Adventures with Isoms: Orinoco part 1- Pirañas!

Typically for Carnival, most people in Venezuela head to a beach to dance and party. Being a somewhat atypical time for Venezuela we decided to go to the Orinoco river delta for our extended weekend. It was not a crazy dance-fest... at all, but it was an amazing trip with the family, friends from school, and my mom- who came to see us in Caracas, (not really planning on seeing so many demonstrations.)

cue Enya "Orinoco Flow"

"to catch a piraña you have to cut the carñe" old Venezuelan saying

We had to get through some major plant action to get to the fishin hole- that is actually all water behind us.

This place was so amazing we are going to have to break it into parts- and this part is dedicated to the animal I think of when I think of South American jungle rivers- the piraña. Ever since I was a young boy I have heard tales about how this little beast can de-bone a cow in scant minutes! I wasn't going to miss a chance to fish for these bad boys- what a trophy to brag to Steve Leigh about!

Once we arrived and baited the hooks with small pieces of raw steak, we started the elaborate and complicated ritual of wooing the piraña. Our guide Clemente taught us and it consisted of wiggling the stick with a line tied to the end of it, whacking the water 4-5 times in quick succession, and then jerking the line at the exact moment a piraña took the nibble.

Nice bait, honey

How no one hooked Cormac as we passed the rods around I have no idea.

True professional: Michael can fish and photojournalist at the same time!

Clemente lands the first...and second, third... I think this is not his first rodeo. Now any Volunteers for taking the hook out?

I would love to tell you about all of the pirañas I caught and how I bravely retrieved hooks from gnashing teeth... but as is often the case when I go fishing, I caught nada. Luckily for Wilder she has some of her Grandpa Del's genetics and therefore has some promise in the art of catching fish. She caught 2 beauties.