Have you ever heard the name, Slovenian Martin Strel? He currently holds the world record for swimming the Yangtze River? If that is important to anyone but himself. He has also completed a swim on the Mississippi River, not the width but the length.

Currently his claim to fame is that he will make an attempt to swim the Amazon River, again not from bank to bank but starting his swim in Atalya, Peru and finishing on Brazil's Atlantic coast, a distance of 3,375 miles. He will commence his swim on February 1st and hopes to complete his journey by April 11th.

Mr. Strel is fifty two year's old and will be dedicating his swim to "world peace and the environment". Although, I do admire him for his ability to swim long distances, but I surely hope that he is also a very fast swimmer. The Amazon River is one of those "great unknowns", they have snakes, bugs, fish, and flesh eating animals that have not even been invented yet! A quick inventory of the known species is piranhas, snakes, crocodiles, sharks, and the dreaded candiru. This is a small toothpick fish that likes to swim into body orifices, erect a spine and start feeding on blood and tissue. For his protection against the candiru, the swimmer will not urinate in the water, use a special cream on body orifices, and wear a wet suit which should also protect him from fresh water sting-rays, piranhas, and the aggressive bull sharks.

There will be a fleet of support boats accompanying him on his swim, as he intends to only swim 11 -12 hours per day. The support boats will also carry buckets of animal blood to lure the predators away from the swimmer. My concern is, how will those support boats see that crocodile laying on the bottom of the river, waiting for a tasty meal to swim overhead. How will they spot the schools of piranhas in the silty water as a school of them move up to their target. Spreading blood is great idea as a distractant but could it not also be reversed and become an attractant?

I will assume that he will complete his swim, but in the end, the question will be asked, Who is Slovenian Martin Strel? If you want to watch his daily swim, his feat will be carried live over the internet at www.amazonswim.com Good Luck to Mr. Strel and if you can please send me a fishing report as often as you can, I would appreciate it.