Brazil fly fishing means peacock bass in the Amazon. The Rio Negro basin, including the Agua Boa and Rio Marié, fishes on falling water from roughly August to March, while the clear Iriri River at Kendjam runs mid-June to mid-September. US, Canadian and Australian visitors need an e-visa, and anglers need a Brazilian fishing license.

Brazil is not a trout trip and it is not a flats trip. It is jungle fishing: a fast 8-weight, a box split between poppers and big baitfish streamers, and a fish that will bury you in the timber the moment you give it line. Most of it happens deep in the Amazon, a charter flight or a long boat ride beyond Manaus, at lodges that run a short season tied to the water level.

This page is the Brazil map: the river systems most trips are built around, when each one fishes, the license and entry rules, and what our podcast guests have said about fishing the Brazilian Amazon. If you are weighing jungle water against golden dorado and Patagonian trout further south, our Argentina hub covers the other side of South America.

The Brazil story in our archive that I keep coming back to is John Childress's. John, a marine biologist turned business consultant and my co-author on Fly Fishing for Leadership, told the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast on episode 236, Amazon Fly Fishing and Preservation (published March 9, 2025), that he has fished the Amazon about five times. On his last Brazil trip he flew into the same lodge area he had visited ten years earlier. The first time the forest below the plane was unbroken; the second time it was scarred by logging, burning and fire. He made the point that matters to anyone who fishes there: strip the vegetation, the rain carries silt into the river, and spawning water and migrating fish pay for it. The same trip took him to a clear river running over granite, where he sight fished for several species in one stretch, which is not the muddy jungle river most of us picture.

Where to Fly Fish in Brazil

Brazilian fly fishing travel runs through a handful of remote Amazon river systems, and the lodge you pick decides the trip: blackwater lagoons for big peacock bass, or clear water you can wade and sight fish. Fish sizes below are the figures the operators publish.

The Rio Negro basin

The Rio Negro and its tributaries are the heart of Brazilian peacock bass fishing. These are tannin-stained blackwater rivers with lagoons, sandbars and flooded timber, and the fishing turns on when the water drops. As levels fall, the sandbars come out of the water and baitfish and peacock bass get pushed into the channels and lagoons. Manaus is the gateway city for most Rio Negro trips.

Agua Boa River, Roraima

The Agua Boa River in Roraima, in northern Brazil, is reached from Manaus by a 2-hour charter flight. Agua Boa Amazon Lodge targets three peacock bass species: butterfly peacock bass of 2 to 8 pounds, and spotted and temensis peacock bass that can reach 25 pounds, with arowana, arapaima, payara and piranha also in the mix. Catch and release with single barbless hooks is required.

Rio Marié

The Rio Marié is a tributary of the upper Rio Negro, rising in the northwest corner of the Brazilian Amazon near the Colombian border, roughly 500 miles northwest of Manaus. It was the first official sport fishing operation in Brazil inside an Indigenous territory, run in partnership with the local Indigenous association, with room for 12 anglers. Butterfly peacocks average 2 to 6 pounds and fish over 10 pounds come regularly, with a realistic chance at a 20-pound speckled peacock.

Iriri River and Kendjam Lodge

Kendjam Lodge sits on the Iriri River in the Brazilian Amazon and is the clear-water alternative: more than 100 kilometres of crystal-clear water, wet wading and a lot of sight fishing, with professional fly guides working alongside Indigenous Kayapó guides. Kendjam takes eight anglers a week. The species list runs to peacock bass, payara, wolf fish, bicuda, three kinds of pacu, matrinxã, surubim, redtail catfish and jungle drum.

For the full Kendjam conversation, read Fly Fishing the Amazon with Captain Rafael Costa.

When to Go Fly Fishing in Brazil

Water level runs the Brazilian calendar, not the month. Peacock bass fishing is best when the rivers drop and push fish out of the flooded forest into the channels and lagoons, and each river drops on its own schedule. That is why Brazil's lodges keep short seasons that differ from river to river; the table below uses each lodge's published season.

Season:Partial month or shoulderOpen

Agua Boa's published season starts in October or November and ends in March or April, depending on the source, so April and October are marked partial. The Rio Marié normally runs August to late January, and Kendjam runs mid-June to mid-September. A wet year can delay the drop, so treat any calendar as a starting point.

Book a Local Pro in Brazil

See all FFIP Certified pros in the guides and lodges directory.

Custom Flies and Rods from Brazil

Brazil Tips from Podcast Guests

• Pack a multi-piece travel rod instead of checking a second bag
  John Childress has landed big, toothy Amazon fish on an 8-weight travel rod without breaking one. A six or seven-piece rod fits in your main bag, which matters on a trip with small planes and boat transfers.
  John Childress, author and traveling angler, on Amazon Fly Fishing and Preservation, episode 236
• Strip-strike every subtle tap when fishing blind
  Jungle fish in stained water often eat with a tap, not a pull. Treat any tap as a take and strip-strike instead of waiting to feel weight.
  Jesse Males, Costa Rica jungle fly fishing guide, on Fly Fishing the Jungle of Costa Rica
• Pack an emergency layer for sudden weather shifts
  A tropical storm can drop the air from the high 80s into the 70s while you are soaked in a boat. Carry a rain jacket and a warm layer, however hot the forecast looks.
  Lance Kittel, traveling angler who fishes golden dorado trips, on Belize, Argentina, etc, Why They Don't Have to be Once In A Lifetime

Want more? Browse all 647 tips in the Fly Fishing Tips Library, sorted by region, water type, species and skill.

Hear Brazil on the Podcast

Also listen to episode 161 with Captain Rafael Costa, who guides out of Kendjam Lodge on the Iriri River and covers tactics for peacock bass, pacu, bicuda and wolf fish.

Shop the Water: Flies and Gear for Brazil

Peacock bass want big, bright flies and a rod with backbone. Jeff Currier's two-angler system works anywhere in the Amazon: the angler in the front of the boat throws a popper to pull fish up, and the angler in the back fishes a streamer behind it. Pack yellows, oranges and chartreuse, heavy baitfish patterns on 1/0 hooks, and a fast 8-weight with a backup rod.

Brazil Fly Fishing Questions, Answered

Fly Fishing Insider Podcast has a referral partnership with Frontiers International Travel. If you book after being introduced through us, we may receive compensation at no additional cost to you.

Tight lines, everyone!

By Christian Bacasa, host of the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast. Last reviewed October 2026.

Prices, availability, flight routing and entry requirements change. Every figure on this page is the starting rate published by the lodge or by Frontiers International Travel at the time of writing, per angler, and is a starting point for a quote, not a quote. Seasons, lodge capacity, charter schedules, visa and passport rules and license requirements can all change without notice. Confirm current pricing, availability and entry requirements with your Frontiers specialist before you book anything.

Sources: License rules and fees: Brazil Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture amateur and sport fishing guide. Entry rules: US State Department, Brazil country information. Lodge seasons, species, sizes and capacity: the published pages of Kendjam Lodge, Agua Boa Amazon Lodge and Rio Marié. Falling-water conditions: MidCurrent, January 2026. John Childress, Captain Rafael Costa, Jeff Currier, Jesse Males and Lance Kittel on the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast.