Peacock Bass And Pirhanas

[MidlandMan]

My last fishing trip. Two species of Peacock Bass ( Pavone) and three species of Pirhana ( Caribe). The giant Black Pirhana while growing quite large are harmless to people, its the little red belly Black Shoulder Pirhana that have the well deserved reputation for attacking people. I've seen on TV were they say its a myth Pirhana attack and eat people but it does happen on rare occasions. A nine year old boy was eaten near my home on the Orinoco!During the dry season is when they are most problem. The big Peacock Bass I guestimate was about Ten pounds.

[OneOneNiner]

Nice haul Mid. I bet you fed the whole crew with those guys.
You fishing with nets or pole? Also, what's the preferred method of cooking fish down yonder?

[Trask]

Now we're talkin'..I used to keep P. Bass along with several Pike Cichlids..Very NIce photos.

[lillyput]

Look good enough to eat. And made a nice photo op

[MidlandMan]

Hows that for a Crenicichla Trask! Real Venezuelan beauty in the lagubris complex. 1-1-9er the Criollos or non Indian usualy fry fish but without batter and the Indans traditionaly slow roast over a fire. But everyone there makes fish soup. We were fishing with poles and handlines. The next photo is a Pyara smoked and purchased from Indians in the open market in Pt. Ayacucho. Its hard to see with its mouth closed but there are two and a half inch fangs socketed into the upper jaw! Very bony but delicious. Pyara live in rapids grow to forty pounds and fight like a Tarpon.

[joshuaream]

Nice looking fish. They stocked our canals, lakes and ponds in South Florida with peacock bass several years ago, and we have a thriving population of them.

Do you have Guaraguara in the upper Orinoco area? It's the ugliest fish I've ever seen, but sancocho de Guaraguara is a great soup.

[MidlandMan]

Guaraguara? are those those nasty toothy devils we in english call a Wolffish? Yeah whats more i've seen them 'walking' across the street after big rains!! Hate catching them in the nets I use to collect fish and they give a nasty bite. Speaking of nasty bites I'm sure you'll recognize my next friend! Photo could be better but it's what I got. Mapanare (Bothrops atrox)

[joshuaream]

No, it's a slimy, stinky little rock sucker (mouth on the bottom, you usually spear them in rocky feeder creeks.)

Good old Mapanare, one of my favorite sugar cane fields in Carabobo is just full of them... The scary thing is that there are probably 10 laying perfectly still for everyone I actually see. We see a decent number of rattle snakes and coral snakes on the desert sites in Falcon and Zulia. My brother-in-law keeps a couple of very well fed anacondas in ponds at one of the farms, the biggest was about 15 feet long last time I saw it and eats a small chiguirre every other of month (plus turtles, caimans, etc that it catches.) They used to be common, but they are rare on the llanos nowadays.

Here are a couple of pelts I peeled off some fresh road kill many years ago.

[MidlandMan]

Joshua is it possible to exchange messages off board right now. Something unrelated I would like to dicuss quickly to help a friend?

[joshuaream]

Sure, pm sent.