Boga fishing in Paraguay: season, bait, technique and where

The species page calls it the river's most underrated fight, ideal for beginners. It has neither the teeth of the dorado nor the size of the surubí, but it is fished on light tackle, from the bank or from a boat, with corn as bait, and it is a very strong fish that runs in zigzags once hooked.

It is listed in 7 areas of the guide: Pilar, Paso de Patria, Cerrito, Ayolas and the Paraná Corridor, Ciudad del Este, Encarnación and San Cosme and Villa Florida. That is, on the Paraguay river, the Paraná and the Tebicuary. The lodges, guides and fishing spots that work it appear, area by area, at Boga.

What fish the boga is

Its scientific name is Megaleporinus obtusidens, family Anostomidae. Until a few years ago it was called Leporinus obtusidens, and that is how it still appears in many articles and regulations: it is the same fish. It lives in the Paraná, Paraguay, Uruguay and Río de la Plata basins, and also in the São Francisco in Brazil. The maximum scientific record is 76 centimetres total length and 5.8 kilos.

It is a bottom and mid-water fish (benthopelagic, as the biologists say), a migrant within the river and an omnivore: it eats what it finds. That broad menu explains the fishing: it is why it takes corn, dough and even beef heart.

How it bites: the small mouth and the nibble

The boga has a small, very sensitive mouth, and it does not swallow the bait in one go: it takes small nibbles at it. The bite is subtle and there is a moment to strike; miss it, and when you reel in you find what Argentine anglers call a "polished" hook: no bait left. Do not overdo the strike, because the mouth tears easily and the lips are fragile. The small ones are hard to hook, too.

Once hooked, the boga does not give up: it runs in zigzags without letting itself be brought in, and when it sees the net it finds new strength and pulls away. On light tackle, every boga is a real fight.

Bait: corn, dough and a bit more

The classic bait is corn, one or two kernels on their own, or dough. The fishing press also cites beef heart, salami, bacon fat and sábalo flesh: some days the boga wants to eat fat, and then those baits pay off. One detail the same articles stress: do not cover the point of the hook with the bait. It is what the species page sums up as corn and dough baits, light tackle.

One piece of advice that keeps coming up: chum the spot with corn a while before you start fishing. It is also common to find piers chummed with corn to draw the boga in and fish it from the bank.

Tackle and rigs

Everything light. The reference articles talk about rods of up to 2.50 metres with a tip action, a low-profile or round baitcasting reel, 0.25 to 0.30 mm nylon and 0.35 mm leaders, 50 to 60 centimetres long, with Maruseigo-type hooks, size 10 or 12. It pays to carry sinkers of several shapes and weights, to choose by distance and spot; in current, a heavier one to hold bottom.

Rigs can be fixed or running, and running rigs are the more effective. The simplest has a 20 to 60 gram sliding sinker on the main line, a micro swivel and the 50 to 60 centimetre leader. It is fished from the bank or from a boat, with one or two well-baited hooks, casting toward the wall of reeds or onto the sandbank, and waiting for the bite. In Paraguay the general rule of Law No. 3556/08 also applies: a lure may not carry more than one treble hook (art. 36, sec. k). What the law says about gear, limits and fines is at licence, closed season and sizes.

Where to look for it

The boga lives on rocky ground as much as on sandbanks, at the edge of wide reed beds, in shallow or deep water over rock and even on shell beds. The articles fish for it with the line tight against a rock wall, where it usually feeds, or against the reeds. Each area page, with its listed places, is reached from Pilar, Paso de Patria, Cerrito, Ayolas and the Paraná Corridor, Ciudad del Este, Encarnación and San Cosme and Villa Florida.

The water level changes where you can navigate and which spots you can reach. Before planning the trip, check the day's level at today's river levels.

When the boga is caught in Paraguay

All year outside the closed season, just as the species page says: year round (outside the closed season). And this has to be said plainly: in Paraguay the closed season starts in the first days of November, runs until December 20 on waters shared with Argentina and on inland rivers, streams and lagoons, and until January 31 of the following year on waters shared with Brazil. The closure covers sport and commercial fishing alike: on those dates nobody goes out for boga. The month-by-month picture, with the closure marked, is at the month-by-month calendar, and each year's exact dates are published by MADES.

A curious detail from the latest closed-season resolution: the boga is listed among the farmed species that may be sold during the closure when they come from aquaculture. The river one, no.

Minimum size and licence

The minimum size for boga in Paraguay is 45 cm total length, from the snout with the mouth closed to the tip of the tail, under Law No. 3556/08 on Fishing and Aquaculture (arts. 34 and 35), enforced by MADES across the whole country. Below that, it goes back in the water. It pays to carry a tape measure. The full size table is at licence, closed season and sizes.

To fish for it you need the MADES sport fishing licence, Paraguayan or foreigner alike, and you get it before the trip: the licence step by step. Fine of 30 to 500 minimum daily wages (Law 3556/08, art. 50), today Gs. 3.5–58.5 million.

Who to go with

For a first time, the boga is the species to go for: the species page marks it as ideal for beginners, it is fished on light tackle and also from the bank, without a boat. The lodges, guides and fishing spots in the boga areas are at Boga; each listing shows how to contact them.

Frequently asked questions