~Stephen Schreifer~ Colonel, US Army, retired

Douglas Knepp, a member of our Hooked On Adventures team,  wrote “What a great group of people and adventure this trip turned out to be! Alan Smith and Stephen Schreifer are to be thanked for the anglers they choose to join them on this trip.  It was truly ‘The Trip of a Lifetime’!  Great evenings were enjoyed, after a hard day of fishing, included wine flowing, cigars being lit, and stories plus jokes being shared all around.  It was fantastic!   Stephen Schreifer, a retired USAF colonel, was a true gentleman and a great fishing partner.

Together we fished  beautiful sand bars (some very remote and hidden lakes).  I met a man from CT that ate more grilled Piranha that I could ever imagined, along with some natives in dug out canoes, and witnessed one of the women swimming in the Amazon (above)!  We had long conversations that I feel made a new and lasting friendship.”

Douglas also commented ”Randy Liljenquist, of AZ,  is a world class, big game hunter with the bow and arrow. He has taken trophies all over the world, and now I know why! When our Guide, Eddie, spotted a big Peacock moving in a tightly sheltered area, he asked Randy to make a cast to that hole. By my count, Randy made over 50 casts to the hole pulling out a few 3 pounders, a 5 pounder,  a few more 4 pounders…..

…….then came the ‘perfect cast’.

The water boiled, and the fight was on!  For 30 minutes of casting, over and over, Randy’s perfect cast rewarded him with a beautiful 18 pounder!  That’s what you get when you listen to your guide, and the result was a huge fish that was photographed and released!  Here are our numbers for the week:

Location:  Upper Rio Negro/Amazon/Manaus Brazil

Trip Date: December 2-10, 2011 (fishing 3rd-9th)

Group Size:  16

# of Days:  6 – 6 1/2

                                                 Total Number for Week:   737

                                (33) 10 lbs. – 19 lbs.  and  (3) Peacocks 20 lb. and over

                                      LARGEST FISH CAUGHT WERE (1)  25 LB.er’s

                         10 lb.’ers – 10,    11 lb.’ers – 7,     12 lb.’ers – 2,     13 lb.’ers – 5,   

                         15 lb.’ers –   2,     16 lb.’ers– 2,     17 lb.’ers–  3,     18 lb.’ers – 1,      

                         19 lb.’ers –    1,    20 lb.’ers – 1,     22 lb.’ers – 1,    25 lb.er’s – 1.

                                                701 additional fish were caught

Water Level:  Levels were a bit higher than normal for this time of year.

Baits Used:     Lure of choice for this trip were Jigs, however, the biggest fish caught was on a topwater lure.

To this week’s group:  We certainly had a wonderful and fun-filled time with you guys, from the moment you reserved your trip, working with you to get you there, and of course, the great time everyone had on the boat with you all.  Come join us again soon, and thanks for the memories!                                                             

 p.s.  Laurie and Kerry, you certainly did bring a lot of laughs to the trip, and just so you know, this is the first time we’ve “ever” seen our guides wear a Santa Claus hat!

It is a funny thing in life, when you accept only the very best, you very often get it and that describes “Hooked On Adventures” from the owner Mr. McCarthy, Owner to the Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Pamelah Howard.  I recently completed my second trip on the Amazon Santana and am looking forward to my third and hopefully, many more.  You cannot go wrong with this group…it just doesn’t get any better!” 

~Stephen Schreifer~                                                                                                                                                                                                  Colonel, US Army, retired

We met Tony at the airport, and he got us on a bus that took us to the Santana.  That night we had a great dinner and had more Caipirinhas (thank you Harry!!!).  We were also assigned our guide for the week, and was told that wake-up call comes early at 5:00 am. We were also given an opportunity to buy one-ounce buck-tail jigs for $6 each.  I highly recommend the red and yellow bucktails.  They were quite popular with the Peacock Bass.  

If you want a hot breakfast, please get up while the coffee is hot.  The Brazilian coffee shames Starbucks.  The chef let me watch her make the coffee.  She actually boils the grounds and then pours the coffee through a cheese-clothe type filter into an insulate dispenser.   We always had scrambled eggs, cheeses, tons of fruit, bacon or sausage, and more.  Now it was up to us as to when we wanted to go fishing.  My husband, Kerry, and I opted to get right out for the early fish.  Arnoldo, our guide, must have been born with a natural GPS and fish-finding system.  He always got us spot-on. 

We fished our hearts out the first day.   Arnoldo would put us on a spot and would recommend how to catch the fish he seemed to sense.  Sometimes he told us to top-water fish with these 7-inch lures, cast with the jigs or troll with the jigs.  Just how do you do that, Arnoldo?  The chef had packed a cold lunch for us, but we opted to return to the Mothership at 11:00 to  shower and eat.  We had a cold beer with our sandwich and had a hardy nap.  We were back out to fish at 1:00.  We were excited about the 19 fish we caught on our first day, and I was especially excited about the 9 pound Peacock that I caught.  That was, until we saw a fellow fisherman who had just caught a 12 pounder!!  Bummer.  They were packing it up to head back to the Mothership, and my 9-pounder wasn’t that impressive to me anymore.  I admit – I got the fish pout.  Arnoldo must have picked up on that – it needs no translation.  Next thing you know, my hook was stuck on a stump.  Arnoldo started yelling “Big Fish, Big Fish.”  OMG.  It was!  I pulled a fighting 15-pounder out of the water. What a beautiful fish!!  The head on that fish was big, if not bigger, than my head – and I have a big head.  I took a few pictures with my fish and felt my ego restored.  I was so happy to see blood on the top of my hand ; I had a bass bite from holding the fish with my bare hand.  I couldn’t wait to get back to the boat to share my battle wound!                                                                                                                                                                                                                     ~Laurie Rowan~ Eglin AFB, Florida                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Canada’s“Real Fishing, Izumi Outdoors with Bob Izumi” and  TV crew  were on board this trip filming their show with Hooked On Adventures and our Peacock Bass Fishing Adventures on the Amazon.  What a fun trip it was with all these guys, as well as all their Canadian friends that fished with them, and the father and son duo (The Scotts) from New Mexico.  It was a blast and nice to finally put faces with the names. We had a few from our camp as well helping out with things and working hard to make sure everyone had a great time.  We certainly had a great group of guys with us this week!

 Again, sandbars are seen in many places, and we are sailing back into shallow waters to fish. 

Sean Ippolito  (Left)  -   Real Fishing’s TV Host “Bob Izumi”/HOA’s Douglas Knepp (Right) 

          Bob Izumi and Guide, “JoJo”                                 Rick McCrory                

Here are our numbers for the week:

Location:            Upper Rio Negro/Amazon River/Manaus Brazil

Trip Date:           November 25 - December 3, 2011

Group Size:         20 Anglers 

# of Days:           6 

                                                  Total Number for Week:   886

                                (26) 10 lbs. – 19 lbs.  and  (6) Peacocks 20 lb. and over 

                                      LARGEST FISH CAUGHT WERE (3)  21 LB.er’s 

                         10 lb.’ers – 2,    11 lb.’ers – 3,     12 lb.’ers – 12,        13 lb.’ers – 1,    

                         14 lb.’ers – 1,     17 lb.’ers – 3,     18 lb.’ers  –  3,      19 lb.’ers – 1,       

                                                           20 lb.’ers –3,    21 lb.’ers  –  3

Water Level:  Levels were a bit higher than normal for this time of year, but we still had a good fishing week.  Levels continue to decrease a little each day.                                                                   

Baits Used:     Lure of choice for this trip were ”Jigs, Jigs and MORE Jigs”!

We hope to have you guys with us again soon, and thanks for the wonderful camaraderie. We hope to have provided you with some great lifetime memories and a few new fish tales!     ~David McCarthy

Thank you and Happy Holidays,                              

David & Bryan Scott

I highly recommend this fishing experience to anyone.  The fishing and the accommodations were excellent and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.   The food, meals, snacks and shore lunch were all wonderful.  The entire staff were gracious and hospitable.  The guides were hard working and very, very knowledgeable.  They wanted to find the big fish as much as we did.  Thank you so much for this very fine experience!    ~Stan Ratzlaff

p.s.  Did I mention my 21 lb Peacock bass catch?  I probably didn’t mention the 17 lb or 18 lb either. 

Here are our numbers for the week:

Location:            Upper Rio Negro/Amazon River/Manaus Brazil

Trip Date:           November 18 - November 26, 2011

Group Size:         11 Anglers from group fishing

# of Days:           6

                                               Total Number for Week:   836

                                        34 Fish over 10 lb. and “2″ over 20 lb. 

                       LARGEST FISH CAUGHT WAS 23 LBS. BY DOUG KNEPP

                     10 lb.’ers – 11,    11 lb.’ers – 7,     12 lb.’ers – 5,        13 lb.’ers – 3,    

                     14 lb.’ers – 3,      15 lb.’ers – 0,       16 lb.’ers – 1,       17 lb.’ers – 1,   

                     18 lb.’ers – 1,      19 lb.’ers – 0,       20 lb.’ers – 0,      21 lb.’ers – 1,    

                     22 lb.’ers – 0,      23 lb.’ers – 1,       24 lb.’ers – 0! 

Water Level:  Levels were a bit higher than normal for this time of year, but the river still gave up a great fishing week for us to enjoy.                                                                                 

Baits Used:     Lure of choice for this trip were ”Jigs, Jigs and MORE Jigs”!

Hats off to the Doctors from Puerto Rico and the Hallfords, as they made the trip a great one. We hope to have you guys with us again soon!     ~David McCarthy, Owner/Operator 

                                        Jaime Aponte ~ 17 lb’er

The fishing trip was truly a “Trip of a Lifetime”.  I’m planning another trip back to the Amazon as the fishing was incredible!

One day I caught 50 Peacock Bass, and NO mosquitoes!!  Thank you both for making the trip so wonderful.  I would recommend “Hooked on Adventures” to all my friends.       ~Dennis Allen, Clovis, Ca. ~

We have had a great time, and a “great outcome”, on our first trip on the Amazon’s Rio Negro River along with good water levels where we fished.   Our clients are very excited, and seem to be quite pleased, with their fishing experience this round.  We are now heading back to Barcelos for the evening in preparation  for our trip back to Manaus/Miami/home tomorrow.  It was an exciting time here on the Amazon with some terrific anglers and good fun!  We hope to have the same on our next trip out which will be November 18 – 26, 2011. 

 Here are our numbers for the week (more info to come along with some testimonials from the customers and group leader):

Location:      Rio Negro/Amazon River/Manaus Brazil

Trip Date:     November 4 - November 11, 2011

Group Size:    20 Anglers

# of Days:      6

Total Number for Week:   2205

Size:             2126 fish under 10# and….

                     10 lb.’ers – 16,    11 lb.’ers – 13,     12 lb.’ers – 8,    13 lb.’ers – 6,    

                     14 lb.’ers – 4,      15 lb.’ers – 6,       16 lb.’ers – 4,     17 lb.’ers – 3,   

                     18 lb.’ers – 4,      19 lb.’ers – 2,       20 lb.’ers – 5,      21 lb.’ers – 3,    

                     22 lb.’ers – 2,     23 lb.’ers – 0,        and  24 lb.’ers – 1! 

Water Level:  Levels were really good with occasional rain and continuing to get even better each day.

Baits Used:     Lures of choice for this trip were High Rollers and Jigs.

Thanks to all who joined us this trip, and we hope to have you guys with us again soon!

David McCarthy, Owner/Operator                                                      

Hooked On Adventures (888).295.4665