Syracuse.com - Manlius man checks off peacock bass fishing trip in the Amazon from his 'bucket list'

[HuntingNY-News]

His wife agreed to come along, despite never having fished before.

Rich Lester said it all started earlier this year when he sat down with some buddies and brainstorming about each other's top, three fishing destination trips.

"One thing I've always wanted to do was fish for peacock bass," said Lester, who lives in Manlius and owns three Ziebart stores in Rochester, Binghamton and Syracuse.

"I'm age 59 and I just decided to pull the trigger. My wife, Maria, agreed to come along. It was a delight, particularly since she hadn't ever fished before," he added.

Lester did some research, talked to an outfitter and chose the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon River. He booked a seven-day outing.

Maria Lester with her 15 1/2-pound peacock bass. 

"We flew out of Syracuse on Oct. 17 and stopped at Chicago and Miami, before landing in Manaus, Brazil," he said. "We then took a charter plane to Barcelos. Barcelos is on a tributary of the Rio Negro, a tributary of the Amazon."

From there, he said, "We went 50 miles upstream from Barcelos with seven bass boats tethered to the (main boat)."

The main boat was a 120-foot yacht, Lester said.

"It was the Ritz Carlton of the Amazon River experience," he said. "There were seven air-conditioned state rooms and crew quarters below. We had a chef onboard and there were seven fishing guides. We rotated between them (the guides) each day."

Lester said he and his wife got up every morning at 5:30 a.m., had breakfast and left to fish at 6:30 a.m.

"We fished with topwater 'woodchoppers' lures, in additing to casting bucktail jigs," he said.

Lester said his wife only fish the morning, returning to the main boat each day at noon for lunch. She spent the remainder of the afternoon on board of the main ship reading, chatting and relaxing with some other women onboard, along with taking lots of pictures. There was a lot to see, he added.

"There were crocodiles, dolphins, schools of piranhas, macaws, eagles, toucan and hundreds of parrots and howler monkeys," he said.

Lester said his wife ended up catching the biggest peacock bass -- a 15½ pounder on a bucktail jig. His biggest peacock weighed 15 pounds.

During six days of fishing, the Manlius couple reeled in a total of 104 fish: three piranhas, one corvino and 100 peacock bass.

Lester said they brought "a ton of DEET" insect repellent on the trip. He and his wife were pleasantly surprised when they discovered there were no mosquitos in the area, due to the high acidity of the water.

The food on the main ship was "pretty good," Lester said. They ate lots of beef, fish and fresh vegetables and tropical fruit each day.

The cost?

"The fishing trip was $5,250 per person, plus $300 for a lure kit, $400 tips for staff, $200 for the guides and $1,000 apiece for airfare --- a total of about $14,000," he said, adding the trip included a stay on the first and last night at a five-star, hotel in Manaus.

"I will be back," he said. "I had a level of anticipation and expectations. This exceeded my expectations. The Amazon is so intriguing."

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog