Black Dog Bait Co.

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Punkers on the Amazon

Recently I went all out crazy and joined a group of like minded friends on an adventure to Brazil for some Peacock Bass fishing on the famous Amazon River. This was my first paid fishing trip ever and I was excited. With any trip to Brazil, the expectations & hopes of every fisherman is to go for the top water bite using those crazy plugs that only a Peacock Bass could love – like a wood chopper or ripper.

The difficulty with any remote location trip to the jungle is the question; what to bring? You can’t bring everything because you’re extremely limited by weight on how much stuff you can bring. So, every fisherman brings their standard baits and everyone tries to bring a special bait; ones that nobody else will have. For me, the one lure that I had to have was my BlackDog Lunker Punker. I just knew the Peacock Bass would love ‘em and nobody has really tried to use them yet on the Amazon. I originally was planning to sacrifice my original 8in trout wooden Punker for this adventure, but as fate would have it BlackDog Baits launched their new injection molded series just before my trip. So at the last minute I grabbed the 6in all-white Lunker Punker with rattles; it was my white stallion bait; a one of a kind. This bait is lighter than the originals, but still has all the extreme, 4X strong hardware needed to fight these Peacock Bass. It would surely hold up to these fish. I was all set, so off to the jungle I go.

Once in Brazil and into the jungle at our base camp, we are paired up and meet our fishing guide for the week. My guide for week was Cashew. Cashew is a native of Brazil, has lived on the Amazon his whole life, and is an excellent fisherman. He spoke broken English but we communicated well; especially about common topics like fishing. Now Cashew had a famous phrase that he quite often used; he would say “no good!” We quickly learned that this meant that whatever we were throwing wasn’t good and we needed to change up. Well Cashew was right - “chopper no good; jig good!” The topwater bite on our trip was terrible and most all our fish we caught was on jigs. On our first ½ day of fishing nobody in our group recorded a single topwater fish using woodchoppers, rippers, rollers, or any other typical Peacock Bass surface lure. So I needed to try my secret weapon – The Lunker Punker!

That night I re-rigged my top water rod and tied on the Punker; I was ready to find the top water bite with my secret bait. The next morning we headed out at dawn to find the big fish and I was ready to throw my Punker. Upon arriving at our first stop, Cashew killed the motor and immediately announced “jiggy, jiggy”; which meant he wanted us to throw our jigs. Being stubborn, I got on the front deck and got out the Punker. Cashew immediately said, “What’s that?” and I explained it was my BlackDog Lunker Punker; my secret bait. Cashew laughed and said “No good; jiggy jiggy good.” I didn’t listen and tossed it out there anyway.

On my second cast of the day, and as the Punker was ½ way back to the boat on my retrieve, I stopped and turned my head to see my partner’s 3lb Peacock fish he landed with a jig; it was his first fish. All of a sudden with my back turned to the Punker, a violent, loud, explosion occurred out in front of our boat. My immediate reaction was to duck for cover as the jungle silence was violated; I thought we were being attacked. As my senses gathered I turned to see my white Punker was gone amid a boil of foaming water and my braided line was screaming thru the water at speeds unseen before. I was hooked up! As my heart was racing, and everyone was getting excited, Cashew kept saying “Oh, big fish, big fish.” That was the start of a dream. Within seconds I was battling a giant Peacock Bass, where line was stripping off my rod and a monster fish was busting the surface at a distance, doing flips and rolls as it re-entered the water. Exciting! I had no control of this fish; he was in control of me. After a few minutes of tug-o-war, the fish finally came to the boat where Cashew netted it. Hi 5’s for everyone and a lot of hooting and hollering with laughter erupted. My first giant Peacock fish and it weighed 16.5lbs – biggest of the trip by anyone in our group. My heart was still racing as we took pictures and then gently let her go. I was now set; throw the Punker and catch more big fish. 10 casts later and another explosion occurs and this one is a 13lb Peacock; just a fighting bull. I was hooked on Punker fishing for Peacock Bass.

Unfortunately, the bite didn’t last all day, but throughout the week I was able to land 3-4 fish every day on the white Punker, all from 12-16lbs, along with a variety of other toothy fish of the Amazon. This was the only successful top water bite any of us had and I had the only bait! The success of the Lunker Punker came from its heavier weight than a spook or pencil pop, so it didn’t get knocked into the air when a strike came. Also, the unique gliding side to side action and light rattle that the Punker has is what the Peackocks could not resist. Every fish just inhaled this bait. The Punker got used and abused on this trip by these big fish; but it withstood the challenge and never gave out. It’s an excellent choice for Peacock Bass fishing in Brazil, or for those monster bass or stripers in your neighborhood.

Even when I wasn’t throwing the Punker, Cashew would grab my rod and toss it out to try. He even caught a few nice fish on it and was excited by the Punker.
Cashew’s words exactly – “Punker Good!” That is good enough for me. I won’t go fishing anywhere without one in my tackle box.

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