Arapaima
name: Arapaima
other names: Giant Arapaima, Pirarucu, Wararapaima.
Also known as the paiche or the pirarucu, the arapaima is an air-breathing fish that plies the rain forest rivers of South America's Amazon Basin and nearby lakes and swamps. One of the world's largest freshwater fish, these giants can reach 9 feet (2.75 meters) long and weigh up to 440 pounds (200 kilograms). They have a wide, scaly, gray body and a tapered head.
Though arapaima can stay underwater for 10 to 20 minutes, they tend to remain near the water's surface, where they hunt and emerge often to breathe with a distinctive coughing noise. They survive mainly on fish but are known to occasionally grab birds close to the water's surface.
The Arapaima is found in the Amazon and Orinoco River of South America. A limit to its range is the presence of large rapids or waterfalls, which they are unable to navigate. Arapaima is now being stocked into commercial fisheries as the demand for the great fish is on the increase. We will see over the coming years their range increase to allot more accessible areas.
In their natural habitat of the Amazon these fish will leap out of the water to grab small birds off of overhanging trees. Their main diet consists of meat / fish and considering their size they are still a very stealthy predator. Arapaima generally will eat anything at certain times of the year.
Arapaima is among the largest freshwater fish reaching lengths of 14 feet and 440 pounds. These fish grow quickly once born but tend to slow down slightly once their reach sexual maturity as energy is diverted else where. The main influence on their growth rates is like many fish, dependent of availability of food, the more there is the quicker these fish grow.
These fish will test your tackle to its limit. The scale of your fishing tackle really depends on how long you wish to fight the fish for? Most people use a medium boat rod with about a 30 to 40lb class coupled with a good strong multiplier loaded with 30 or 40lb line. Methods normally involve dead baiting with fish. In 2008 Peter Collingsworth our operations director targeted this species on the fly, although only 1 in 10 fish actually were landed due to the difficulty in setting the hook into these fishes hard mouths, he did mange to get fish over 100lb.
