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

Rivers, lakes, falls and coast spots. Tap one to fly to it on the map.

Arapaima, peacock bass, aimara and tarpon

The Guianas are river country. In Guyana's Rupununi, community lodges like Rewa and Karanambu guide anglers to arapaima, one of the biggest freshwater fish in the world, along with peacock bass (lukanani), arowana, payara and giant piraiba catfish. The Essequibo, Mazaruni and Cuyuni add lau-lau catfish and haimara. In Suriname, Brokopondo Reservoir is the place for peacock bass (tukunari), and the upper rivers and the Courantyne hold anjumara, the aimara wolf fish. French Guiana's rivers, from the Maroni to the Oyapock, are famous for aimara too.

On the coast, the water is brown and muddy from the Amazon and the big rivers, but the river mouths, lagoons like Bigi Pan and the Îles du Salut off Kourou hold tarpon, snook, acoupa and catfish. The best fishing is usually in the dry season, about August to November, with a shorter window around February to April.

Rules: arapaima are a protected, endangered species: fish them catch-and-release only, with the lodges and their guides. In Suriname, rod-and-line fishing generally needs no licence, but nature reserves need permission from the Forest Service, and armored catfish (kwie-kwie) are closed from April 1 to July 15. French Guiana follows French law: freshwater fishing needs a fishing card, and Lac de Petit-Saut has its own prefecture rules. Much of the interior is Indigenous and Maroon land: go with local guides and ask permission. Rules change, so check with each country's fisheries office before you go.