Why Book with Emu Outfitting
Jim Kern, founder of Emu Outfitting, has over 20 years of experience fishing for Peacock Bass in Brazil’s Amazon. Since 1997 he has made 32 trips fishing with, managing or booking for half a dozen different mother boat, fixed lodge and floating mobile camp operations on the Rio Negro, Rio Branco and a good number of their black water tributaries from Barcelos to Santa Isabel on the upper Rio Negro. After fishing all of these venues Jim is booking exclusively for River Plate Outfitters, the pioneer of Brazil’s Peacock Bass operations since 1992. The reasons we have chosen River Plate are listed below.
Small personal groups of 6 – 12 people/week.
You are coming to the Amazon to fish for the legendary Peacock Bass in its own remote Amazon habitat. We personalize that experience by accommodating small groups of only 6, 8 or 12 guests per week depending upon the Safari Camp you choose. You could come to the Amazon for a cruise that offers fishing on the multitude of mother boats and lodges available that handle anywhere from 16 – 30 guests per week allowing you to fish with and enjoy a couple dozen of your best friends you’ve never met! Or you could come with us to enjoy a personalized remote Amazon experience with a group of only 6 - 12 fishermen.
Safari Camps offering Single Occupancy cabins with Queen beds!
The Emu Outfitting Company in conjunction with River Plate Outfitters is the only operation in the Amazon that offers Safari Camps of 6 floating cabins for up to 6 individual anglers or 3 – 4 couples/week! These are 250 sq ft fully air-conditioned cabins, with a queen bed, private bathroom and shower. There is a separate dining cabin serving upscale food and furnishing beer, wine, soft drinks and bottled water.
Fish the remote Amazon on exclusive lands
The vast majority of Peacock Bass sport fishing operations in Brazil are conducted on the main Rio Negro River within a 100 mile radius of Barcelos which is located 300 miles upriver from Manaus. Peacock Bass inhabit hundreds of rivers in Brazil’s Amazon, so why do nearly all the Peacock Bass fishing operators fish out of Barcelos? Barcelos, a city of 30,000 people, is the only location in the upper Rio Negro River basin big enough to resupply the 50 or so mother boats which operate in the area. This myriad of mother boats, each handling 8-30 guests/week, plus a land based lodge accommodating up to 40 guests/week located 30 miles upriver from Barcelos, fish basically the same waters every week for 6 months.
In contrast, our operations utilize mobile floating Safari Camps on 10 different tributaries to the Rio Negro, Rio Branco and Rio Madeira watersheds where River Plate has leased exclusive fishing rights from the Indigenous Indians who live on those rivers. In exchange for these exclusive fishing rights, River Plate has compensated the Indians with over 2 million dollars in the last 10 years in generators, satellite dishes and computers as well as direct monetary payments. This enables the children of the village to obtain their education online without having to leave their families. These exclusive fishing agreements have allowed River Plate to manage the fishing pressure on these tributaries enhancing the size and number of Peacock Bass our anglers can expect to catch compared to the average number of fish caught on the main river channels frequented by the mother boat operators. You will see no other sport fishermen on these rivers other than those from your Safari Camp!
In contrast, our operations utilize mobile floating Safari Camps on 10 different tributaries to the Rio Negro, Rio Branco and Rio Madeira watersheds where River Plate has leased exclusive fishing rights from the Indigenous Indians who live on those rivers. In exchange for these exclusive fishing rights, River Plate has compensated the Indians with over 2 million dollars in the last 10 years in generators, satellite dishes and computers as well as direct monetary payments. This enables the children of the village to obtain their education online without having to leave their families. These exclusive fishing agreements have allowed River Plate to manage the fishing pressure on these tributaries enhancing the size and number of Peacock Bass our anglers can expect to catch compared to the average number of fish caught on the main river channels frequented by the mother boat operators. You will see no other sport fishermen on these rivers other than those from your Safari Camp!
River Plate is the only operator to fish all 4 different dry zones in Brazil’s Amazon utilizing their 5 separate mobile Safari Camps
Water levels are the mitigating factor when it comes to Peacock Bass fishing success. During the wet season water levels can increase as much as 15 – 25 vertical feet flooding the rainforest and allowing the fish to disperse into the timber thereby becoming inaccessible to the sport fisherman. Therefore Peacock Bass fishing is only done during the dry seasons. Brazil’s Amazon is so vast that different areas experience dry seasons at different times of the year. The majority of the Peacock Bass fishing is conducted on the upper Rio Negro River from 50 miles downriver from Barcelos to 25 or 30 miles upriver from Santa Isabel which is located 180 miles upriver from Barcelos. In a given 5 year span, the upper Rio Negro water levels will drop to fishable levels around mid to late October in 3 - 4 of those years and will be fishable in early October only 1 - 2 of those years. Water levels begin to rise in mid to late February and become unfishable by early March in 4 out of 5 years .
There are actually 4 different dry zones, shown in the map below, providing ideal water levels from mid July thru March throughout Brazil’s Amazon. What is referred to as dry zones 3 & 4 are on the upper Rio Negro River as shown by the map and that is where the majority of the sport fishing for Peacock Bass takes place. Dry Zones 1 & 2 are in the southern fishery on tributaries to the Rio Madeira located several hundred miles downriver from Manaus. We begin fishing our exclusive entry waters, shown by the yellow encircled areas on the map, in the Tenharim Indian Reservation during late July when water conditions are ideal in what is called Dry Zone 1 with water levels continuing to be ideal thru August. In mid to late August the water levels in Dry Zone 2 become ideal and we begin fishing our exclusive waters in the Muhura Indian Reservation. By late October the water levels have normally risen above ideal levels in Dry Zones 1 & 2 but have become ideal in Dry Zones 3 & 4 allowing us to fish there from October thru early March. This gives us great flexibility to fish many areas that the mother boat operators do not due to low water obstructions and the high cost of operating in these very productive areas of Brazil’s southern fishery.
There are actually 4 different dry zones, shown in the map below, providing ideal water levels from mid July thru March throughout Brazil’s Amazon. What is referred to as dry zones 3 & 4 are on the upper Rio Negro River as shown by the map and that is where the majority of the sport fishing for Peacock Bass takes place. Dry Zones 1 & 2 are in the southern fishery on tributaries to the Rio Madeira located several hundred miles downriver from Manaus. We begin fishing our exclusive entry waters, shown by the yellow encircled areas on the map, in the Tenharim Indian Reservation during late July when water conditions are ideal in what is called Dry Zone 1 with water levels continuing to be ideal thru August. In mid to late August the water levels in Dry Zone 2 become ideal and we begin fishing our exclusive waters in the Muhura Indian Reservation. By late October the water levels have normally risen above ideal levels in Dry Zones 1 & 2 but have become ideal in Dry Zones 3 & 4 allowing us to fish there from October thru early March. This gives us great flexibility to fish many areas that the mother boat operators do not due to low water obstructions and the high cost of operating in these very productive areas of Brazil’s southern fishery.
Rods & reels (bait casting, spinning and fly), lures & flies provided for your use at CAMP!
The secret to offering an upscale fishing operation is no surprises, as in additional unexpected costs. Therefore, Emu Outfitting is providing the use of rods, reels & especially lures as part of the trip cost. Rods, reels, lures and flies are fairly specialized when fishing for Peacock Bass. You need a heavy bass rod and a tough bait casting or spinning reel loaded with 65 – 80 lb test line or a 9 or 10 wt fly rod to play with the explosive Peacock Bass. The lures are even more specialized and have evolved a great deal over the last 20 years. It is one thing to be given a list of what tackle to bring , but never having seen or heard of most of it, you have a good chance of not bringing the right equipment with you even after you have invested $1000 or more. 300 miles from the nearest tackle shop is not where you want to discover you do not have the proper equipment for your fishing trip of a lifetime! We furnish the use of rods, reels and necessary lures, at no additional cost at all of our camps. These are the lures which caught fish last week, not last year!
25+ years of knowledge operating Peacock Bass fishing operations in Brazil’s Amazon!
River Plate was the pioneer in Peacock Bass sport fishing in the Amazon of Brazil, beginning operations in 1992. They have utilized a mother boat, lodge and their current mobile floating Safari Camps for trips on most of the black water rivers from the Rio Madeira watershed 300 miles south of Manaus to San Gabriel, over 500 miles northwest of Manaus. Luis Brown, the founder of River Plate was insightful enough 10 years ago to foresee that the popularity of Peacock Bass fishing would produce an uncontrolled wave of mother boats and operators operating out of Barcelos on the Rio Negro and the inevitable decline in the fishing resources this popularity in Peacock Bass fishing would bring. He therefore put together the idea of leasing exclusive fishing rights to waters controlled by the indigenous Indians and the concept of his mobile floating Safari Camps so that all Peacock Bass fishermen in the future could experience the great fishing we experienced in the late 1990’s. Jim Kern, working with Luis Brown and River Plate, has designed our “one of a kind” upscale Single Occupancy Safari Camp to give the discriminating travelers the intimate trophy Peacock Bass fishing trip they came to the Amazon to experience.
