Fishing Hot Spots

Lake guides for this map

Month-by-month patterns, fish, ramps and rules for each water:

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Fishing Hot Spots by area

Points, reefs, islands, river mouths and the offshore banks and canyons. Tap one to fly to it on the map.

Tarpon in the river mouths, snapper on the reefs, marlin on the offshore banks

Northeast Brazil is warm, clear and close to the edge. The coast from Natal to Salvador is lined with coral reefs that hold snappers, groupers, grunts, barracuda and jacks, and Spanish and king mackerel run along it. The big river mouths, like the São Francisco, the Jaguaribe and the bays of Maranhão, are tarpon (camurupim) and snook (robalo) country.

Offshore, the shelf is narrow. Off Rio Grande do Norte the canyons cut close to shore, and farther out the banks of the Fernando de Noronha ridge (Canopus, Guará, Sirius and the Touros Guyot) are blue water for blue and white marlin, sailfish, dorado, wahoo and yellowfin tuna. Fernando de Noronha itself is mostly a no-fishing national marine park.

Rules: Brazil requires an amateur fishing license (Licença de Pesca Amadora) from the Ministry of Fisheries, and the goliath grouper (mero) is fully protected: never keep one. Marine parks and biological reserves are closed to fishing, while environmental protection areas (APAs) and extractive reserves allow fishing under their rules. Check with your captain or the local authority before you go.