After traveling and fishing in Patagonia with my dad and brother, I convinced Ben to come spend some time fishing with me in Paraguay before he flew home. The first component of our trip was a camping and kayaking trip I had been wanting to do for a long time.
We and made arrangements to rent some kayaks and get dropped off on the Río Aquidabán near Concepción. (Contact El Roble for more info)We camped and fished on this river for two nights before entering the Paraguay river and paddling to Concepción. This river featured beautiful beaches which were ideal for camping, swimming, and fishing.
Paraguay offers some interesting places to travel for adventurous outdoorsy people. However, there is little infrastructure for tourism compared to many other South American countries. Fishing is one activity that will keep people occupied while exploring rural Paraguay. Another good activity for the outdoors would be bird watching. Generally, we focus on fly fishing, but living in Paraguay has taught me that there are also times to fish with bait.
|
The most exciting fish of this trip was a good sized stingray. |
|
The afternoon of our third day we entered the Río Paraguay. As is often the case, the river was high and the surrounding forest and grassland were inundated with water. This mean there were few places to camp and swim once we left the Aquidabán. |
|
With limited options and limited daylight we pulled over on a river island to ask a subsistence fishing family if we could camp next to their house. |
|
The family was super friendly, the also had two pet coatís. |
|
Our last day of the trip consisted mostly of a long hot paddle to the port of Concepción. |
|
On the way back to Asuncíon, we stopped to camp for a couple of nights at my friend's ranch land in the Chaco. |
Many places in Paraguay offer opportunities for Wolf Fish, or "tere'yi." This fish thrives in many types of water. When heavy rains flood the land, fish move all over the place and any farm pond or road side ditch could potentially hold a number of species. Tere'yi in particular are ambush predators that will definitely attack a fly.
|
We borrowed some horses to access some of our friend's more remote farm ponds. |
|
In addition to Wolf Fish, Ben took down some other toothy fish; Pirañhas. |
|
Rural scene in the Paraguayan Chaco. |
|
Ben gets Pacu happy at the "pesque y pague" (pay and fish) near Areguá, Paraguay. |
|
Moto garden on Ruta 9. Motos are a popular inexpensive mode of transportation in Paraguay. However, often people do not want to pay to licence them properly and large collections of derelict motos accumulate at many police checkpoints. |
|
Tres Puntos catfish, Río Aquídaban. |
|
Clouser Minnow, before and after the Pirañha. |
|
While fishing a roadside ditch along Ruta 5, Ben takes on the philosophy: to catch the Wolf Fish you must become the Wolf Fish. |
|
Our last Paraguayan adventure was a quick trip to the Río Tebicuary. |
|
Small Dorado, Río Aquídaban |