Lake Guri - Feb 10 report

[Marlinhunter2]

17 Feb 2010

"Salutations Fellow Anglers,

As many of you know, I haven't put out a fishing report in almost three months. Some will say good riddance to terrible writing, while others will say, "I thought the idiot was finally dead." Unfortunately, I have been here all along, but the fishing has been conspicuously absent!

Last year, our rainy season, which normally lasts from mid-May through mid-December, didn't begin until the first of July and abruptly ended the first of August. Having been falling steadily since August, the water level in Lake Guri is currently about 55 feet low and falling at a rate of 6 inches a day. It is estimated that the lake level will reach an unprecedented level of 100 ft low by May, which is when we all are hoping the rains will return. Try and imagine how much water we are talking about when you consider Lake Guri has 1,400,000 surface hectares (3,000,000 acres) of water when full, and you will see the climatic disaster reeked upon us by "El Nino", who gets blamed for everything from floods and droughts to a fella getting caught fooling around with a neighbor lady ("Honey, I don't know what happened. I was driving home, and El Nino took control of my car and drove it into your friend, Lucille's, driveway. Then it yanked me out of the car and into her bedroom, which is where you found us naked due to El Nino blowing all our clothes off. I'm sure glad you found us before El Nino made us do something we might regret).

Even though the lake has been falling like someone pulled the plug out of a bathtub full of water, we at Headwaters Fishing Club have continued to forge ahead in a valiant attempt to put clients on big peacock bass and payara. Yet with each passing week, this seemingly easy task has become harder and harder to the point where we have gone from catching fish to merely casting. I believe one of the main reasons for this is the fact the river current, which usually extends from the surface down to 30-40 ft allowing us to fish the eddys and shallow flats near the channels is now only beginning below 30 ft, which leaves the surface calm. Using a depth finder, you would be amazed at the multitude of fish suspended from 15-60 feet in the deep river channels. Even more surprising is the fact that using deep diving crankbaits, heavy jigs, spinnerbaits, live bait, spoons, and anything else you might throw produces absolutely nothing.

I figure by now you are getting the jest of what we have been going through these past three months or so. As you can see in the attached photo, the HFC camp is no longer a lakeside facility, but rather a camp sitting high and dry in a pasture. Two weeks ago I moved my boats from the last water in front of the camp to a place 1/2 mile behind my camp in the river channel. We are currently constructing another temporary docking facility three miles from my camp on the lakeside of our area. If this keeps up, our clients require valid passports just to travel to the fishing areas. In another ten days, the area above my camp in the Caroni and La Paragua River basins will convert to being nothing but one of the world's largest volcanic rock gardens with a trickle of water flowing through them.

As if trying to find fish for my clients wasn't difficult enough these past months, on January 2nd I went to my local medical practitioner and was told I had pneumonia. My doctor in formed my during my visit that he was sending me straight to the hospital for an intense regime of medications. To which I matter of fact responded, "I bet you don't." After being my doctor for over twenty years now, my being cantankerous doesn't bother him in the least, so he just gave me a long list of medications to take. Within a week I was feeling much better and headed off for the camp again with a group of clients. This was when my doctor's weird sense of humor became apparent.

It seems that one of the primary medications he gave me has certain attributes. One, the pills were so big I called him to ask if they were to be administered orally or anally, and thankfully he responded orally. He also laughed when responding, which I didn't figure out the reason for until later. My psychotic sawbones had given me a pill to take that truly did help cure my pneumonia, but it came with certain side effects. After the fact, I Googled up this medication and found out it first might cause loose bowels (The Run Johnny Runs) during the first days of taking them, and then it also would cause extreme flatulence (farting) for an extended period of time. I can vouch for the fact both symptoms are a definite probability. One quick move on my part would bring forth a 21 Gun Salute followed by a cannon volley. I also found out it would be smart to always carry extra clean shorts along whenever I moved more than thirty feet in any direction.

I am now over my illness, but I believe it will be next month before our fishing turns on again. We know where all the formerly deep structure will be popping out the water far out in the lake, and this is where the peacock bass and payara will gather to feed, or at least our previous experience with low water dictates it will be so.

So everyone just chill out, oil your reels, and get ready to rumble with some quality fish real soon. We are not going anywhere, and I pride myself on the fact we take people fishing to catch fish, not to just pay me to cast. As my good friend, Randy Barnard, just mentioned this past week, this is the honorable thing to do, but there isn't much money in it.

Anyone wanting to stretch their strings on some quality peacock bass and payara from mid-March onward need only to contact me, and I will try to set you up with a memorable fishing adventure at HFC. You can count on the fact there will be some monstrous fish of both species hooked during this time frame, because all the fish from upriver will be forced down into the lake due to the low or nonexistent water in the normal habitat. You won't want to miss it.

Everyone have themselves a GREAT week!!!"

Regards,
Steve Shoulders
Headwaters Fishing Club,
Lake Guri, Venezuela