Colombia Hosted Trip Recap: The Adventure of a Lifetime

Sunday, January 25th, four of our customers and I arrived back in the US after a thrilling week of fishing in the jungle targeting peacock bass and payara. This was our first hosted trip to Colombia and it certainly will not be our last. Fly fishing in the jungle is an exhilarating experience that everyone should try at least once. Explosive eats, aerial displays from hooked fish, unique wildlife, and the remoteness of the land you fish are just a few of the reasons why Colombia should be on your short-list. 

Our outfitting partner in Colombia, Afloat Fishing & Adventure, is a local company with four fishing lodges located in the Colombian jungle (with one lodge located in Venezuela). They focus on seamless trip logistics, fantastic camps, and delicious meals for their guests, as well as amazing fishing locations, of course! For our 2026 hosted trip we stayed at Akuani River Lodge located along the Vichada River. This lodge is one of three that focuses on peacock bass fishing, but is their only lodge where you can target payara (aka vampire fish). Our trip followed suit and we spent four full days peacock bass fishing in the vast lagoons of the Vichada, as well as two full days fishing for payara along the volcanic rocks and the endless Class V rapids of the mighty Orinoco. The trip was everything we dreamt of and then some, with this year’s guests eagerly awaiting our trip in 2027!

Kevin Le, part owner and manager of our Castle Rock location, will be hosting a trip to Akuani River Lodge in 2027. For those of you who are looking to join this trip, it is unfortunately completely sold out. However, I will be hosting another trip to the Colombian jungle strictly targeting peacock bass in 2027 at one of Afloat’s other lodges. Official details on this trip will come in the following weeks and can be found here: https://www.goldenflyshop.com/pages/destination-trips. They are currently in the process of adding a new lodge on a river that has been relatively untouched for 8 years. One guest at the lodge who was not a part of our hosted group was from Colombia and has fished said location. “Big fish” was all that needed to be said about this destination. Keep an eye out for details in the near future.

With that being said, let’s talk about the trip!

Upon arrival at camp, we geared up our rods and debated what flies we should start the trip with. Most of us rigged our 8wt with floating lines and poppers, whereas our 9 and 10wt rods were rigged with various sinking tips and streamers. The favorite sink tips amongst the group were intermediate or S3 tips to reach into the water column. Those who fished a little slower preferred the intermediate tip, whereas those who fished faster (myself included) utilized the S3 tip. All of our rods were rigged variations of the Rio Warmwater Predator, which proved itself to be an amazing jungle line.

Our favorite flies were different depending on who you asked, but the most productive flies were the Umpqua Flashtail Whistler in orange/yellow and red/yellow, Umpqua Big Fish Deceiver in baby blue/white and chartreuse white, custom tied Jungle Junkies in red/white and perch, and the MFC Hollow Bunker in chartreuse/white. Poppers certainly caught fish, but were the least successful form of fishing with our location and water levels. While we were there, fish seemed to prefer subsurface logjams and just off dropoffs. With that, streamers brought in by far the most fish. This isn’t unique to the Vichada, as most peacock bass are caught with subsurface imitations.

The first morning we were eager to hit the water, and we were welcomed with a thick fog during our boat ride that led to a prolonged topwater bite. This was by far the best morning for poppers and we all hooked up on eager fish looking up. The fog quickly burned off and we switched to streamers. Some of the boats had a slow morning with only a few hookups. One boat, however, was putting a hurting on the fish and caught several fish over 5lbs, including two 8+lbers!!

My boat, joined by my father, had a stellar afternoon with many fish caught. Most fish you catch are in the 2lb range, with some smaller and some bigger. But my father and I were lucky to wrap up the day with a 7.5lb and 6lb, respectively. Peacock bass at any size are incredibly hard fighting fish, and you quickly figure out why 9 and 10wt rods are the norm for these fish. After several years targeting these fish and understanding how to fight these fish, I can see why seasoned anglers often pick up 8wt rods. That said, the vast majority of peacock anglers utilize the 9wt as their workhorse, and rightfully so.

The next day was just peacock bass fishing once again. All of the boats had a phenomenal day with many 6-8lb fish landed amongst the group. After lunch and a quick siesta midday, we set back out on the water before the rain came. If you think you’ve been rained on before, the rainforest will prove you wrong. We were stuck in about an hour and a half of torrential downpour that would not quit. We all spent most of the afternoon helping the guides bilge our boats so the boats wouldn’t become overwhelmed with water.

After this stiff rainstorm, we had roughly an hour left of fishing for the day. We didn’t produce the numbers we had seen previously, and some landed a skunk after the storm. But this is the way of the jungle. The fantastic morning fishing made up for the lackluster afternoon of rain and slow fishing. After arriving back at the lodge, we broke our rods down and prepared for an early morning boat ride to the Orinoco; our next two were going to be focused on payara!

Fly fishing for payara isn’t for the faint of heart, and a sticker on one of our transfer boats described fishing for these beasts perfectly. “Payara on the fly aint for pussies” sums up the payara experience perfectly. These fish love current, and you’ll spend the vast majority of your time casting into or near Class V rapids on slick, volcanic rocks. Additionally, you’re swinging 11wt rods rigged with 500gr sinking lines and flies as long as a foot! That said, if you’re willing to swing a 2x4 and strip hard, you’ll be greatly rewarded with one of the most unique looking fish on the planet.

Payara fight incredibly hard and love to jump. After fishing for them and putting them in hand, payara can be described similarly to tarpon in the way they fight, jump, and possess streamlined bodies with mouths that are composed of solid bone. Although they don’t grow nearly as big as actual tarpon, they certainly make you earn their respect when fighting them with an 11wt. Our two days of chasing payara led to many fish to hand for everyone!

Our last two days of fishing were back on the Vichada stripping streamers for peacocks. We scoped out new water, some good and some bad, fished waters we had previously encountered, and overall caught an endless amount of fish. It’s hard to say how many peacocks were landed in the four days of fishing for them, but it was easily 500 at the minimum amongst the five of us in our group! Everyone caught phenomenal fish with each person catching an 8lbers, with the largest of the coming the first day that topped 9lbs. 

If you don’t know this about me, I’m a complete streamer junkie. I’ve fished for many species throughout the states and the world throwing streamers and I can say without a doubt that peacock bass are the perfect species for streamer fishermen and women. You can catch numbers, you can catch giant fish (up to 20lbs), they eat streamers voraciously, and to top it off, their fight is unmatched. Many will argue that brown trout are the perfect streamer species, but, in my opinion, they don’t even come close to this amazing group of fish. Don’t believe me? Join me next year and see for yourself!

Thank you all for reading our hosted trip recap to Colombia! Interested in learning more about the trip? Follow this link here: https://www.goldenflyshop.com/pages/akuani-river-lodge or contact Xavier directly via email at xavier@goldenflyshop.com. See you in the shop soon!