Fishing at Lake Camatagua

The weekend before last I traveled to the Gran Sabana with two new buddies from the Embassy, Mike Brown and Reid Hoke, for a fishing outing at Lago Camatagua. The trip was put together by Mike Brown’s wife Jennifer. It was a little touch and go as to whether it was going to happen due to difficulties lining up a hotel and boats, but it all came together beautifully at the last minute. Thank you Jen!!! I met Mike and Reid at the Embassy parking lot at about 6:30 am, a little worse for the wear from the 60’s Woodstock Happy Hour at the embassy followed by the St. Paddy’s Day party at the Marine House the night before. We got home about midnight and I still had to pack for the trip. I got about 4.5 hours of sleep. The drive out of town was easy, there is no traffic at that uncivilized hour, and we were well out of Caracas by the time people were starting to stir. This trip was mostly on the back roads of Venezuela, winding, twisting and turning through mountain valleys, towns and finally dropping down into the Gran Sabana.

The Gran Sabana is a visually stunning area of plains (llanos) interspersed with rolling hills surrounded by mountains. It is currently the dry season and the whole area is quite brown. The tall grass, which resembles the Prairie Grass of the US Plains, is completely brown and most of the trees are bare although there was the occasional splash of vibrant orange or purple flower covered trees. The whole effect is quite similar to photos I have seen of the African Savannah, which is appropriate given that “Gran Sabana” means “Great Savannah”. The dryness causes the area to be like a tinderbox and it seemed like there were a lot of fires. The country side would be burning away and the locals just went on about their business. Most hills had some evidence of a recent burn, and we saw numerous active fires, some up close, as we fished. The guide told us that about half of the fires are caused by spontaneous combustion (he suggested that the beer bottles that litter the roadside account for a number of the fires, but I find that hard to believe.) The other half are intentionally set by farmers and squatters to clear land to plant crops. In any event, the fires seem to be a fact of life and no one pays them any mind, much less even lift a finger to extinguish the fires.


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Lago (or “lake”) Camatagua is a man made lake situated in a very hilly area, with lots of islands that are the tops of partially submerged hills. Our quarry was the Peacock Bass, or Pavon as it is called locally. We were also after Capaburros, the local word for Piranha. Capaburro loosely translates as “donkey castrator”; at least that is what I gathered as our fishing guide explained the meaning of the word with liberal use of gestures. He first said “burro” and put his fingers up at the sides of his head in an imitation of donkey ears while making the “eee-awww” sound of a donkey, then grabbed his…um…package with one hand while making the scissor gesture with the other. Indeed, a Capaburro is well equipped to take a donkey’s package right off. In fact, after it was done with the package it is likely that the poor beast would be entirely devoured by the hungry fish. We caught a few piranhas, enough for some great photos, but many more got away because it is just plain difficult to get them into the boat. Those razor sharp teeth helped them get away with several lures, and pieces of lures. I would feel a tug, like I snagged my line on something on the bottom and when I reeled it in half the lure would be missing, bitten cleanly in half. I lost about six lures that way, and a few more when the line was severed. We did manage to land four of the piranhas however and I look forward to eating them (eating a Piranha = ironic). Our real quarry however was the prized Peacock Bass. These beautiful fish can easily reach 10-12 lbs and are beautifully colored, especially the juveniles, with a deep yellow body, intensely red belly, and peacock markings on its tail and body. We caught quite a few juveniles, which were all in the 1-2 lb range, which went back into the lake. The keepers were all over three pounds. We brought home about ten fish between the three of us, and truth be told, our guides caught some of the keepers, including a big 5 lb fella. The wildlife at the lake is amazing. In addition to the Peacock Bass and Piranhas, we also caught some pre-historic looking fish about a foot in length with very long needle-like teeth. In between catches (and there were long periods of not catching anything) we got to see some of the other creatures including a caiman, numerous herons and cranes, at least one parrot, a hawk or eagle that swooped down to catch a fish, but missed, and a herd of wild horses. At night we stayed overnight at a posada (inn) and were fed delicious deep fried Pavon with arepas, beans, plantains and a cole slaw made of carrots. (Astute readers will note that this meal is very similar to the fare in Chuao). We also met some guys from Caracas who travel around in a very souped up Toyota 4 wheel drive vehicle (with a snorkel, some kind of serious radio, special seats with jet pilot harnesses, roll bars, winch....the works). They compete in fishing tournaments for Peacock Bass, but last weekend they were there with their kids to go water skiing. Now, as you all know, I love water skiing, and I did initially gauge the lake’s potential for water skiing (very smooth water, lots of protected coves, long fingers with high hills on either side providing shelter from wind and waves) but immediately rejected any further consideration of Lake Camatagua after the first Piranha was caught and I saw those teeth and that jaw snapping. Pulling in a lure that was bitten in half just sealed the deal as did seeing a caiman scurry into the water. But these guys are out there with their kids water skiing. They assured me that in the open water there is no need to worry about piranhas (or anything else) because the piranhas like to stay close to the shore and in brushy areas with lots of cover.

I have been waiting for the photos, but decided to post without them because I am getting backlogged on the blog. I promise to post fishing photos when I get them.

Hasta Luego!