Pacu A.K.A. Ball Cutter

INTRODUCTION

The crazy Pacu. I always call the fish this way because it is indeed a crazy fish. It has a voracious appetite & feeds in a pack. Jeremy Wade of River Monsters fame calls this the "Ball cutter" for it's fierce reputation of attacking fishermen in their native Amazon river waters as well as the fish's preference to eat hard food, eg. nuts & other hard shell oily fruits. The Pacu is strong & full of stamina. It's 100m dash when hooked  never fails to give me a thrill.  Pacus are dirty fighters too, they would dash to nearest snags along the banks at first opportunity. There are 2 species of Pacu in Malaysia. The common Pacu & the Red Belly Pacu. As the name implies, a Red Belly Pacu has a bright orange to red coloration on it's belly. This is a close cousin to the Pacu but being smaller in size & rounder in shape. It's teeth is sharper, almost similar to Piranhas.

Say Cheese! Pacu teeth

Red Belly Pacu

Pacu have a set of teeth similar to humans which makes them true omnivores. In my experience, catching Pacu is not difficult, all you need to do is to bring anything edible. YES! This fish will wallop almost anything. I've tried using chicken meat, groundbaits, bread & even crickets. The trick to catching Pacu is to find out where they nest & their hideout. Like most fishes, Pacu prefers to build nests or congregate along sunken logs & bushes for protection but will roam outside their nest in search of food. 

Floating rig with groundbait

HOW TO CATCH THEM

Long Shank hook

One of my favorite ways to catch them is to do float fishing. The usual rig that I use would be a simple mainline, mono or braid, attached to a thick 50lb 0.65mm monofilament leader tied to a circle-hook. The reason for circle-hooks is the Pacu is very capable of cutting off lines. By using a circle hook, the angler can be sure of a lip hook which will prevent the fish from sinking it's teeth on the line. Another suitable hook for catching Pacu is to use Long shank hooks. I've had 50lb mono lines & even 10lb trace wires being bitten off by Pacu in the size range of 3 to 5kg. No Joke! Being a bottom as well as a mid water feeder, the Pacu would always forage around the bottom & then goes up to mid water in search of food.

Circle hook

One very effective method that I always use at Bukit Cahaya is to use bread to create a feeding frenzy. First toss a few slices of plain bread, best to use Gardenia white bread, onto fishy looking waters & wait. Yes, be patience, it takes anywhere from 5 to 10mins before the Pacu surfaces to whack at the bread. Then! When the frenzy starts, cast your bait out between those floating breads & hope for a take. Be ready for a sudden take & dash as when a Pacu hits a bait, it is violent & most of the time it will hook itself without the need to set it.

Pacu landed with floating rig

Another simpler way to create a 'floating rig' is to directly tie the leader onto the hook. Use 1/2 slice of bread, roll it nicely onto the hook, squeeze tight one end. When you cast this bait out, the bread will float in water with the hook embedded.