Fishing in Ypeka'e and Villeta: where to cast a line near Asunción

Ypeka'e (also written Ype Ka'e or Ypekae) is a rural part of Villeta, one of the twelve compañías into which the district is divided. Villeta is in the south of the Central department, and Ypeka'e lies on the Paraguay River, about 70 kilometres from central Asunción. Of the areas in this guide, Villeta and Ypeka'e is the one with dorado closest to the capital. This note puts together what can be verified: where it is, how to get there, what you catch, where to cast if you have no boat and where to stay with a fishing dock. If you only have an afternoon, you can also fish in the capital itself: where to fish in Asunción.

Where Ypeka'e is

Villeta has the largest area of any town in the Central department: it borders Ñeembucú to the south and the Paraguay River to the west, which separates it from Formosa, in Argentina. It is considered the country's industrial and port town, with a state port; in 2021 the newspaper La Nación counted nearly a hundred industries, the vast majority around the centre, and still named fishing on the river as one of the draws for visitors. Ypeka'e lies well away from that centre, at kilometre 36 of Route PY19: a rural setting, the Paraguay River in front and neighbours who, as the owner of the local cabins put it in 2023, are known for their love of fishing.

Getting there from Asunción

Leave Asunción on the Southern Access road (Acceso Sur), which is part of Route PY01. Villeta is about 35 kilometres away, with a signposted turn-off. Route PY19, "Héroes de 1870", starts in Villeta and runs north to south alongside the Paraguay River to Pilar; it has been paved almost all the way since October 2023. Ypeka'e is at its kilometre 36: about 35 km to Villeta and another 36 on PY19, some 70 kilometres in all from central Asunción. In our view it works as a day trip or as a weekend away, and the same road carries on to Pilar if you want to go further.

What you catch at Villeta and Ypeka'e

In the guide, the area has surubí catfish, golden dorado and patí catfish. What sets it apart from the capital is the golden dorado, which the guide does not list for Asunción: it is fished with spinning with lures, fly and trolling, year round outside the closed season; best from March to May and from August to October. The surubí catfish is fished with live bait in deep pools, night drifting, year round (outside the closed season); from June to September it holds in the deep pools. The patí catfish is fished year round (outside the closed season), with bottom bait, dusk and night.

For what the guide does not list, there is a local voice: in 2023 the owner of the Ypeka'e cabins told InfoNegocios that people there regularly catch surubí and dorado, but also pico de pato and tres puntos, two species that do not have a page in the guide yet.

Places to fish in Villeta without a boat

In the town of Villeta, the river is right there at the municipal beach, in the Inmaculada neighbourhood. It is run by the town and entry is free. In 2025 the town extended it with a 600 metre riverside walk along the bank, with benches and lighting, and a footbridge out to an old pontoon that belonged to the cement company Industria Nacional del Cemento. Whether you may fish from there is not published anywhere we could find, so ask on site before you rig up.

At Ypeka'e, guests at Cabañas del Litoral have access to its fishing dock. If you bring your own boat, we found no public ramp published for the area: the cabins have their own, and the ways onto the water in each area are listed under river access.

At Ypeka'e: dock, boat and guide

Cabañas del Litoral sits on the river at Ypeka'e and opened in November 2021. It has five houses, including two alpine cabins for 8 and 10 people, a fishing dock, covered boat storage, boat hire and guides. In 2023 the owner put it like this: they rent motorboats, there is a fishing guide and river trips, and the fishing dock and the pools are not charged extra. If you arrive with your own boat there is a ramp to launch boats with a tractor; in 2023 InfoNegocios reported that it is concrete and that guests use it free of charge for jet skis, boats and yachts. The cabins have full kitchens and their own barbecue. Prices start at Gs. 400.000 (per day, weekend), and the WhatsApp number is on the listing.

Before you go: river, licence and closed season

The river rules. Paraguay's Directorate of Meteorology and Hydrology publishes the Villeta gauge reading every day: before you go, check today's river levels. It swings a lot here: that gauge hit its record low in November 2024, 1.21 metres below zero (the record high is from 1983, 8.94 metres), and in May 2025 the flood put the footbridge of the riverside walk under water.

Fishing in Paraguayan waters requires the MADES licence, from a boat or from the bank: the licence step by step. MADES decrees the closed season every year: it starts in the first days of November and at Villeta, as on inland waters and on those shared with Argentina, it ends in December. The exact day can change from one season to the next, so check it at licence, closed season and sizes before you go; for each species' months, see the month-by-month calendar. Minimum sizes are spotted surubí 85 cm, tiger surubí 80 cm, patí 70 cm and golden dorado 70 cm nationwide, but at Villeta the river is shared with Argentina, and there the binational regulation requires 75 cm for dorado: the higher limit rules. Anything shorter goes back; the detail is at licence, closed season and sizes.

Frequently asked questions