Stan Fagerstrom
11-30-2002, 03:44 PM
Two Guys Named Phil
By Stan Fagerstrom
I've got a few things to tell you about a couple of guys named Phil.
Sports fishermen, especially those who entertain thoughts of one day getting a whack at the wondrous peacock bass of the Amazon jungle, need to know the two men I'm talking about. I say that, you see, because odds are anglers who do get into the jungle are going to wind up wanting to say a big thank you to both of them.
So what do two men named Phil have to do with the Amazon? A great deal, my friend. One produces the lures that best catch those savage jungle bass. The other provides spacious and beautiful accommodations for fishermen to hang their hats while they're there.
I know what I'm talking about because I've just returned from a trip into the Amazon myself. One of those guys named Phil was responsible for my getting the chance to go. If you're a Pacific Northwest angler you've undoubtedly heard of him yourself or at least used the lures the company he owns produces.
That Phil, you see, is Phil Jensen, the president of Luhr-Jensen & Sons. Jensen's Hood River, Oregon plant is one of the largest lure producers in the world. Anybody who knows a salmon or a steelhead from a smokestack has undoubtedly used lures like the Hot Shot or a half dozen other Luhr-Jensen baits so popular among anglers all over the place.
But what isn't as well known is that Luhr-Jensen also turns out the baits that have more than likely caught more peacock bass than products of most other lure makers combined. Jensen proved that to me on our recent trip into the jungle.
It was my third time to make a fishing adventure into the Amazon. Those first two trips were made more than 20 years ago. There was no comparison to what I experienced then to what I witnessed this last time around. Jensen and I flew from Miami to Manaus, Brazil. We left Miami late on Saturday night. By afternoon Sunday we were throwing Phil's lures at those peacock bass way the hell and gone back in the Amazon jungle.
The reason we were able to do so brings that other guy named Phil into the story. That man is Phil Marsteller. Marsteller, the son of Brazilian missionary parents, runs an operation called Amazon Tours. What he's done to accommodate visiting anglers out there in the jungle has to be seen to be believed.
http://www.ifish.net/sfjenmars.jpg
Here are the two guys named Phil who have done so much for Amazon peacock bass anglers. That's Oregon's Phil Jensen, owner of Luhr-Jensen & Sons, on the left. On the right is Phil Marsteller, operator of Amazon Tours Lodges on the Rio Negro and Rio Araca rivers in the Amazon jungle of Brazil.
Marsteller currently has two fishing lodges in operation in Brazil. One is located on the Rio Negro, one of the Amazon's major tributaries. The second, even farther back out in the jungle, is on the Rio Araca. I had the good fortune early last month to visit both. I still find myself wondering if I'm real sure I saw what I did.
That is especially true where Marsteller's operation at his Rio Negro Lodge is concerned. This is a facility every bit as well furnished and smooth running as some darn good fishing camps here in the United States. The Rio Araca Lodge is brand new and much smaller. Even so, it too provides everything the visiting angler needs from clean rooms with a toilet and shower to daily laundry service. Keep in mind that all this is accomplished way back where the monkeys play tag with the macaws in the green vastness of the Amazon rain forest.
http://www.ifish.net/sfnegrolodge.jpg
The walkway shown here leads to Phil Marsteller's beautiful Rio Negro Lodge located right on bank of the jungle river of the same name.
The spacious Rio Negro Lodge provides sufficient comforts that will even keep your mother in law happy. The lodge has a big dining area, overstuffed chairs and sofas that would do credit to the Hilton and even a couple of pool tables for a visitor to use when the day's fishing is done.
Friends who knew I was going into the jungle again have been asking how I compare the peacock bass of the jungle with the largemouth we catch here in the United States. The best answer to that question is there's no comparison. For starters, it's not uncommon to catch peacock of 15 to 20-pounds. The largest caught in the group of anglers I was with this trip was a 21-pounder. A gal from Texas caught it.
http://www.ifish.net/sfjenspea.jpg
That's a nice peacock Phil Jensen is holding, but he has caught them much larger. He has a 26-pound, 12-ounce beauty to his credit that might be the second largest ever caught.
While the recent trip into the Amazon was my third, it was Phil Jensen's 9th time there. All of his trips have been made in recent years. On the trip before this latest one he caught five pea***** of more than 20-pounds. One of them weighed 26-pounds, 12-ounces. That's just 4-ounces shy of the peacock bass world record that stands at an even 27-pounds. It might have been the second largest ever caught.
Every one of those monstrous pea***** was caught on one of Phil's Luhr-Jensen Woodchopper surface lures. These big baits, they're made of wood and have a couple of props on the hind end, are equipped with three treble hooks. Some models, including the ones Phil throws a good share of the time, are six inches long and weigh 3-ounces.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwodshop.jpg
Lures like these Luhr-Jensen Woodchoppers are dynamite for the peacock bass of the Amazon jungle.
That's a lot of hardware to heave and the most productive fashion to fish them is a demanding process. You do it by throwing the big lure as close as possible to the jungle cover. Then you immediately begin making repeated sharp jerks of your rod tip to cause the big lure to gurgle, choke and spit as it heads back to the boat. The more commotion the lure kicks on the surface up as it heads back to the boat the better.
An American bass angler used to messing with our fickle American largemouth might figure such a retrieve would scare hell out of anything less than a starving barracuda. Guess again! Those peacock come up boiling up to smash those surface disturbing Luhr-Jensen topwater lures in a fashion that will tie clinch knots in your gut.
Another angler at the Rio Araca camp while I was there was shaking his head when he came in one afternoon. I asked him how he'd done. He had caught one of 19-pounds, but that wasn't what had him bothered. He showed me one of his surface lures that another of those jungle pea***** had hit. His big, substantial lure had three treble hooks. At least it did when he made his first cast with. A peacock had ripped one of those trebles clear off of the lure and straightened out the hooks on the others.
Any bassin' man who thinks he's seen it all, but hasn't tackled the Amazon's pea*****, ain't seen nuthin' yet. And like I said in the beginning, a couple of guys named Phil will provide the tools and the accommodations should you desire to find out what I'm talking about.
Today's Internet technology makes it easy to do that. You can get all the details on the lures Oregon's Phil Jensen provides for peacock bass at www.luhrjensen.com. (http://www.luhrjensen.com.) You can catch up with Phil Marsteller Amazon Tours at www.peacockbassfishing.com. (http://www.peacockbassfishing.com.)
If you hanker to nail down a fishing adventure you'll remember the rest of your days, I recommend you do both and the sooner the better.
By Stan Fagerstrom
I've got a few things to tell you about a couple of guys named Phil.
Sports fishermen, especially those who entertain thoughts of one day getting a whack at the wondrous peacock bass of the Amazon jungle, need to know the two men I'm talking about. I say that, you see, because odds are anglers who do get into the jungle are going to wind up wanting to say a big thank you to both of them.
So what do two men named Phil have to do with the Amazon? A great deal, my friend. One produces the lures that best catch those savage jungle bass. The other provides spacious and beautiful accommodations for fishermen to hang their hats while they're there.
I know what I'm talking about because I've just returned from a trip into the Amazon myself. One of those guys named Phil was responsible for my getting the chance to go. If you're a Pacific Northwest angler you've undoubtedly heard of him yourself or at least used the lures the company he owns produces.
That Phil, you see, is Phil Jensen, the president of Luhr-Jensen & Sons. Jensen's Hood River, Oregon plant is one of the largest lure producers in the world. Anybody who knows a salmon or a steelhead from a smokestack has undoubtedly used lures like the Hot Shot or a half dozen other Luhr-Jensen baits so popular among anglers all over the place.
But what isn't as well known is that Luhr-Jensen also turns out the baits that have more than likely caught more peacock bass than products of most other lure makers combined. Jensen proved that to me on our recent trip into the jungle.
It was my third time to make a fishing adventure into the Amazon. Those first two trips were made more than 20 years ago. There was no comparison to what I experienced then to what I witnessed this last time around. Jensen and I flew from Miami to Manaus, Brazil. We left Miami late on Saturday night. By afternoon Sunday we were throwing Phil's lures at those peacock bass way the hell and gone back in the Amazon jungle.
The reason we were able to do so brings that other guy named Phil into the story. That man is Phil Marsteller. Marsteller, the son of Brazilian missionary parents, runs an operation called Amazon Tours. What he's done to accommodate visiting anglers out there in the jungle has to be seen to be believed.
http://www.ifish.net/sfjenmars.jpg
Here are the two guys named Phil who have done so much for Amazon peacock bass anglers. That's Oregon's Phil Jensen, owner of Luhr-Jensen & Sons, on the left. On the right is Phil Marsteller, operator of Amazon Tours Lodges on the Rio Negro and Rio Araca rivers in the Amazon jungle of Brazil.
Marsteller currently has two fishing lodges in operation in Brazil. One is located on the Rio Negro, one of the Amazon's major tributaries. The second, even farther back out in the jungle, is on the Rio Araca. I had the good fortune early last month to visit both. I still find myself wondering if I'm real sure I saw what I did.
That is especially true where Marsteller's operation at his Rio Negro Lodge is concerned. This is a facility every bit as well furnished and smooth running as some darn good fishing camps here in the United States. The Rio Araca Lodge is brand new and much smaller. Even so, it too provides everything the visiting angler needs from clean rooms with a toilet and shower to daily laundry service. Keep in mind that all this is accomplished way back where the monkeys play tag with the macaws in the green vastness of the Amazon rain forest.
http://www.ifish.net/sfnegrolodge.jpg
The walkway shown here leads to Phil Marsteller's beautiful Rio Negro Lodge located right on bank of the jungle river of the same name.
The spacious Rio Negro Lodge provides sufficient comforts that will even keep your mother in law happy. The lodge has a big dining area, overstuffed chairs and sofas that would do credit to the Hilton and even a couple of pool tables for a visitor to use when the day's fishing is done.
Friends who knew I was going into the jungle again have been asking how I compare the peacock bass of the jungle with the largemouth we catch here in the United States. The best answer to that question is there's no comparison. For starters, it's not uncommon to catch peacock of 15 to 20-pounds. The largest caught in the group of anglers I was with this trip was a 21-pounder. A gal from Texas caught it.
http://www.ifish.net/sfjenspea.jpg
That's a nice peacock Phil Jensen is holding, but he has caught them much larger. He has a 26-pound, 12-ounce beauty to his credit that might be the second largest ever caught.
While the recent trip into the Amazon was my third, it was Phil Jensen's 9th time there. All of his trips have been made in recent years. On the trip before this latest one he caught five pea***** of more than 20-pounds. One of them weighed 26-pounds, 12-ounces. That's just 4-ounces shy of the peacock bass world record that stands at an even 27-pounds. It might have been the second largest ever caught.
Every one of those monstrous pea***** was caught on one of Phil's Luhr-Jensen Woodchopper surface lures. These big baits, they're made of wood and have a couple of props on the hind end, are equipped with three treble hooks. Some models, including the ones Phil throws a good share of the time, are six inches long and weigh 3-ounces.
http://www.ifish.net/sfwodshop.jpg
Lures like these Luhr-Jensen Woodchoppers are dynamite for the peacock bass of the Amazon jungle.
That's a lot of hardware to heave and the most productive fashion to fish them is a demanding process. You do it by throwing the big lure as close as possible to the jungle cover. Then you immediately begin making repeated sharp jerks of your rod tip to cause the big lure to gurgle, choke and spit as it heads back to the boat. The more commotion the lure kicks on the surface up as it heads back to the boat the better.
An American bass angler used to messing with our fickle American largemouth might figure such a retrieve would scare hell out of anything less than a starving barracuda. Guess again! Those peacock come up boiling up to smash those surface disturbing Luhr-Jensen topwater lures in a fashion that will tie clinch knots in your gut.
Another angler at the Rio Araca camp while I was there was shaking his head when he came in one afternoon. I asked him how he'd done. He had caught one of 19-pounds, but that wasn't what had him bothered. He showed me one of his surface lures that another of those jungle pea***** had hit. His big, substantial lure had three treble hooks. At least it did when he made his first cast with. A peacock had ripped one of those trebles clear off of the lure and straightened out the hooks on the others.
Any bassin' man who thinks he's seen it all, but hasn't tackled the Amazon's pea*****, ain't seen nuthin' yet. And like I said in the beginning, a couple of guys named Phil will provide the tools and the accommodations should you desire to find out what I'm talking about.
Today's Internet technology makes it easy to do that. You can get all the details on the lures Oregon's Phil Jensen provides for peacock bass at www.luhrjensen.com. (http://www.luhrjensen.com.) You can catch up with Phil Marsteller Amazon Tours at www.peacockbassfishing.com. (http://www.peacockbassfishing.com.)
If you hanker to nail down a fishing adventure you'll remember the rest of your days, I recommend you do both and the sooner the better.