Kalua Barco Hotel

Kalua Barco Hotel has been running sport fishing trips on the middle Rio Negro for more than fifteen years, cruising between Barcelos and Santa Isabel do Rio Negro in pursuit of the largest peacock bass in the Amazon. Anglers sleep on board while the boat repositions, opening each morning on a different tributary — Rio Branco, Caurés, Demeni, Aracá, Padauari, Atauí, Itu, Cuiuni, Arirarrá — across more than 350 km of mainstream Rio Negro alone.

The operation runs a two-boat fleet that travels together. Kalua I, the larger vessel, sleeps 14 anglers in 8 air-conditioned ensuite cabins and offers an AC lounge with TV, sound system and bar, an air-conditioned dining room and an upper-deck solarium. Kalua II hosts 10 anglers in 5 air-conditioned cabins. Both boats are escorted by a support vessel carrying crew, supplies and fuel, and run 6-meter aluminum skiffs with 25 HP outboards plus electric trolling motors — light enough to push into shallow lakes and structure that larger craft cannot reach.

The headline target is trophy speckled peacock bass (tucunaré-açu), but the area delivers the full Amazon stack: butterfly and popoca peacocks on the same casts, piraíba and redtail catfish in deeper channels, arapaima in sheltered lakes, plus arowana, barred sorubim, traíra, black piranha and pike-cichlid. The schedule also covers the exclusive Rio Jurubaxi route, known for high numbers of large peacocks in lightly pressured water.

The full package covers eight days, including six full days of fishing from 6am to 6pm, the chartered Manaus → Barcelos/Santa Isabel flight, ground and dock transfers, full board on the boat and unlimited drinks (water, soft drinks, beer and cachaça/vodka caipirinha). Satellite internet, a final hotel night in the gateway town and a riverside bonfire-luau round out the trip.

The season runs from September through March, the window when falling water concentrates fish in main channels and lakes — a short, heavily-booked period, typically reserved months in advance. The operational base is Barcelos (AM), in the heart of the middle Rio Negro.