Dorado fishing in Ayolas with a guide: what a day out is like and what it includes

Ayolas is the dorado fishing hub of southern Paraguay: the Paraná leaves the Yacyretá dam and runs past the town and past Coratei, where several of the lodges and guesthouses are. The guide lists 24 places in the area, between fishing hotels, guesthouses, houseboats, guides and a tackle shop. Here is what a typical guided day looks like and what it includes, according to what each operator publishes.

The day out: a boat, a local guide and the river

In Ayolas you do not fish alone. You go out in an outboard boat with a baqueano, the local word for the guide who knows the river: where the fish are at that week's water level, what time to leave and how to rig the gear. The spots are close: Hotel Ayolas says its 40 HP boats go out to fishing spots close to the hotel, and Club de Pesca Yacyretá launches from its own ramp.

The technique on the species page is spinning with lures, fly and trolling. Which lure, which line and how fast the boat trolls is the guide's call that day, and we will not recommend it from here: it changes with the river and the time of year, and the person taking you out knows it better than we do.

What a fishing package includes

The most complete example an Ayolas lodge publishes is the one from Hotel Ayolas, which has hosted anglers for over twenty years. Its per person, per day package, at Gs. 1.200.000, includes:

• a double room with air conditioning, cable TV, wifi and minibar, and the three meals;
• a boat for two with a guide and a 40 HP engine, and the navigation permit;
• 30 litres of fuel;
• bait: four dozen worms and a bucket of corn per boat;
• the cooler with ice and the drinks on board (the hotel's drinks too, except spirits).

The same hotel also rents the guided boat on its own, without the package, and then fuel and bait are on the angler. That is the question worth asking any lodge before booking: whether petrol and bait are in or paid separately. Club de Pesca Yacyretá also rents boats with a guide, fuel and bait, and has a bank fishing area for those who would rather not go afloat.

What no Ayolas package lists as included is the tackle: rods, reels and lures are yours. To stock up before heading out, Ayolas Pesca y Camping has shops in Ayolas, Coratei, San José Mi and Pilar, open every day from 6:30 to 21:00.

Who to go out with

• Hotel Ayolas: hotel and restaurant on the Paraná, 22 rooms, its own 40 HP boats and the package above. Its website is in Portuguese because it mostly hosts Brazilians.
• Club de Pesca Yacyretá: the Ayolas fishing club. It runs the International Dorado and Mixed Species Tournament, catch and release, now in its 24th edition; it rents boats with a guide and has camping and rooms. Tournament dates are in the tournaments.
• Isidro Vera - Baqueano de Yacyretá: local guide of Yacyretá island, leaving from Camping Bajo la Luna, on the bluff facing the Paraná.
• Hotel Doña Ramonita, in Coratei: 31 rooms and bungalows, trips with its own boats and guides.
• Marcão de Ayolas Hotel d'Pesca and Barco Pérola do Iguaçu: a lodge and a houseboat that work in Portuguese with Brazilian anglers.

The full list, with photos and direct contact, is in Ayolas y Corredor Paraná; the fishing guides and the boats across the country each have their own page.

When to go, and when not to

The dorado season in the guide is year round outside the closed season; best from march to may and from august to october. Club de Pesca Yacyretá gives September to February as its best time, which is when the tournament is held. What overrides all of that is the closed season: it starts in the first days of November and on the Paraná, which is water shared with Argentina, it runs until December 20. During the closed season there is no fishing, licence or not, and each year's exact dates are published by MADES. Month by month, with the closed season marked: the month-by-month calendar.

Before going out you need the MADES sport fishing licence, which many lodges arrange for their guests: how to get it and what it costs, in the licence step by step. And the first thing the guide checks, the river height, is there every day: today's river levels.

The size limit: 70 nationwide, 75 on the shared stretch

Law No. 3556/08 on Fishing and Aquaculture, the one MADES applies throughout Paraguay, sets the minimum size for dorado at 70 cm total length. On the Paraná at Ayolas the Unified Fishing Regulation with Argentina also applies, which asks for 75 cm on the shared stretch, and that is the measure Hotel Ayolas gives its anglers. The practical rule: respect the larger one. The sizes for the other species are in licence, closed season and sizes.

Frequently asked questions