Southern Brazil & Uruguay Fishing Guide

This is cooler southern-hemisphere water, where croakers, bluefish, silversides and black drum are the main fish for shore and boat anglers. Brazil requires an amateur fishing license and has minimum sizes, while Uruguay lets you sport fish without a license in most places but closes black drum spawning areas each spring and summer. Florianópolis also has the winter mullet (tainha) season, when beach-seine crews have priority on many beaches.

📍 Santa Catarina (Florianópolis) and Rio Grande do Sul (Tramandaí and the long southern beaches) in Brazil, and Uruguay: the Río de la Plata at Montevideo, plus the Atlantic coast of Maldonado (Punta del Este) and Rocha (La Paloma, La Pedrera, Cabo Polonio, Valizas, Punta del Diablo).

Map: spots, ramps and marinas

★ Fishing hot spot · ● Boat ramp · ● Marina · ▭ Protected area (solid red = no fishing, dashed = fishing with rules)

Open the full Southern Brazil, Uruguay & Argentina map →

Quick facts

Arvoredo Marine Biological Reserve off Florianópolis (created 1990, 17,600 ha, about 98% sea) bans all fishing.
Bluefish (anchova) off southern Brazil move north in winter and back south in late spring and summer; fish off southern Brazil and Argentina appear to be one stock.
Uruguay's fishing law (Law 19.175, Art. 44) lets anyone sport fish freely except where permits are required by zone, species, season or gear.
Uruguay has set yearly closures on black drum (corvina negra) in rivers and streams flowing into the Río de la Plata and the Atlantic; the 2025-26 closure ran Oct 17, 2025 to Jan 15, 2026.
Montevideo's Rambla gives more than 22 km of public shoreline for fishing.

What you can catch

Bluefish (anchova)
Southern Brazil; minimum 35 cm in Brazil. Moves north in winter.
Whitemouth croaker (corvina blanca / corvina)
Common in the Río de la Plata and Rocha; minimum 25 cm in Brazil.
Black drum (corvina negra)
Big fish (over 10 kg reported in Rocha); seasonal closures in Uruguayan rivers, streams and lagoon mouths.
Mullet (tainha)
Winter run in Santa Catarina (May-Jul); minimum 35 cm in Brazil.
Silverside (pejerrey / peixe-rei)
Common pier and shore catch at Tramandaí and Montevideo.
Kingcroaker (papa-terra, Menticirrhus)
Most common fish at the Tramandaí pier.
Whiting (pescadilla) and forkbeard (brótola)
Uruguay shore and boat fish.
Sea catfish (Genidens barbus)
Endangered in Brazil; release undersized fish.

Month by month

January	Southern summer. Uruguay black drum closure (rivers, streams, lagoon mouths) ran to Jan 15 in 2025-26.
February	Summer; busiest time for anglers on southern Brazil piers.
March	Late summer; bluefish spawning season ends.
April	Autumn; bluefish begin moving north.
May	Santa Catarina mullet season opens (May 1 in 2023); surfing limited on many Florianópolis beaches.
June	Winter; mullet run and northward bluefish migration.
July	Mullet season runs to Jul 31 (2023 season).
August	Winter; check local conditions.
September	Spring; Uruguay issued a new black drum closure in Sept 2026 (Res. 238/026); check its dates.
October	Black drum closures in Uruguay usually start (Oct 17 in 2025). Bluefish spawning begins mid-spring.
November	Black drum closure on in Uruguayan rivers, streams and lagoon mouths.
December	Summer; black drum closure still on.

Tips

In Brazil, get the MPA amateur license and know the minimum sizes before keeping fish.
Do not fish anywhere in the Arvoredo reserve off Florianópolis.
During the mullet season, watch the flags at Florianópolis beaches; green means surfing is allowed, red means not.
In Uruguay, check DINARA's latest corvina negra resolution before fishing any river mouth or coastal lagoon.
Uruguay sometimes has red tide alerts; check before eating shellfish or fish from the Rocha coast.

Rules and license

Brazil: Ministério da Pesca e Aquicultura (MPA) and ICMBio; Uruguay: DINARA (Dirección Nacional de Recursos Acuáticos, MGAP) · Official rules page ↗

Brazil: amateur license R$20/year shore-only or R$60/year boat; 15 kg plus 1 fish saltwater limit; no selling.
Brazil minimum sizes (IN MMA 53/2005, SE and S coast): anchova 35 cm, corvina 25 cm, tainha 35 cm, garoupa 47 cm; check current rules.
Arvoredo Marine Biological Reserve (Santa Catarina): no fishing.
Uruguay: sport fishing is free except where DINARA requires permits by zone, species, season or gear (Law 19.175, Art. 44).
Uruguay: sport-caught fish may not be sold (Law 19.175, Art. 45); poisons and explosives banned.
Uruguay: black drum (corvina negra) closures cover all rivers and streams to the Río de la Plata and Atlantic, plus Atlantic lagoon mouths, under any fishing method; check the current resolution.
Uruguay bag limits and license fees: none confirmed; check current rules with DINARA.

Rules change. Always check the official page before you fish.

Boat ramps and marinas

The map above shows 6 boat ramps and 8 marinas from OpenStreetMap. Tap any dot for directions.

Iate Clube de Laguna
Imbituba
Marina Damasceno
Marina Mampituba
Marina da Ponte
Marina dos Goiabita
Porto de Santa Isabel
Yacht Club de Rio Grande

Sources

Checked October 2026. BigJoe does not invent facts: every number on this page comes from the sources listed above.