FROM THE air, this stretch of river reads like an abstract painting: bands of amber, copper, and blood-orange bleeding into black tannin water. But stand on one of these sandbars and it becomes something else entirely: a flats-fishing dream transplanted into the jungle. This picture was taken last year on a trip to the Amazon headwaters, chasing trophy Peacock Bass on 800 kilometers of river protected exclusively for fly-fishing. Serious anglers make the trip to these shallow sandbars, where nesting Peacock Bass over 20lb live. They are visible (look closely at this picture and you’ll see them) and stalkable in water that’s clear enough for sight casting yet stained the colour of strong tea by tannins leaching from the surrounding forest. The experience defies every expectation of what "flats fishing" should look like. Macaws cut across the canopy overhead, pink dolphins surface nearby without warning and beneath your feet, this liquid amber current hides some of the hardest-fighting freshwater gamefish on the planet, waiting to defend their nests against anything that gets too close.

[PHOTOGRAPH AND WORDS: CHRISTIAAN PRETORIUS]