Adventure angler Steve Townson – star of Fishing TV’s ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ series – achieved a lifelong ambition when he landed this massive wild arapaima estimated at 250lb from Middle River Essequibo river in Guyana, South America.
Steve, a Brit who has travelled the world to catch exotic fish, caught the mighty arapaima, plus another weighing around 150lb, on a whole 2lb piranha bait using a 100lb mono rubbing leader, 100lb Power Pro braid mainline and an 8/0 Cat Circle hook.
Said Steve, who runs fishing adventure holiday specialists www.amazon-angler.com, said: “The Arapaima is one of the world’s biggest and most sought after freshwater fish and to catch them in the wild is a rare privilege. They are protected and cannot be removed by law for the table, but our partners in Guyana are working on strictly catch and release with the local Amerindians.
“The Arapaima is the largest scaled freshwater fish in the world, but they can be delicate and must be handled with care. Using circle hooks is a must in my opinion. The fish I caught were never removed from the water and swam away strongly to fight another day!”
In Fishing TV’s ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ series, Steve travels deep into the Amazon rainforest to catch spectacular freshwater species including arapaima, catfish and peacock bass.
Highlights from one of the episodes of ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ – CREATURES OF THE BLACK LAGOON – are free to view in the current issue of Game Fisher’s Diary – Fishing TV’s video magazine for game anglers.
WATCH ‘CREATURES OF THE BLACK LAGOON’
The world record for the arapaima is believed to be a monster of 339lb caught by globetrotting angler Jakub Wagner.
As a result of his successful exploratory trip the River Essequibo, Steve has set up trips to the area for anglers who want to catch an arapaima and many other hard-fighting Amazonian species costing less than £2,000 for six day’s fishing.
For more information email info@amazon-angler.com .
The full series of ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ is available to view for Fishing TV Premium members.
The photograph featured is a screen grab from the latest ‘Fishing Expedition’ Series, produced by Norfolk based Out There Films. Shot in its entirety in Guyana, South America, this series is the follow up to the highly successful ‘Fishing Expedition – Amazonia’ which has enjoyed worldwide distribution and is due for its second run on ‘Discovery Shed’ later this spring.
Video clips from the series can be found on the Out There Films website: www.outtherefilms.co.uk
