A Fishing Adventure In Colombia And How To Help Victims Of The Deadly Earthquake There
Editor’s note: Editor Chris Cocoles recently visited Colombia and filed the following in our August issue. On Monday, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia, killing more than 250, with the death toll constantly rising. There are various ways you can donate to help the victims of this natural disaster, including here, here and here. Please consider a donation. Colombia is a beautiful country with wonderful people.
The following appears in the August issue of Alaska Sporting Journal:
GUATAPÉ, Colombia–It’s no secret that while an Alaska fishing adventure for a visitor from outside the Last Frontier can be expensive, you usually get what you pay for, and the 49th state rarely disappoints even if a trip there puts a dent into bank accounts.
The price for bucket-list destinations became a talking point during my recent trip to Colombia, which included a day of bass fishing that I signed up for with guide Juan Felipe Gutierrez, who operates Anglers Colombia (anglerscolombia.com) out of his hometown of Medellin.
When I found I’d be visiting the South American country with some family members, I looked into a couple different fishing options, first some possible saltwater excursions at our first stop, the Caribbean Sea port city of Cartagena on the country’s northern coast. But since I’d be fishing solo, the costs for a charter seemed like a bridge too far for me to feel comfortable reserving.
When the focus shifted to freshwater fishing at the end of our two-week vacation, my correspondence with Juan offered far better value for my budget. His itinerary included a full day of bass fishing at Lake Guatapé (officially known as the Peñol-Guatapé Reservoir), including pickup and drop-off at our Medellin hotel, two hours from the lake, breakfast, lunch and snacks on his boat, and all the gear supplied. The cost? Just over $300 US. Sold.
MY DAY WITH JUAN and his longtime friend, tournament fishing partner and, on this warm sunny day, boat operator Jairo, was delightful, despite us missing on big fish, though we did have fun catching plenty of smaller bass. (Juan is strictly a catch-and-release guide, telling me he’d rather have a chance to catch those same fish on future days.)
But what I enjoyed most was soaking up the scene on one of the country’s largest lakes. Lake Guatapé is man-made, but it’s a gorgeous setting at 6,200 feet in elevation amid Colombia’s stretch of the continent’s Andes Mountains range.
Its most famous attraction is the El Peñón de Guatapé, a large rock formation with 708 twisting steps to the top that my sister and niece climbed on the same day I fished. We saw the rock from the water, but our focus was underneath the lake’s surface, not the view from high above.
The former proved to be a challenge. It had rained overnight and continued to come down on our drive from Medellin after Juan picked me up at 5 a.m. By the time we picked up some ice and a food run with a local woman who supplies Juan’s meals, the rain stopped and the sun broke through the cloudy skies.
We covered a lot of ground in Juan’s boat, as Jairo drifted us along what seemed like prime black bass habitat on rocky points, submerged tree stumps, small boat docks and exposed fencelines dipping into the water. But only small fish – less than keeper sizes – were willing to bite the orange crankbait Juan tied onto the spinning rod and reel he set me up with.
My arms would get a little tired from the constant casting and reeling that morning, but I landed just enough fish to pose for some photos and soaked up the sunshine enough to feel content with the atmosphere. And Juan’s price point made it all worthwhile.
AROUND MIDDAY, AS THE sun began to shine brighter and warmer, Jairo beached the boat in a sleepy cove and we went ashore to set up an impromptu picnic area on a shaded hillside. While dining on typically hearty Colombian cuisine – rice, plantains, pork belly, chorizo sausage and potatoes – I asked Juan if he’d heard about the epic fishing in Alaska. He said yes, and I told him what it could cost to experience such a trip. Juan, who spoke English well enough to overcome my modest amount of Spanish phrases, countered with the inflated costs anglers must pay to experience similar fishing trips to neighboring Brazil, which often cost well into five figures for comparable adventures that Alaska offers. I simply enjoyed the food, the company and the view of the lake below us.
After lunch, Jairo took us to the other side of the lake, past the ubiquitous gorgeous lakeside homes, including side-by- side estates owned by local buddies and former brothers-in-law James Rodriguez and David Ospina, teammates on Colombia’s World Cup national soccer team, plus a nearby abandoned, condemned home that was once a retreat for infamous drug lord and crime boss Pablo Escobar.
We passed the extremely colorful city of Guatapé and switched to weedless swimbaits and cast over grass-covered sections of water, again assuming the cover would make for some hot action. But the bass simply weren’t biting, which Juan attributed to the changing water clarity following the overnight and morning rain.
By the end of the day, sunburned and exhausted, I asked Juan if we could switch back to that orange crankbait since it had given us some modest success earlier in the morning. Juan grudgingly agreed to tie it back on and we made a last-ditch effort to fish the area around where the lake feeds the river Rio Negro. It had been a while since the last fish, though Juan had angrily lost what felt like our biggest bass of the day a little earlier. But sure enough, the naranja, as I showed off my miniscule knowledge of Spanish, caught me one final small bass.
“That’s really your favorite lure, isn’t it?” Juan joked to me shortly before we headed back to beach the boat and then take the long, traffic-congested drive back to Medellin.
As we caught a spectacular sunset dipping behind the mountains of Medellin, now a fascinating and mostly safe city after being considered one of the world’s most dangerous and violent places during the 1980s and ’90s, I thanked Juan for the chance to fish and not cripple my cash supply.
He’s definitely someone you should reach out to if you get to Medellin for an affordable and fun day on the water in a country full of friendly locals, gorgeous beaches, quaint mountain communities amid lush coffee farms, and just enough grit and chaos to keep you engaged (check out his Instagram page @AnglersColombia for some of his successful outings). Viva Colombia! –Chris Cocoles
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