Source: Living In Peru
Claudine Kocher, a Swiss traveler, catches a Peacock Bass on Peru's Amazon River. (All photos courtesy of Ciro Moron)“Good things just seem to happen by accident,” says Ciro Moron, formerly a full time mototaxista but now known as the Amazon Fish Eagle. “One day the Hotel Acosta called me to take this professor for a City Tour, and five years later, I am working almost all the time as a fishing guide.”
In the Amazon Basin there are two distinct markets for guide services. One is to take out aficionados, or very serious anglers who come from other countries to fish for Peacock Bass and other exotic species in a once-in-a-lifetime experience. These anglers bring tons of equipment and expect to pay hundreds of dollars a day, and travel deep into the rainforest in search of virgin fishing grounds.
Ciro, however, focusses on giving the Amazon fishing trips for the recreational anglers.This other market is composed of people who happen to be in the Amazon Basin for other reasons (missionaries, oil workers and Ayahuasca seekers, for example) and would like to take a low key fishing trip, catch some Piranhas, Bagre, Sabalo or other common species, just for a little fun, without spending a lot of money. The Amazon Fish Eagle tapped into this market.
Ciro Moron leads fishing tours from Iquitos. Here he shows off a piranha.
Anglers don’t need any equipment to fish with Ciro or his companion guide, Gisella, who is known as the “Amazon Fish Angel.” After the trip is arranged, Ciro picks up guest at their hotel early in the morning, provides all transportation, land and water, then brings them back in the evening. Some guests like to go on extended stays and if so, Ciro has a full complement of tents, sleeping mats and other equipment for camping on sandbars, or “playas” as they are called in the Amazon Basin.
Typically, anglers will catch a Peacock Bass or two, some Piranha, Bagre and Sabalo. Most of the Peacock Bass are returned to the water so they can continue to reproduce and restock the waters.
Ciro’s colleague, Guisella Guillen, who can be seen with Ciro on their website www.iquitosfishing.com usually accompanies groups on long trips and cooks gourmet meals after acquiring local produce to be cooked up with fresh fish or chicken. Chickens that run free range in the jungle have a unique taste, distinct from those raised in close captivity. Even in the rainforest, most towns have commercial poultry operations nearby.
Guisella, a.k.a. The Amazon Fish Angel, enjoys the distinction of being, perhaps, one of the very few, or perhaps the only woman fishing guide on the Upper Amazon. A star volleyball player at Nauta in her high school days, Guisella is well know to the Riberenos, (river dwellers) who remember her dramatic spikes and winning smile. As a successful guide, Guisella enjoys being a role model to younger women in the small towns and villages, who cast envious glances when they see her in charge of a group of male anglers from aboard.Being a fishing guide is not without risks and annoyances. “We got hit pretty bad by dengue, this year,” she says, “Even my 6-year-old daughter got infected and I had to stay home and take care of her.” As is common in the selva, Guisella is a single mom. Of course, when dengue was in full force http://www.livinginperu.com/news/13952 , Iquitos emptied of tourists.
The Amazon Fish Eagle and Fish Angel look forward to a busy year when the season starts in late May.