February came to a close with some truly spectacular fishing throughout the Ibera Marsh. Plenty of large and healthy Golden Dorado were landed and more are entering the system. This month the weather conditions were on our side, making each and every session on the water memorable and action-packed!
We welcomed a wonderful group of anglers from Seattle, who all got into to a strong number of dorados, but it took them a few tries to master the strong strip-set needed to hook an aggressive dorado. But by the end of the week, everyone figured the game out and were bringing fish to the skiffs with ease. For most of the group, this was their first time chasing Golden Dorado on the fly.
While sight fishing in the shallows, Hunter B. managed to hook a powerful 12-pound dorado on his EP streamer. Hunter got a little anxious during the battle, and flexed his rod a bit too much, resulting in a broken rod, and a beautiful fish!
Another memorable fish from this past month was for the organizer of our Seattle group, Ben, who fooled a 10-pound dorado while slowly skating a mouse fly in the braided section of the marsh just above the headwaters of the Corriente River.
Rounding out the end of the month, we welcomed filmmakers Ben P. and Brian H. who joined Santi Seeber for a week of exploratory fishing in the unexplored depths of the Marsh. They dragged boats deeper than we have gone before, and their efforts were rewarded with Dorado who have never encountered a fly, and happily slurped down countless mouse flies. Santi capped of this excursion landing a strong 16 lb fish skating a mouse and the whole encounter was captured on video!
Aside from the fishing, the wonderful aesthetics of the marsh have been in full form. Beautiful weather has afforded us some other-worldly sunsets and excellent bird watching opportunities. Our local Capybara and Caiman, who are well habituated to our skiffs, patiently watch as we fish, unperturbed by human presence.
All in all, February was an amazing month on the Ibera Marsh, and we are looking forward to what March will hold for our next month’s guests!
Tight lines.
Jose Caparros. Pira Lodge Fishing Manager
