TSIMANE BOLIVIA their grand plans. I told him that either Brian or I would to visit as soon as possible and in the meantime we would fidget like five-year-olds waiting for Christmas morning. In August of 2009 Brian was among the first to visit and from that point forward we were forever changed by what we consider to be possibly the most dynamic new fishery of the decade.
The Ultimate Game Fish
The golden dorado (Salminus brasiliensis) is without question one of the world’s greatest game fish. With massive powerful jaws, razor sharp teeth, vicious predatory instincts and wild aerial displays they represent one of the ultimate target species for the adventuresome fly angler. Indigenous to Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Bolivia they often hunt in packs chasing down their favorite baitfish the sabalo. They can grow to over 60 pounds and while most Mormons, Tribes and Traffickers are in the 10 to 25 pound class they are all too happy to attack baitfish in The story of how the Tsimane operation came together is almost a crazy as the six to eight pound class. While fishing dorado at Tsimane it is common hooking a 25-pound dorado on a short line. In the beginning there were just to hook a four or five pound fish only to have it attacked and in some cases the Tsimane and the Yuracaré people living simple hunting and fishing lives completely swallowed by a larger dorado. Sometimes you get half of your fish in a portion of Bolivia where the base of the Andes meets the lowlands and back, other times, just a shredded mess that looks like pasta with the rivers flow north into the Amazon. Then, in the 1980s, as the demand for red sauce. It is equally as common to observe aggressive dorado cocaine soared in the Northern Hemisphere, intrepid narco-traffickers trying to steal or eat the fly that is hanging out of the mouth of boldly made their way up a very special river to an ultra-remote the fish that you are fighting. Generally speaking they display Tsimane community. Once there they somehow enlisted very poor manners. the tribe to hack a primitive airstrip out of the jungle. Were one to take the best elements of a tarpon, a Once completed they landed planes loaded with raw coca A n d in o steelhead and something nasty, like a barracuda, spray paint leaves, and through a process of bathing the leaves in diesel, made raw Dec eiver it brilliant gold and highlight it with black pinstripes you would cocaine. They did this for many years but ultimately, through trackhave a golden dorado. Were you to put that fish in the most pristine jungle ing diesel purchases, the little lab in Tsimane territory was shut down by the environment imaginable, with untouched freestone rivers, massive log jams, authorities and the locals returned to life as normal. The only real difference incredible wildlife, countless bird species and kind fascinating native peoples, being that they now had a secret airstrip. In time an ambitious young Mormon you would have Tsimane. While the Tsimane systems have resident dorado missionary learned of this band living in the Asunta region and their airstrip year-round they also have a strong migratory population. Each season, typiand headed in for a visit. He liked the place and the people and saw it as an cally in late May and June, millions of baitfish migrate up the greater Secure opportunity. He must have also liked to fish because word spread of what he system and with them come thousands of large, aggressively feeding dorado. saw in the river; packs of big bright golden dorado mercilessly tearing through Here it is common to see packs of fierce dorado herding baitfish into the shalschools of unsuspecting baitfish. These rumors made it back to the Argentine lows and mercilessly ripping through them. From a great distance you can see dorado fishing intelligentsia and soon Marcelo Perez and his contemporaries the frothing commotion as the bait leaps into the air in a desperate effort to at Untamed Angling were on their way to making the Tsimane operation and escape. From a quarter mile away the raining down of sabalo sounds like a Bolivian fly fishing history. dump truck dropping 20 yards of gravel. When you find yourself in the midst Today the operation is a multifaceted collaborative effort that works closely of this carnage frantically casting a six inch fly into a fray of sharklike yellow with the Isiboro Secure Indian Territory and National Park, its tribal leaders fins and tails you will have arrived in the Tsimane Zone. and over 70 local families that help support this remarkable operation.
“In August of 2009 Brian was among the first to visit and from that point forward we were forever changed by what we consider to be possibly the most dynamic new fishery of the decade.” PAGE 41