Story told by Dave Brown (Late December 2001):

The fishing was good due to the level of the water in the river. We had caught several big catfish and a lot of other piranah and dogfish. We stopped at one last sand bar to eat lunch and fish a little more. We cooked one of the fish and some noodles. Edson, a visitor, sat down to eat with his line out in the water. A few seconds later he had a fish on the line.

At first we thought it was a normal catfish by the way it pulled. He fought it for a few minutes but was unable to pull it in. I knew there was a big drop off at the edge of the sand bar, so I suggested we get in the boat and push off out into the water a little to get over top off the fish. We no sooner did this than the fish turned down river and headed off like a torpedo. I was struggling to start the motor and realized that the safty key had fallen out.

In the mean time the fish took all of the line on the reel. In the nick of time I got the motor started and we chased after the fish with Edson reeling in line as fast as he could. There were several obstacles like fallen logs and rocks downriver, but the fish dodged them all. We alternated between drifting and chasing the fish with the motor for about an hour and a half. We had gone almost a mile. Edson's arms were cramping from all the pulling and reeling.

The fish would get close and then take off again pulling out lots of line. We all thought the line would snap, it was about 40lb test. I could see several places on the line that were frayed from passing through the eyes of the pole. Finally, the fish got a little closer to the boat and surfaced. We all gasped at it's size, it was over seven feet long with a huge head. It was the type of catfish they call filhote. They are grey and white and grow to enormous sizes. I have never seen one here, but the people always said they are in this river.

When the fish started to surface I got the .22 and started taking shots at it's head. I was unable to get a good shot. I shot a slug at it with the 20 ga. but it was too deep. Edson's future son-in-law also shot at it to no avail. The battle finally ended on a rock pile in the middle of the river.

The fish got within about ten feet of the boat, the closest it had ever gotten. I had tied the harpoon to the bow line of the boat. I took a running dive off the bow of the boat and stuck the harpoon behind it's head. We then pulled it into the boat. It was so huge there was nowhere to put it. It's tail stuck out one side of the boat, and we had to tie him into the boat for fear he would flop over the side.

When we got back to the post around dark we took lots of pictures and weighed him. He weighed 105 kg (231 lbs) and was 7' 2" long. If you could see the size of the line he was caught on you would think it was impossible. His mouth was so big Mededith or Laura could have easily climbed inside. Edson has seen people catch this type of fish by using a line tied to a barrel but never on a rod and reel. It was a real feat. The guys smoked the meat and we all ate it for Christmas.

The Christmas celebrations went well. We had a simple service then ate some farinha and meat. We also gave out grapefruit and a bar of soap to everyone. In the evening we showed the Jesus film. It was a good day. Tommorrow we will celebrate with our co workers.

All for now, love Dave.

< < Back