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Golden Dorado in Bolivia

Trip Report 
4K views 29 replies 25 participants last post by  BullerRiver1 
#1 · (Edited)
This is about a month delayed, but back in July I traveled to the Tsimane Secure Lodge in Bolivia to chase Golden Dorado ( aka Salminus Brasiliensis) for a week. I came away with the realization that fly fishing for Golden Dorado is what at least I wish Steelheading was here in the states. The best way to describe these fish is the body of a King Salmon, with the mouth and attitude of a Piranha, and the aerial acrobatics of a Tarpon. Despite what we are told about the Amazon Jungle, the region around Tsimane is very safe. You are in the foothills of the Andes Mountains at around 1500 ft of elevation and still in the Amazon jungle. Definitely a type of transition zone. The water is gin clear (the last morning before we left I went out fishing barefoot (boots were packed up for the trip home) for a couple hours, completely safe), there are no mosquitos and the bugs are not bad at all (nothing like Alaska or the midwest in the summer). I applied sunscreen and bug spray everyday and I think I left with a single bug bite on my hand. I didn't see any snakes, they do a good job keeping them away from the lodge. The areas around the river are open and freestone akin the Western Washington rivers, the jungles are thick and you don't spend much time deep in the actual jungle. I did see a lot of large spiders, Caimen tracks, Jaguar tracks, Taiper tracks, and lots of amazing birds including tons of Macaw Parrots. I also saw some huge catfish and lots and lots of Dorado. Watching the Dorado hunt the Sabalo in the shallows was absolutely amazing!

Cloud Sky Vehicle Aircraft Tree

Landing in the jungle on a former Narcos air strip. The local villagers coming out to greet us

Water Plant Boat Water resources Plant community

Walking down to the river from the landing strip. We got into the dugouts and ran for about 10-15 minutes up river to the lodge

Sky Plant Property Plant community Building

Walking up to the lodge from the river

Cloud Sky Plant Plant community Ecoregion

Looking back down towards the river from the lodge
Purple Dye Art Woolen Magenta

The flies - Big flies, 4/0 - 8/0 hooks. Black combined with bright colors is the standard go to. I actually had a lot of success with White Flies and natural colored flies. Big weighted streamers are what you want. I also primarily fished an intermediate line with a clear tip. 8 weights are the standard down here and the casting can be pretty technical. My favorite line was a Cortland Tropic Short 350 grain. I was able to bomb these big streamers from bank to bank with ease by overloading my Sage Salt 890-4 a bit. I also had some fun using a glass rod half of the time.
Twig Terrestrial plant Plant Flowering plant Grass

Water Plant Fluvial landforms of streams Natural landscape Tree

Each day you set out with a professional guide and 2 native guides. For this section my guide and I would get out of the boat and fish the rapids while the natives ran the boat up or down them. Some sets of rapids we would stay in the boat for.
Water Boat Plant Sky Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies


Water Sky Plant Ecoregion Natural landscape

These are the Sabalo, the preferred food source of the Dorado, and they are everywhere throughout the river and often times in large schools

Water Plant Water resources Sky Ecoregion

Hooked up to El Grande...my largest fish of trip 11.5 KG

Water Sunglasses Goggles Lake Outdoor recreation

My biggest fish of the trip. El Grande
Water Water resources Plant People in nature Natural landscape

Water Smile Vertebrate Botany Plant

This was an average sized Dorado in the 8-10 lb range. There were smaller fish but the average I would say is around 8 lbs with fish getting as large as 40 lbs. Anything over 20lbs is considered a trophy sized fish.

Water Boat Sky Water resources Vehicle

The big one that got away from Bobby

Fish Underwater Fin Water Marine biology

Cloud Water Water resources Sky Plant

I can't say enough good things about Untamed Angling and the Tsimane Lodges. They run a fantastic operation in a truly amazing part of the world. I will definitely be going back, many times. I strongly recommend this trip to anyone. Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Tight lines,

Parker
 
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#11 ·
Sweet!

The equivalent fish here in the PNW isn't steelhead though, it's bull trout!
I wasn't trying to make a comparison with my statement. Reread it. I said I wish that Steelhead fishing was like fishing for Dorado. Some additional info, these Dorado are migratory fish (not ocean going though). I think most people are unaware of that. They hold in the same spots in the river as steelhead. But again, not comparing fish.
 
#12 ·
Didn’t mean to diss your comment, I also wish that we had something like dorado here! I think that the nearest ecological equivalent here is bull trout, so maybe we could keep the steelhead and just tweak those a little bit so that they grow to 40 pounds and require a wire leader! Time to retire to the secret genetics lab......
 
#17 ·
Awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
Did your group experience any fish mortality from exhaustion? If so, what % would you estimate, and what was the range of river water temperatures? I know mortality of released fish is a bummer to think about, but I'm curious if the tropical temperatures result in elevated mortality for released Dorado (relative to say trout fishing mortality in 50 degree water) or if they have evolved to withstand the lower oxygen content in the warmer waters well enough to have high survival rates following the exertion associated with landing them. If they're as hardy in warm water as say catfish or carp, I'd say they'd have pretty low mortality rates.
 
#18 · (Edited)
Awesome trip. Thanks for sharing.
Did your group experience any fish mortality from exhaustion? If so, what % would you estimate, and what was the range of river water temperatures? I know mortality of released fish is a bummer to think about, but I'm curious if the tropical temperatures result in elevated mortality for released Dorado (relative to say trout fishing mortality in 50 degree water) or if they have evolved to withstand the lower oxygen content in the warmer waters well enough to have high survival rates following the exertion associated with landing them. If they're as hardy in warm water as say catfish or carp, I'd say they'd have pretty low mortality rates.
I would say there was very little if any fish mortality. All of the fish I saw released were very energetic and robust at time of release. I would be guessing on water temps, no measurements were taken. Also, per my original post, we were in the foothills of the Andes so not in the rainforest. It cooled down quite a bit in the evenings and river temperatures were relatively cool. The season is during their winter and spring months mid June-early October.
 
#20 ·
Yeah I just wish Steelhead were more aggressive. Sight casting in some instances and watching a big steelhead turn on your fly and smash it would be amazing (some places in Alaska it's doable, but it just isn't the same) These Dorado are next level uber aggressive fish. I can try all day long to articulate it but until you see and experience for yourself you just won't understand. Some of it probably lies in the fact that Salmon and Steelhead are entering rivers to spawn and aren't actively feeding. But at the end of the day they are different fish, I live in the heart of Steelhead country and personally wish Steelheading was more similar to chasing Dorado.
 
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