In Search of The Vampire (Fish)
By Mike Love

On October 20th, Dr. Riley Love, Guthrie Allen, Gary “The Brain” Narramore and myself, traveled to Columbia, South America, for a multispecies trip with a special focus on the payara, also known as the Vampire fish. It is aptly named for its two very large teeth on its lower jaw that actually extends through the top of its head when its mouth is closed.

Clearly illustrating why it is named the Vampire fish.

After an overnight in Bogata, our charter flight the next morning took us to San Jose Del Guaviare. We were met by representatives of Fish Columbia, who were the outfitters. This area has only been recently developed because of warring locals trying to control the drug trade but has been cleaned up by the Columbian Army (we hoped!).

The Fish Columbia reps took us from the grass airfield to the loading area in the towns, and we packed into a small boat for our five-hour journey downstream.

As night fell and we got closer to our camp, we could see lights ahead perched on top of a thirty-foot embankment. After a quick bite and a shot of rum, we were taken to our sleeping area, which consisted of shared tents with mattresses on wooded floors, but each mattress had its own mosquito net.

The campsite.

After a 5:30 am wake-up call, we gathered our gear and tackle (we had to take all of our own on this trip). For the next two days we fished for many species, but the payara fishing was very good. The team of Dr. Love and Guthrie Allen caught eight amazing payara in one day.

On the second day of fishing, our guide asked if we wanted to make an extra 1 ½ hour boat ride to an area he felt was holding many payara. We agreed and were soon in an area where a small feeder creek emptied into the Rio Guaviare.

I noticed some fish breaking water as we approached. For the next solid hour, my fishing partner Gary and I had many payara strikes. The payara is very difficult to land because of its boney mouth filled with a myriad of teeth.

On one particular cast, I had six strikes and did not land a fish. After retrieving my lure, the majority of the paint had been eaten off the lure and it had to be replaced. On my next cast, I hooked a really nice 30lb payara and was able to land him.

The next day, we moved to a different area at the base of a waterfall on the Mapiriare River. Here we slept in tents with mattresses on the ground, but with our trusty mosquito nets. It was amazing because everything was brought with us. All the kitchen equipment and the four people preparing the food, guides, boats. All cooking was done on open fires. There was no running water or bathrooms. The restrooms were in the jungle.

Dinner is served.

The fishing here was very steady, with many varieties. My partner Gary caught a camp record sardinata, while I caught a record Jamu and landed a very nice 20lb orange bellied pacu. The team of Dr. Love and Allen continued to do well on the payara.

We did encounter one particular problem. In one part of this river, there was a particular bush that was flowering. On the bushes were many bees. One must always be ready in the jungle, as these bees could come and land on our shirts and pants. It wasn’t uncommon to have 15-20 bees on you at a given time. They wouldn’t bother you, except when they would crawl under your shirt or shorts, and you would bump or push them while making a cast or landinga fish. I had emphasized to the group to wear long pants, long sleeve shirts, socks, face mask and hat at all times. Those who failed to heed this advice had considerably more stings. Mr. Allen led the aftermath total with six stings. I had only one when I sat on one that gave me the full wallop. Luckily these looked like the combed honey bee and the effects of the sting were gone in about 30 minutes.

One other encounter with the insect world was when Mr. Narramore exited the boa on a sand bar to relieve himself. Nothing was thought of it until we got back to camp. “Hey Captain, would you look at this?’ On the inside of his legs were over 40 sand flea bites per leg. I had some Benadryl lotion and pills, that seemed to keep everything in check.

This was one of our rougher trips, but it is what needs to be done in search of Vampires.

Featured above: Mike Love holds a orange bellied pacu.