. So I mean, it’s, it’s crazy because I had a, I had a take that I, I could have sworn this week that was, you know, gonna be like a 10 pound fish. And I, I have, I get the thing in, I’m like, what? You know, it was like maybe two pounds. I mean, they’re mean as well. And the, the cool thing about those guys is if you get into ’em, like they, they school up, they’re called Nest and they’ll school up and sometimes you can catch a bunch out of like, you know, right under, Andres (25m 34s): We have three species of pickle here. Like the, the, the poses butterflies that Jason was talking about. We had the Pinal laa, which is like the treat mutation of the, of the three bar. Right. Nick (25m 44s): So that’s the one with the spots, the small spots, Andres (25m 47s): They’re very strong because they like the current, so they’re like fit for, for the current and the three bar, which is the, the, the price, you know, the the big one one, you wanna get the big one. But the Pinta, I got a 20 pounder in Pinta in November. Jason (26m 1s): Yeah. He’s gonna keep bragging about the 20 pounders. I can see that Nick (26m 5s): Andreas is kind of the peacock wizard. I do. That’s his nickname got secret Jason (26m 9s): Touch. His nickname is the Wizard. Andres (26m 11s): I encourage fi about three weeks ago. I mean, I lost my magic. Nick (26m 16s): We just got back. Dave (26m 17s): Nice, nice. No, it sounds amazing. I think for me, I would be thinking, I’m almost like thinking like Jeff Courier, right? The species. I would love catching the small, the big, like everything and come outta there with as many as possible. You know, it’d be great to catch a giant peacock bass, but you know what I mean, if I didn’t catch one or if I cut a small one, I’d be okay. And then the vampire fish, I feel like for me, probably a lot of people that would be almost equal. You know, you catch those like what, what is that? For sure. Is the vampire fish something where you have to really target those or are you catching them as kind of bycatch while you’re fishing peacocks? Jason (26m 46s): No, you, you definitely target ’em because most of the peacock bass fishing is around the lagoons and, and the lagoons and the pyra hangout in sweat current. So we typically find that the pyra fishing is, is great for the last hour and a half of the day. So like kind of suggestion, you know, if you’re wanting ra like dedicate every day for that last hour and a half to go and get one. And, and the thing about RA is you, it’s a little bit like tarpon and that you hook and lose a lot of ’em because the bony mouths that they have and good job. And we’ve even seen like, they’ll like I, I got a, a top water that has a tooth sticking out of it. Jason (27m 28s): Yeah. You know, they’ll just, they’ll just hold onto it. Andres (27m 30s): Oh, they destroy your lures. Jason (27m 31s): Yeah. They’ll they’ll hold onto it with their teeth and then realize that hey, this ain’t right. And then they’ll just spit it. Right. Yeah. Andres (27m 38s): Fly fishing I recommend to use obviously big flies with a lot of flies and have a tail hook Nick (27m 42s): And brought some muskie flies down Dave and Oh yeah, me and Andres are gonna go out tonight and see if we can’t Yeah. Swing one Dave (27m 48s): Up. Oh nice. So you use big stuff for those guys. Yeah, Andres (27m 51s): Absolutely. That’s like 10 inch shift flies and Dave (27m 53s): Yeah. Giant. Okay. Andres (27m 54s): Cast there on the current and Yeah. Dave (27m 56s): Cast out in the current and then yeah, let the current kind of swing it down across and they’re just sitting there eating whatever. Andres (28m 1s): Yeah, a little bit. Let it sink you sink in lines for that because they’re down deep, just strip is low and eventually you’re gonna get one once you feel it, it is like hitting a rock on the bottom. I it’s like, Dave (28m 13s): Oh it is, you feel it, you think it’s a rock. Andres (28m 15s): Just pull a, set it as hard as you can. Don’t even, I mean as hard as you can give with three big hits and then you got, if not, you’re gonna lose. I mean, you, you probably cut, they say you guys probably two out of 10, you, you, you landed two out 10, right? Right. Jason (28m 29s): Yeah, we have a buddy, Miguel and Colada, he runs Fin Chaser’s lodge in Mexico and we had him down really early in the season. Yeah. First week maybe Andres (28m 41s): In November. Yeah. Jason (28m 42s): And he, you know, he was coming to catch peacocks. Right. And then we, we went out the first day ra fishing and he caught two. And then after that he was like, I just wanna fish ra. But you know, like, like he ended up whacking them, man, I think he got like five or six during the trip. Andres (28m 58s): Big. They’re very acro. You see those big, big teeth and I mean he just, everything, they Nick (29m 3s): Have holes in the roof of their mouth that can accommodate those giant vampire teeth. And so when they close their mouth, the teeth actually stick up through the holes through the top of their head. Yeah. Crazy. It’s pretty Andres (29m 14s): Wild. And then you have like the same like a, like a shark. You have like, like the, the, the three behind it. They lose one teeth Right. And right away come the, another one comes up. Dave (29m 22s): Oh yeah, it does. Okay. It’s Andres (29m 24s): Crazy fish. Dave (29m 25s): This is amazing. Yeah. So, so that’s the v. Now is there any, that’s always the question right? Is safety, right? Is are you guys, is there issues being in the water or is this all you’re in boats? Is, are there safety concerns out there? Jason (29m 36s): Nah, there’s not. I mean we rarely, I mean, I, I have, I haven’t seen like a, like a reptile there Andres (29m 43s): Nothing like snakes. I mean Jason (29m 46s): Like Nick (29m 46s): It been the same risks that you’re on anytime you get into a boat anywhere. Andres (29m 51s): Yeah. You go to the everglade, Nick (29m 52s): We got life jackets, we have good ga. Dave (29m 55s): Yeah. So it’s more safe. There’s no animals or snakes that are gonna, they’re gonna take you down out there, Roy. Andres (29m 59s): Nothing different that we ha you have in Florida on the, on the Everglades. You know, you gotta you gotta be careful. Anyway, I just tell, I told the guys, when you walk at night, just pay attention because I mean, this is the jungle Nick (30m 9s): So far. No, no. Gators have tried to bite the hand off of any guys. Andres (30m 13s): We have no gators here. So Nick (30m 16s): I had a story about that. Andres (30m 17s): And this jungle is so huge that, I mean I’ve never seen a jaguar. I saw, I saw the footprints like a month ago, but I mean, I never seen anything like big here. Just parrots and birds and fish, you know, Jason (30m 31s): Monkeys. Andres (30m 31s): Monkeys. And we Jason (30m 32s): Got the, we got the tree frogs, we got some, I mean pea corpus as well. Andres (30m 37s): I wish we got the river. Nick (30m 38s): That’s that. That was really cool. First day here, Dave, we get to our first spot where we’re gonna fish and all of a sudden I hear the water moving behind us and we look back there and there’s like three big pink, like bright pink dolphins, purpo. Oh, Dave (30m 53s): No kidding. Jason (30m 54s): Yeah. Nick (30m 54s): Really cool freshwater dolphins. Dave (30m 56s): What, what’s, what are they called? What’s the name of the species? To, Andres (30m 59s): To Nina. Dave (30m 60s): To Nina? Andres (31m 1s): Yeah. Tona. Same as Brazil. Yeah. Dave (31m 3s): Wow. That’s cool. Andres (31m 4s): There’s like a, a dolphin, a pink dolphin. Yeah. Dave (31m 7s): Do they look just like, like the body morphology? Just like a regular dolphin? Yeah. Andres (31m 10s): More or less. They’re a little bit allier than Yeah. Yeah. They’re, they’re, they’re, they’re, they’re pretty good. Dave (31m 16s): God, that’s so cool. So that’s the great, and I think that is part of the jungle, right? All of those species that, you know what you’re gonna see. Andres (31m 22s): We have piranhas too that don’t worry about the piranhas and my kid comes here every time and he jumps in the water and he and swims and Oh Dave (31m 28s): Yeah, piranha. You guys have piranha there? Andres (31m 29s): Yeah, piranhas and, and my kid fishes for and he jumps right after in the water. Dave (31m 34s): Yeah. That’s another species. I would love to catch a piranha. That would be really cool. Jason (31m 38s): We can get you a piranha pretty easy. Dave (31m 40s): Are those the easy ones? What about the, what are the other species that you guys have out there that are kind of maybe the lesser known? Anything else? We have Jason (31m 46s): The, we have the ceru, the tiger cat, tiger catfish, and you can catch those on the fly as well. So Nick (31m 53s): Those, those are the big kinda shovel head catfish that are gray with like black stripes and spots. They have them in Bolivia and Argentina as well. It’s one of my bucket list fish. I I’ve still never gotten one. Andres (32m 6s): Yeah, they get big, they get pretty big. They get Jason (32m 9s): Big and Dave (32m 10s): They look like a shark a little bit. Right. They look kinda like a shark almost to the female. Jason (32m 13s): Yeah, Andres (32m 13s): Yeah, yeah. Kind of. They have like a dorsal famous Jason (32m 16s): Yeah, they’re kind of built, built for speed, man. Andres (32m 18s): Yeah. And they’re like a story fish and not like, they don’t act like a catfish, you know, they’re no, no hunt. And they’re, they’re, they’re more like a, you know, they’re Jason (32m 25s): Aggressive eating and, and they, they, they run pretty good, so yeah. Dave (32m 30s): Wow. Andres (32m 30s): Yeah, they don’t hide holes. They just stay like in the, in the beaches. And, and, and Dave (32m 34s): Is it typical to, is this a normal trip, like a week long, like six, seven days on the water? Like what, what are people doing? Are they coming down there mostly for peacocks or are they trying to get some other species? Jason (32m 44s): Six days for most everyone is, is targeting big peacocks. I mean, that’s, that’s it. But you know, it’s like, it’s cool. Like this group, you know, it’s, we got a group of guys kind of like, it sounds like you are, they, they’re interested in like the total, like, you know, what else they can catch and you know, what, what fly they need for it and, and what line and all that stuff. So, you know, but we’re, we’re, we’re focused primarily on catching big, big peacocks. Big Dave (33m 15s): Peacocks. Okay. And what does it look like, kind of the, the day in the life of the week? Take us to a day maybe. So you get out there. Yeah. So right now, what time is it there? Andres (33m 24s): The way get here, the, the easy way to get here from the states is just take a flight to Bogota and whenever you are, I mean, Bogota’s a big city with the international airport and come flight from Atlanta, from Houston, from Miami, and they just fly straight to Bogota. We pick you up there, take you to the hotel for that night, and the next morning we take you to the airport again to take a small flight to an hour flight to Puerto Iida, which is the closest city town to the lodge. Nick (33m 52s): So like I was telling you Dave, as far as being remote, now these guys live in Florida, so it’s a little bit different, a little easier access. But me coming from Idaho, four flights and a three hour boat rag and two days of travel. But I love that stuff. I mean, I like to get as far away as I can and it’s kind of part of the adventure, right? Like you, you’re catching flights, planes, trains and automobiles. Exactly. We, we had a really nice, Andres (34m 20s): Everything is far, so Yeah. Jason (34m 22s): I mean from Miami or Houston. Yeah, it’s about a four hour flight to Bogota. We pick you up and you know, we go out for a nice dinner the first night somewhere really good in, in Bogota and kind of go through the, the expectations and talking about communicating with the guides and what to expect at camp and all that. The next morning we fly out and it’s an hour and 15 minutes to Anita and then we get on a boat and that’s another three hours. Or if you go in the dark like we did, or like four hours, Nick (34m 55s): Which is pitch black, full speed up the river using kidding spotlights to get here. Dave (35m 1s): Yeah. Oh wow. Andres (35m 2s): But you get earlier and early morning on the flight that morning, you can even fish that afternoon. Jason (35m 7s): Right. That’s typically what we do. And, and you, you’ll get a couple rigs rigged up and then go out and, and fish that, that first evening. I mean it’s, it’s 50 50. If there’s any flight delays or anything like that, you won’t have time for it. And then a typical day, I kind of going back to the original question, o one thing we like to say is it’s two to a vote, but if you and your partner agree, like you wanna go super early, we go super early. Well, I mean the, our our kitchen team is in here at three 30 in the morning getting everything ready. So if you want to get up at five 30 and get out kind of first light, then you can do it If you don’t want to, if you want to sleep in a little, it, we don’t care. Jason (35m 48s): Like, like we’ll have breakfast for you made to order go out, we fish till about noon. Yeah. And, and then we come in and we have a, a lunch is is just ready when you come in. And then a lot of, a lot of people like to take a, I don’t know if there’s a monkey back there, but something’s going on. Some people like to take a little siesta, Nick likes to just sit around and drink and wait for everybody to wake up. Yeah. But then, yeah, we go back out, we fish till dark. So we’ve Nick (36m 17s): Using the midday to do work. Andres (36m 19s): Yeah, Dave (36m 20s): Yeah. That’s part of the, the whole experience I think, you know. Jason (36m 24s): Yeah. And then come in and, you know, shower up and, and meet for dinner or cocktails and dinner and, and then the, it comes, you know, after a few drinks and it’s, it’s time to tell your lies. Nick (36m 35s): It’s a split day, right? Yeah. Split day. So it’s my favorite way to fish. I like to fish first light and last light and getting the break in the middle of the day to come back and have lunch, relax a little bit, take a shower. It’s my favorite way to do it. Jason (36m 49s): Yeah. Dave (36m 49s): Okay. So, and then is the fishing, you know, when you’re out there, is it kind of better, is it better in the mornings evenings or is it kind of you could fish anytime of the day? Andres (36m 59s): It pretty much depends on the, on the water levels. I mean, when it’s good it’s pretty much, and when it’s on, it’s on all day. I mean, I, I cut it on the mornings, I cut it on close to noon. I kind of in the afternoon, obviously when it’s hotter like it is right now. Mornings have been better than the afternoons. But I mean, I’ll say like, I mean they can Nick (37m 19s): Can happen, happen at any time. Anytime. Dave (37m 21s): Yeah. Anytime. Okay. Jason (37m 22s): Nick and I slept in this morning and got a little bit of a late start. We hit the lagoon closest to the lodge and he stuck a nice one, like within 15 minutes of being out out there. So yeah, Nick (37m 35s): Best of the, Jason (37m 35s): So far, but, but also we, you know, we’ve, we’ve gotten up early and, you know, whacked him early in the morning. So it’s, it’s hard to say. I think overcast is good. Yeah, for sure. Especially with the water’s high. I think the overcast overcast Nick (37m 49s): Is key. Jason (37m 49s): Yeah. Overcast is good not to, to get ’em out, out of the bushes and, you know. Yeah. Andres (37m 54s): We had a year season this year because of the rain. It’s been raining all over the South America, so it just gonna change things a little bit. And the behavior of the fish kind of changed because of, I guess the temperature of the water they spawn earlier than they’re supposed to spawn. And I mean, it’s been, it’s been a grind. Oh Dave (38m 11s): Yeah. Do they spawn? Are they spring spawners? Andres (38m 13s): They’re supposed to be spring spawner like the, like April, but for some reason they spawn on February this year. I think it’s has to be with the, with the, with the rain and, and the level of the water, you know? Dave (38m 26s): Right. Cool. So that’s pretty much it. What is, you know, the, going back to the lodge itself, maybe let’s get into, you mentioned the indigenous people. Talk about that a little bit. I’m trying to get to, you know, it sounds like that’s what really separates this experience. A little bit of the people down there. Yeah, Andres (38m 41s): You’re right. Jason (38m 42s): Well, when, when Andres and I talked about doing this, I told him, and he completely agreed, our number one goal is to take care of the Bachao people and provide the opportunity for them. And then we’ll come next, you know, the client, the bachas and you know, really trying to make sure that, you know, we financially, that they’re well taken care of, that they feel fer Bernardo, that they feel valued and you know, that we have a partnership that is sustainable and, and long lasting. So this is their land, it’s it’s their lodge. They built it. We don’t own anything here. We bring people here and they take care of everything else. Jason (39m 25s): And so we want to take great care of them. They’re very kind, humble people. They are warm, they’re, they’re hospitable, warm, they work really hard. They’re never thinking about what time it is to go in. They’re, they get so excited when you catch a nice fish. Their smiles are amazing. Like the, if Calvin Klein hears about these people, like he’s gonna come try to recruit ’em. Like they’re all just really beautiful people. And yeah, I mean, to me that’s like that. And, and the clients, you know, our friends and the new friends we make, man, that’s the best part of this for me. Andres, what do you think? Andres (40m 2s): Yes, I mean, I, we a hundred percent with you. I mean we, we we’re in the same pace. We start this and, and I mean just, there’re the land I say many times and we just lucky enough to, to be here and then to allow us to, to run this place. And, and I mean we just thank God every day that, that we here and, and we sharing this streets with them, you know. Dave (40m 22s): Wow. And is there a section down there? I think I might have been reading like a, a 15 mile section or that’s only fishable. Andres (40m 29s): Yes, we have about 15 to 20 miles of the river. That, that is only for, for us. That’s, that’s their, their land. I mean, the Basiaco tribe owns that part of the river, and we are the only ones that are allowed to fish here. Dave (40m 42s): So you’re not gonna see other, other camps out there fishing that water. Nick (40m 45s): I’ve not seen another human being other than, other than the tribes on the, on the banks of the river. Oh, that’s Andres (40m 51s): Cool. And they take care of the pickup bus. They know they can, they, they can fish them and eat ’em. So they’re, they are some more species they can eat. And so they know, they know the importance, the pickup bus, you know, and they, and they’re, I mean, they’re making a living out of it. So they understood that, that they have to take care of it and, and it’s what they’re doing very well, you know, and that’s keeping away from illegal mining from cocaine, plantations, all that stuff that happen in Columbia. So they understand that all the communities around here, this is a pretty safe area. You know, people that concerns about Columbia and security. I mean, it had so many important people that came here to the lodge asking questions about it. And I mean, we have never had any issues with security here in this area of the, of the jungle. Andres (41m 32s): You know, you just, I I don’t know. One of the reasons pretty much because it’s not illegal mining around, there’s no roads. It’s only, you can get here only by plane or by boat. That’s the only two ways you can get here. So that makes it a lot harder for the criminals to get in here, which is a good thing for us. And, and the communities, they’re, they’re, they’re good people, you know, and, and they just don’t want that in their lives. And they understood that. Jason (41m 55s): They, they do. In fact, there’s another Andre sin, he is a member of the Baca tribe. His father is the chief of the tribe, and he is, Andres was recently elected as the governor of all the tribes on the, on the Kanye. Okay. So we, I did ask him, I said, what are your goals for the, for, you know, for this leadership opportunity you have? And he said, you know, his number one goal is that we maintain, that they maintain on the river the, that they protect from those, you know, mining and the other elements that can draw in the wrong kind of people here. Jason (42m 35s): And so I, I thought, man, what, how lucky are we that we have that guy, you know, representing, you know, what our, our partnership is and what we’re hoping to accomplish here. Yeah. Dave (42m 47s): That was amazing. It sounds like you got the right cast of characters and the people down there that you’re, Jason (42m 52s): It’s a really good crew they got here. Dave (42m 55s): Do you think you need a bush plane to fish Alaska’s legendary waters? Think again. Fish Hound Expeditions specializes in road accessible adventures that don’t skip on excitement. Pitch yourself fishing for massive rainbow trout, arctic grayling, and plenty of salmon species all within Alaska’s epic road system. It’s doable. I fished the road system on our first day with Adam and the crew, and it did not disappoint. The largest leopard rainbow I caught and landed was right off the road system. 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And of course they’re built with recycled materials, smart seam construction and technical features like fast drying booties, removable pads, and easy waste to chest conversion. Dave (44m 21s): They’re also backed by Patagonia’s amazing guarantee. So they’re made to last season after season. You can check out the full swift current lineup right now at wetly swing.com/swift current or stop by your local shop. That’s Swift current, S-W-I-F-T-C-U-R-R-E-N-T wetly swing.com/swift current. Go check it out. Now we’re gonna start to take it out here slowly, not right away, but I wanted to start this off with our, our plays of the week segment and this one Dick, I wanna go back to you because I, it sounds like you just got a pretty nice fish, so maybe take us there. I, I don’t know, I can’t remember what your experience is with the peacocks, but talk about that fish that you got and maybe take us there and how did, how did it all happen? Nick (45m 7s): Sure. Yeah. So I’ve gotten a pretty decent one each day. I’ve been here at least one, but usually it’s about three to four per boat today. I think I got my best one so far. I’m gonna top it tomorrow of course. But no, me and Jason got out, you know, Jason needed to sleep in a little bit today and I had some work to get done this morning. So it worked out. We just kind of took it easy, leisurely pace and went to one of the, the lagoons really close to the lodge here, just around the corner. I had a good feeling about a certain side of it, stepped up, probably fifth cast. I hooked into a fish, lost it and was a little bummed about that. Nick (45m 48s): But about five minutes later I hooked into a real one. We figured about 11, 12 pounds. But I mean, you say that and it doesn’t seem quite, you know, super crazy. I like, I have no idea what a 20 or 25 would feel like, but these things, I mean, you can’t give them an inch. So as soon as that fish eats, I’m locking that line down on my rod. I’m not moving an inch. The fish isn’t moving an inch, it takes a minute, but we finally got it in the net. Dave (46m 17s): Was the real, was the drag locked down? Much stiffer than you would with like a steelhead. So Nick (46m 22s): If the fish gets on your drag, you’re gonna lock it down to a hundred percent. I try not to let them get on the reel. So if, if they have a chance to get on the reel, they have a chance to get in the trees, which, which is what you don’t want. So, I mean, I try to be just as violent with them as they are with me. Like I said, I lock that line into my finger against the rod and I’m like, you can either break my rod or I’m gonna land you. Dave (46m 49s): Oh wow. So you’re literally like locking down. I lock it down. You’re, you’re just other way to do it. They’re not going anywhere. Nick (46m 54s): Yeah, you gotta throw punches ’cause they’re throwing punches at you. But I love it, man. It’s, it’s been a while since I had a fish fight me like that. Dave (47m 2s): Yeah. What do they do? What is the fight? Do they, do they dog you do they dog you do they jump? Yeah, they’re just going boom. Nick (47m 8s): Yep. Imagine, you know, a 10 pound, oh, Dave (47m 11s): I’m, I’m thinking chinook salmon because we’ve got this trip coming up for, up in Alaska and I’m thinking like what a chinook would be. I’ve heard these stories about Nick (47m 17s): No, so a chinook is gonna run, right? So salmon, trout, steelhead, most fish, most game fish outside of the bass world are gonna run on you. What I would liken it to is like a 40 pound striper out in the Atlantic. That’s what a 10 pound peacock feels like. So I, I’ve done that. I’ve caught big stripers in the Atlantic and the, the delta in California and they fight similar, you know, in the ocean. Those fish have a lot more room, so you can put ’em on the drag. It’s, it’s a lot easier to put a striper on the drag where these fish, you’re in close quarters, you got trees right in front of you, you gotta stop ’em and if you don’t stop ’em, you’re not gonna land them. Nick (48m 1s): Yeah. Right. So Andres (48m 1s): That 20 pond is a little bit different because they’re gonna get into your reel. Right. That’s 20 punter you can hold with. I mean, I tried many times, I just burn my fingers and I had to give him some space and, and get the drag and hopefully you got a good drag and, and good drill and, and and, and start fighting with the drag. And if it gets to the structure, you got two options. One is you lose it right away. And the other one is like, just get tangled and our guys would dive into it and get the fish for you. Dave (48m 27s): Oh wow. You’ll go for the line. Yeah, they Andres (48m 29s): Go for, yeah, they just got, they goggles on it, jump on the water and, and that happens many times, many manys times even with regular taco, you know, so, so Nick (48m 37s): My guy hobby has had to take a couple of swims this week, Dave Dave (48m 42s): For That’s Nick (48m 43s): Amazing. Not for the fish, for the drones. Dave (48m 45s): Oh, oh, for the drones, right. We lost, Nick (48m 47s): Lost a couple drones, but we got ’em back because Javi’s pretty quick on the draw with that. Andres (48m 53s): Yeah. Dave (48m 54s): Oh cool. So, so there’s gonna be some drone footage after this trip? Yeah, Nick (48m 57s): There should be some footage. Yeah. Yeah. Jason (48m 59s): I will add on to Nick’s story from this morning. If you haven’t seen Nick fight a fish, that’s something that should be on your bucket list. I, I just, I was so elated and it was like, I mean, Nick is like a sizable man. I mean, he is, he is a beast of a man. And watching him up there, like with this le, well, first of all, a nine weight fly ride looks like tiny in his hands and he’s like shaking and just freaking going nuts. And I was like, it was like someone gave a little, like a kid a toy for Christmas and he just like so excited. He just crushed it in his bare little bare hands. I mean, it was just like amazing, man. Jason (49m 40s): I can’t wait to get it like Eric, you know? Oh yeah. Like Andres, his uncle was like, that dude, his hands were like six times the size of a normal human’s hands, you know, you shake his hand, right. Absolutely. Get lost in there. And yeah, I was, it was, watching him fight dude or fight a fish was like, I, I was really worried that he was gonna stroke out and, and, and thankful that he didn’t, but it was, it was something to see man. Dave (50m 3s): Yeah. This is good. Well, well, anything else we wanna talk about that we’ve kinda missed Today? You know, that you guys wanna shed line on it sounds like, you know, we talked about a little bit on the local community, the, the fish species, the experience. Yeah. What, what are we missing here? Jason (50m 17s): There’s one thing I’ll, I’ll, I’ll touch on and it was something that I was concerned about. The very first time I came down was just like the perception of Columbia in general as being an unsafe place. And, and I get asked from pretty much most everyone, yeah. You know, is it safe? And I can tell you that Columbia, I think is projected to be one of the hi highest growth countries in the world over the next five to 10 years. And I think the perception of Columbia is, is fading that, that old perception of the cartels and all that stuff, right? And when this program that we have, we, you know, it’s so safe and nobody can guarantee safety. Jason (50m 59s): But I’ve been down here, I mean, Anders has been down here his whole life and I’ve been down here now like a dozen times. And I can tell you I’ve never one time felt unsafe. I mean, I’ve been places like Belize City where I felt terrified, but like for where we stay in Bogota and then when we fly out this whole region that, that we’re in Illa Yeah. Is, is one of the safest places. And if you look at a heat map of the, of South America, it’s one of the safest places in all of South America. So the fear factor, I mean, I just always say, you know, I got, I got kids, Andres has kids, like, we’re all, we’re not, we don’t have death wish for anything like this is, this is a place where the people are super friendly, by the way, you, you know, our dinners and drinks and Bogota are super cheap. Jason (51m 49s): Like, it’s just such a wonderful country that even if you’re not coming down here to fish a ACCA lodge, you should not overlook Columbia. It’s somewhere you should go. Everyone should go. That Nick (51m 58s): Was the only other thing I was gonna touch on as well. David and Jason pretty much covered it. But what I’ll say is, you know, in America and in the US you know, if you haven’t traveled much, there’s a lot of fear about leaving the country and coming to Latin America or you know, going to Asia or wherever it is Africa. But when you actually do these things and you meet the people and you go to these places, you realize that it’s just like anywhere in the world. You could go to a bad neighborhood in Chicago or LA and you’d be in a lot more danger than you’d probably would be anywhere in Bogota. You know what I mean? Nick (52m 38s): So my only thing would just be to say, you know, broaden your horizons, get out there, experience things. You’ll realize that people are generally good everywhere you go. And you just gotta, you gotta approach it with your eyes open and, you know, keep your head about you, but for the most part you’ll just meet the greatest people out there. And that’s been my experience. Dave (53m 0s): Nice. Yeah, I agree. I totally agree with that. I think that it’s, there’s, you know, just like anything, there’s always some bad apples in the bunch, but for the most part people are, you know, are good. And it sounds like Bogota’s a cool place that you wanna get to. Well, before we get out here, let, let’s do our little tip segment. I, I, I wanna talk, and this maybe it will apply to some bass in other places too, but what would be a tip? Think about this, you guys, each of you, well maybe Andres maybe we’ll start with you on, somebody’s gonna be going on this trip, they’re gonna be on the water going for a bass. What kind of tip are you giving them to have a better chance at catching one of those? And and maybe that applies to other places. Yeah, Andres (53m 35s): The best if I can give you is keep the fly in the water all the time. You know, don’t, don’t stop just fish hard and grind and, and you’re gonna get rewarded. I mean, just, just stay. I mean it will, it will come. Dave (53m 46s): So you can catch, could you catch a fish? Could you hook up like right at the base of the boat just as easy as you could out further? Andres (53m 52s): Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It happens to me many times and just, I just tripping, tripping. And when I get it right out, out the boat and just get the, I mean, it’s scared the shadow really. Yeah. But you get it ride because they’ve been following the, the, the fly since they got on the water and just decide to go ride when is next extra boat, you know? Dave (54m 9s): Oh yeah. Are you guys doing the, the, like the muskie figure eight thing at all at the end? Andres (54m 13s): No, no, no, no. We don’t do, Dave (54m 14s): That’s just muskie, that’s just a muskie thing. That’s Nick (54m 16s): A muskie thing. But they do follow to the boat, similar to a muskie. Andres (54m 20s): Most of the times they just float right away out. I mean, I say 90% of the time, three, three Nick (54m 25s): Strips, Andres (54m 26s): Three or four strips. You, you, you, they’re there, you know? Yeah. Dave (54m 30s): Okay. Andres (54m 31s): And so, so pretty much what I do when I’m flying, so I don’t get all my energy is just, I strip like five, six times and pick it up and do it again. So I don’t, you know, because I, that that’s my screens with ’em. But I mean, Dave (54m 42s): What’s the strip like? Does the strip depend on the water clarity or is it always the same type of strip? It Andres (54m 46s): Depends on the, on the, on the feeling you have. I mean, you just, sometimes it’s low. I mean, you just gotta play with it all the time. I Nick (54m 52s): Like to change it up a lot like I do with any bass fishing. Sometimes slow, sometimes aggressive, sometimes twitching, you know, sometimes letting it drop. Jason (55m 2s): I told, I told Nick this morning, because we went to the lagoon, closest to the lodge, and I told him, if you were, if you were just die hard, like I gotta catch a 20 pound peacock and you wanna make the absolute best of your time, you get to one lagoon and you fish that lagoon a different way every time and don’t run to another lagoon, I can’t do that. But I’m just saying if you really wanted to, because that, that lagoon in particular, like, you can, you, you can go fish it and then leave and then the next group, the next person goes in there catch. Yeah. Nick (55m 35s): I’m just say it, it’s the juiciest looking ba there I’ve probably ever seen in my life. I mean, yeah, every single hole it looks like there should be a 20 pounder there. Yeah, Andres (55m 44s): I I think it is just keep working on it probably is. I mean they’re just, you know, I mean I seen with the guys like the other, the other day one of the guys came up to me, he went diving at night, spear fishing for some other species and he told me, Hey, the laund was fishing in the morning. I saw like 15 or 20 big because she was sleeping there and where I was casting all day, you know, and, and, and they don’t move. I mean they’re like, like a regular large, they don’t move. They’re territorial. Territorial. Dave (56m 12s): Oh. They stay, they hold it and that’s why they’re aggressive. Yeah. Right, Jason (56m 15s): Right. Andres (56m 16s): And they just work those lagoons and give three, four rounds and, and I mean, I’m that type of fisher in the angler that I don’t change flight too much, I just stick with one fly the whole day and Dave (56m 26s): Yeah. What’s your one fly? What what? What’s your fly? What, what color do you have? Like a color Andres (56m 30s): Probably is redhead and, and white A streamer. Dave (56m 33s): Red and white. Yeah, Andres (56m 33s): That’s my, you choose one is pretty good. Yeah, Dave (56m 37s): Chartreuse Okay. Re Andres (56m 38s): Is really good right now. Nothing too flashy. They don’t like too much flash. I mean he just, you know, like plain colors and Dave (56m 45s): Yeah. So you’re imitating. Are there just a ton of bait fish? Dave? Nick (56m 48s): I gotta give a quick shout out to my buddy Hogan Brown, captain Hogan down. Oh yeah, in, in California. You know him, right? Dave (56m 54s): Oh yeah. Nick (56m 54s): He sent me some of his big striper flies with the giant dumbbells in the rattles in ’em. And man, that has been the ticket for me this week because with the water so high, you gotta get ’em down a little bit. Yeah. But they’ve been working great. I don’t think I’ve changed a fly in the last three days. Dave (57m 11s): Yep. Yeah. Hogan’s the, he’s doing the striper or the stripers down there, isn’t he? What, what’s he doing? Yeah, he’s Nick (57m 16s): Been guiding stripers in the Delta for 20 plus years. He also does steelhead and trout. One of the best people you’ll meet in the industry for sure. Yeah. So shout out Hogan. Yeah, Hogan’s Dave (57m 26s): Good. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, Andres (57m 28s): You’ll be ready to cast and cast and cast you. I mean, you gotta cast all day long. Dave (57m 32s): Yeah. So let’s go back to the gear really quick on the, so is the, is it a eight or nine that’s good or is or sometimes a 10 weight? Is it pretty much what it is? The standard? Andres (57m 40s): I don’t use 10 weights. I mean, people like them, I just, it wears me out. I think nine weights is enough. You have a good rod with a good reel. I mean that’s plenty. And I cut 20 punchers on eight weight also, and then have look pretty good. So obviously eight weights is more easier to cast and everything. So I prefer the eight weights sometimes, but nine weights is plenty. Dave (57m 58s): Nine weights plenty. Okay. And, and Nick, on your nine weight, is it a, what do you call that? Is that kind of a, a medium action, a full flex? What, what type of rod is the one you’re using? We’re Nick (58m 7s): Doing a fast, fast action rods down here. That’s fast. Yeah. To throw those, to throw those big flies and really even more so for stopping the fish, right. You don’t want a ton of flexing a rod, you don’t want a fiberglass rod or a bamboo rod or anything like that down here. You’re gonna want a fast action, probably salt water oriented fly rod for this, this kind of fishing, which the cobalts and the liquid max outfits have just been perfect. Dave (58m 34s): Okay, gotcha. And what is the liquid max between the liquid max and the cobalt? What’s the difference? Is it the, the finish or? Nick (58m 40s): Well, so the, the liquid max outfit is a rod reel outfit. So you, you buy it with the liquid max reel and it’s a liquid max rod, whereas our cobalt rods are specifically suited for salt water fishing. They’re, they’re a standalone rod. The cobalt’s gonna be a little bit stiffer than the liquid max, but the liquid max is still a pretty stiff stick. I mean, it’s made for kung through wind, it’s made for big game fish, right. Like that’s exactly what we designed that rod for. Anything from, you know, muskie to salmon to tarpon to peacock bass in the jungle. Dave (59m 17s): Gotcha. Okay. Well let, let’s keep wrapping this up. Jason, why don’t we go to you, you, did you have a, think of a tip, you know, you’re on, did you give Nick all of the best tips already on this trip? No, Jason (59m 27s): Man. I mean, Nick’s is, he’s got a fish brain, so he didn’t need a whole lot. I guess my biggest tip would be just practice throwing tight because that, that’s huge here. I mean, you can catch ’em in the middle against, like during the, you know, when the water’s low. It’s always super beneficial. I do a lot of permit fishing, so you know, I’m not used to it really throwing it like when I want to swing by a fish, if I go five feet by ’em or two feet, it’s fine, I can make up for it on the retrieve. But out here, I mean, the tighter you get to structure the Nick (1h 0m 5s): Two inches off the tree right, Jason (1h 0m 6s): Right. Is what you want. So, so I would just say spend a little time, you’re gonna be down here six days and don’t wait till your third day to get like in a groove with it. Like try to practice, go somewhere and practice because it’ll, it’ll pay dividends. Nick (1h 0m 20s): My biggest tip would be, and this applies to any kind of bass fishing, and I know it applies to a lot of the salt guys for permit and tarpon and stuff. When you’re casting, your stripping hand is another guide. You don’t wanna drop the fly line outta your hand when you, when you’re casting, you keep that line in your left hand or your right hand depending on how you cast. But it allows you to stop the fly before it gets into the trees and really put it right on that bank. Right. And it also allows you to be tight to the line as soon as that fly hits the water. So, because in a lot of situations the fish is going to eat the minute that fly hits the water. Right. And you wanna be tight, you don’t wanna be, you know, having to reach for your fly line to set the hook. Nick (1h 1m 2s): It’s something that’s really easy to practice at home. I can’t say enough like keep that line in your other hand. Jason (1h 1m 10s): And he is saying that because I didn’t do it, but Jason Nick (1h 1m 12s): Was struggling. Jason was struggling with it a little bit. Right. I had to tell him a couple times. Yeah, Dave (1h 1m 17s): Yeah, yeah. That’s right. No, that is a good tip. Yeah. Being able to stop it before it gets hung up on the bank or on a stick or something like that, drop it in. Is, are you doing like a kind of a tuck cast to get it dropped down or are you just casting normal just to right to the spot and letting it sink? Nick (1h 1m 31s): I mean, I do kind of a weird cast. Yeah. You, you weird because I do a lot of bass fishing, but it’s almost like an under loop so that the fly comes up under the trees rather than down. Dave (1h 1m 42s): Oh right. The under Nick (1h 1m 44s): Loop. Something I kind of picked up from bass fishing on, on. Dave (1h 1m 47s): Well it sounds like kind of throwing a curve ball. Yeah. How do you do the under loop? I don’t Nick (1h 1m 50s): Know. I tried today, I couldn’t do it. I do a lot of the curve balls too, so if you’re doing a really hard side arm cast, you can really buck that fly around the corner, you know? Yeah, Dave (1h 2m 1s): I gotcha. Nick (1h 2m 1s): That helps a lot too. Dave (1h 2m 3s): Nice. This is awesome guys. Well I think we could probably leave it there. There’s plenty more to talk about. I think maybe we’ll save it for the next one. Yeah. Anything else? You guys, you feel good about this? I, I think that, I mean, one thing I think when I hear people talk about these trips, I feel like, you know, one objection might be cost. You know, what does it cost to do something? Do you guys, do you wanna talk about that a little bit? What it takes to put something like this together? Is this kind of a, a really high end trip or what would you guys say to that? Jason (1h 2m 30s): Yeah, I mean, I think for a six day trip, I mean, we’re around five grand and with Oh wow. Dave (1h 2m 35s): That’s, that’s amazing. And Jason (1h 2m 36s): That includes the, it’s not bad. That includes your no overnight hotel in Bogota that includes your, all your transfers. The boat trip here, which is the, the fuel for the boat trips are, is expensive. It includes your flight satana from Bogota to Anita and all the Nick (1h 2m 54s): Beer. You are Jason (1h 2m 55s): Through all beer. Wow. Yeah. And, and yeah, I mean, and your guide. Dave (1h 2m 60s): So you get your flight to Bogota and then you’re pretty much all in for 5K. They Nick (1h 3m 4s): Took care of us from the minute we got off the plane in Bogota. I had a guy with a sign with my name on it. Oh, Dave (1h 3m 9s): There you Nick (1h 3m 10s): Go. It goes to a really nice hotel. Met up with Jason. We went to one of the best restaurants and Bogota just had an awesome first night. And then the transfers are all taken care of. Hop a quick flight out of Bogota to come out here. Super smooth. Jason (1h 3m 24s): Yeah. And shameless plug here. Yeah, we will hold our price. It’s 4,900, it’s probably gonna go up. But anybody who wants to, to go on the website and Nick (1h 3m 34s): Reference this podcast, Jason (1h 3m 35s): Reference the podcast and the email and we’ll, you know, we’ll hold that price for them for next season. Dave (1h 3m 41s): Love that. That’s amazing. Yeah, I feel like that is, from what I mean, again, I haven’t been there, but just for you guys painting this picture, and I know the cost of trips around, you know, the world like 5K is, is amazing for, you’re talking a full a week out there. That’s, that’s pretty Nick (1h 3m 55s): For this kind of experience. It’s, it’s a deal. Dave (1h 3m 58s): Yeah. Cool. Well, we should send everybody out to, is it baku lodge.com? Is that the best place to track you down? That’s Jason (1h 4m 4s): It. Baku lodge.com or Baku Lodge on Instagram and hook up with us on IG and we’ll do some live streams and stuff. It’s gonna be good. Perfect. Yeah. Dave (1h 4m 14s): All right. We’ll do that and then, and then we can track Nick, just lampson, where should we send folks, if they wanna check out some of the gear we talked about today? Nick (1h 4m 20s): Lampson Fly fishing dot com is where you’re gonna wanna go. We have our entire product lineup on there. You all the specs, all the info you need. Dave (1h 4m 27s): Perfect. All right, guys, Andres, Jason, Nick, this has been amazing. I hope fingers crossed that eventually I can get down your neck of the woods and experience this as well, but Andres (1h 4m 36s): Absolutely, you’re very welcome. Let us know and, and, and, and this is your house, wherever you got time and next season or wherever you wanna do it. And Jason (1h 4m 44s): Yeah, we’ll put you with a fine group. Yeah, Dave (1h 4m 46s): Perfect. Jason (1h 4m 47s): One, one of our friends and family groups. Dave (1h 4m 50s): All right. Sounds great. All right guys, well, thanks again and we’ll be in touch. Awesome. Jason (1h 4m 53s): All right, Nick (1h 4m 54s): Thank you very much. Thanks a lot, Dave. Andres (1h 4m 55s): Have a good one. Dave (1h 4m 58s): All right. Your call today is to check in with Baku Lodge, B-A-K-U-L-O-D-G e.com, Baku Lodge. Check in the price we set, they’re $5,000. Actually, 4,900 for a week is pretty hard to beat and it sounds like you’re gonna get a chance to customize your trip. Whether you wanna get up early, sleep in a bit, stay out late, take that siesta midday. I think they, the, the guy shared the details stay, which was good. If you haven’t already, check in and you can follow this show. Just click that plus button or subscribe on any podcast. You’re out there. If you’re interested in learning out more about some of our trip and travel programs, you can go to web fly swing.com/pro, sign up there and you can get information next week’s episode. Dave (1h 5m 45s): If you haven’t heard CJ’s real Southern podcast, it’s out. It’s going strong. CJ’s real Southern podcast, we need to get this going. If you haven’t heard of Chad Johnson, he’s bringing it every week with some great guests and talking big fish. All right, we gotta get outta here. Hope you have a great afternoon, and if it’s evening, hope you’re having an amazing evening. If it’s morning, even if it’s bright and early 4:00 AM in the morning right now and you’re getting ready to head off, hope you have a good day and we’ll see you on that next episode. 6 (1h 6m 13s): Thanks for listening to the Wet Fly, swing Fly fishing show. For notes and links from this episode, visit wet fly swing.com.