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The payara is a superb sport fish, it's combative and when they're active, they give lots of bites. However, they are difficult to get out of the water.
Tighten the reel brake
When fishing for payara and hard-mouthed species, I recommend tightening the reel brake very firmly to ensure the best possible strike. Then, just after touching down and hooking up, loosen the brake quickly to avoid stalling and accompany the fish during rushes.
Triple or single hooks?
I fished the first two days with treble hooks, because that's what the guides recommend... Being a firm believer in using single hooks on hard lures, from the third day onwards I switched to single hooks to see if this change increased the probability of completing a fight. Over such a short period of time, I can't draw any conclusions, but I find that with single hooks I hold fish longer and pick them up less.
The wind
Coming back to this last day of fishing on the Orinoco, the morning didn't produce much. However, after lunch, the wind picked up and things got interesting. We arrive at a rock exposed to the wind on one of its banks. The water here is tinted by waves and stirred-up sediment, motivating me to fish this area well. Given the color of the water, I abandon my white lure used on other days for a fluorescent yellow one.
As the current isn't too strong in this area, I also abandon the fast animations and bring the lure in more moderately. As a result, I still have a few misses, but I manage to get out several payaras to round off the day.
The payara
Payara fishing is very visual, and reading the surface of the water is very important. This reminds me of aspe fishing in the Loire in fact, I find that the payara behaves in the same way. It's a very good swimmer, who takes the time to follow and analyze the lure.
I tried the same strategy as when fishing for asp, i.e. to bring in the fish very quickly. This seems to trigger the big subjects, but causes a lot of misfires.
I loved this first part of my stay on the Orinoco. The fishing is very interesting.
After four days fishing the Orinoco, a beautiful river well worth discovering, we head for the Rio Tomo, this time for peacock bass!
