Amazon One Fishing

Amazon One Fishing is a sport-fishing liveaboard that works the Rio Negro out of Barcelos, in the heart of Amazonas state, after the trophy peacock bass that built the reputation of these blackwater rivers. Guests sleep aboard the Itaguaí houseboat as it moves between the region's best spots, reaching the Demeni and Aracá rivers and the lagoons hidden in the flooded forest where the biggest fish concentrate.

The Itaguaí sleeps up to 12 anglers in four spacious suites, each with air conditioning and a private bathroom, split into two doubles and two triples. Onboard there is a dining room serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and an upper deck with a bar, panoramic river views and the happy hour that closes each fishing day. The boat runs on a turbocharged 550 hp Scania engine, carries two generators and offers Starlink Wi-Fi. A support boat, the Junior Itaguaí, refuels the fleet and houses a quiet 40 KVA generator that runs overnight, and it carries the camp structure to the headwaters when the river runs low.

Fishing is done from aluminum skiffs decked at bow and stern, rigged with a 30 HP Mercury outboard, a Minn Kota electric trolling motor with battery, a cooler, radio, safety kit and padded swivel seats. The native pilot-guides know the region intimately, working the flooded-forest lagoons and the timber where peacock bass strike. The target is the speckled peacock bass (Cichla temensis) in its spawning form, golden-yellow with three black bars, and the same fish in its paca color phase, dark and white-speckled, both reaching trophy weights of tens of pounds.

The Rio Negro peaks around June and drops to its lowest level between October and November, when the white-sand beaches emerge and the peacock bass stack up at lagoon mouths and channels. The low-water window, from September to March, is when the fishing is strongest, and it is also when the operation sets up riverside camps and hosts a beach luau, with appetizers and drinks by the fire under the Amazon sky.

The package covers six full fishing days in the Barcelos region and includes the air-conditioned suites, all meals, water, soft drinks, beer and ground transfers in Barcelos. It is built for the angler who wants the Rio Negro trophy peacock bass with the structure and comfort of a houseboat.