If you searched for "Paso de la Patria" and ended up here, something is worth clearing up before going on, because it decides which travel documents you carry and which licence you get.
Two towns, not one
Paso de Patria, without the "la", is in the department of Ñeembucú, in Paraguay, right where the Paraguay river flows into the Paraná. Paso de la Patria, with the "la", is in the province of Corrientes, Argentina, on the Paraná, upstream from the city of Corrientes.
Both are fishing towns, both live off the same river and they are fairly close to each other, but they are in two different countries. The licence changes, the regulations change and the document you are asked for changes. This guide covers the Paraguayan side.
Rule of thumb: if what you are looking for is in Argentina, the Paraguayan MADES licence is no good to you, and the reverse is also true. Each country issues its own and both sides enforce it.
What the confluence is
It is the point where the Paraguay river joins the Paraná. Two rivers with different waters that meet and run side by side for a good stretch before they fully mix. For anglers, what matters is that depth and current change there, and that concentrates fish.
On the Paraguayan side, the guide lists 7 places in Paso de Patria. Species: golden dorado, surubí catfish, pacú and boga.
The other two areas of Ñeembucú
Paso de Patria is not alone: the same corner of the country has two other bases to fish from, and sometimes one suits you better than the other depending on where you are coming from.
- Pilar, on the Paraguay river, with 19 places listed. It is the largest town in the area and the one with the most services.
- Cerrito, on the Paraná, with 10 places. It sits across from Yahapé, on the Argentine side, and is one of the areas that has received the most Brazilian anglers for decades.
When to go
The golden dorado season: year round outside the closed season; best from March to May and from August to October. The surubí season: year round (outside the closed season); from June to September it holds in the deep pools. The closed season cuts into both: it starts in the first days of November, and in waters shared with Argentina, which is exactly what these are, it runs until December 20.
The closed season is not an administrative detail. The penalty for fishing in it: Fine of 3,001 to 20,000 minimum daily wages, today Gs. 351 to 2,342 million.
What is allowed and what is not each month: the month-by-month calendar.
Before you go
Fishing in Paraguayan waters requires a current MADES licence, which for foreign anglers is a special licence for visitors (the licence step by step), and there are minimum sizes per species: surubí 85 cm, and golden dorado 70 cm nationwide, which in these waters shared with Argentina rises to 75 cm under the binational regulation. Anything below goes back in the water. The full detail, with the amounts of the fines, is on the licence, closed season and sizes page.
If instead you are going to fish on the Argentine side, the rules are different and are set by the Dirección de Recursos Naturales of Corrientes, which changes them by disposition several times a year. That is exactly why we do not copy them here: check recnaturalesctes.gob.ar before you travel.
Who takes you fishing in each of these areas: the fishing areas. The 8 species in the guide, one by one: the species.