Catching fish with flies and lures is a way of life for an angler from Brownsville. But going after a fish only found in the remote jungles of South America is a one-of-a-kind venture the 61-year-old Ernest Cisneros said he will always cherish.
To prepare for the week-long trip, Cisneros spent 12 weeks in a gym readying him selffor the adventure that involved traveling 70miles each of the three days with three others to find the ideal spot for this fish.
Often referred to as the river tiger, a golden dorado has become one of the world’s most highly prized sport fish. It looks like a combination trout and salmon, and most are found on the Parana River basin.
“We walked through narrow roads, went by boat, stopped at a number of banks until we found a waterfall,” Cisneros said. “We had to endure mosquito and sand fly bites, cold mornings, sweltering heat and extremely humid days.”
There was a silver lining, as the anglers saw thousands of butterflies, parrots, toucans and monkeys.
Cisneros, a fly and lure fishing guide for nearly three decades, began doing extreme fishing in a number of places in the United States and abroad over the last six years. That included Utah, Wyoming, California, Montana, Mexico, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba and the Bahamas.
But the trip to Bolivia where Latin America’s second largest river eventually empties into the Atlantic Ocean was one for the books.
The fish he and the others went after proved to be quite elusive. Although their goal was to catch a 20-30 pound fish, they ended up hooking 5-to 6-pounders.
“This fish is something else,” Cisneros says. “First, you have to set the hook right away. Otherwise, you will lose it. They jump like a tarpon and run like a redfish, and they have teeth like a piranha.”
Cisneros said the trip requires 12-16 hours of flying from Brownsville to the South American country, made through an outfitter that hires local people to guide the anglers through the jungles.
“It was a trip I will always remember and I am glad I did it,” he said. “But, would I do it again? No, sir. This is the hardest fish I have ever caught.”
