First round matchup #4 - #8 Barracuda vs. #25 Arapaima
- Thread starter CanoeGuy
- Start date
Maybe it's just that everyone in the PNW wants a beach vacation right now. Everyone except @Stonedfish I mean, salamander that he is and all. Or maybe he's more of a rough skinned newt.
I know that "where I want to go visit" has weighted extremely heavily in my voting. For this one, all things being equal, give me the exotic destination and experience--arapaima all the way. There's a bazillion resort-y type places to go to and step out front and catch barracuda. They're widely distributed compared to arapaima.
I’ve caught several hundred living in HI over four decades…my biggest around 40 lbs, but have seen them over 80 lbs dockside…I would have to agree…and cuda’s are relatively easy to find all over the world…aripaima’s not so…
But isn’t that exactly what is great about them? Amazing, shocking take, one run, a big jump, and then not having to deal with a prolonged slugfest is all good with me. Time spent fighting big fish that won’t give up is just time that you are not making another cast to another hot barracuda!
The reason I had arapaima seeded so low is I was afraid it would take hours to land one and I had "the eat" rated pretty low. I was reading more about Pirarucu Lodge last night and this info makes this place very attractive:
"In addition to the large fish, what makes Mamiraua an incredible fishery are the vibrant populations of “juvenile” arapaima from 30-70 pounds, which readily take large streamers on floating fly lines in the shallow lagoons of the reserve. And there’s lots of action on these perfect sized fly rod fish. You can fill your day with the action of those powerful medium sized fish."
Assuming you can kinda sight fish them, see the take (floating lines in shallow water) and land one in less than 10 minutes, they jump from #25 on my list to #4. This puts Pirarucu high on my top 10 list. Wonder if you can sight fish them past seeing them come up to gulp air? If you can sight fish these juvenile fish, Pirarucu might move ahead of Kendjam on my jungle list.
"In addition to the large fish, what makes Mamiraua an incredible fishery are the vibrant populations of “juvenile” arapaima from 30-70 pounds, which readily take large streamers on floating fly lines in the shallow lagoons of the reserve. And there’s lots of action on these perfect sized fly rod fish. You can fill your day with the action of those powerful medium sized fish."
Assuming you can kinda sight fish them, see the take (floating lines in shallow water) and land one in less than 10 minutes, they jump from #25 on my list to #4. This puts Pirarucu high on my top 10 list. Wonder if you can sight fish them past seeing them come up to gulp air? If you can sight fish these juvenile fish, Pirarucu might move ahead of Kendjam on my jungle list.
I heard first hand from a very well traveled angler that arapaima are the only fish where he felt the “eat” through the concussion in the water before feeling anything through the fly line. That they’d hear this sound periodically throughout the day and know that something had just died.