Fishing Regulations

For fishing in foreign waters, it’s important to know something about fishing regulations. Brazil, like most every other country, puts out a pamphlet detailing all the rules. Of course, I’ve never actually met a fisherman who’d read any of these pamphlets, though I suppose such a fellow might exist. Perhaps even the one who wrote the regulations. For sure, I wasn’t about to learn Portuguese just to read a pamphlet few have ever read.

Fortunately, however, in the Pantanal, fishermen are provided with a meter-long ruler labeled with the minimum length to be a keeper. This is useful information, and it even simplifies identification of these exotic fish.

Take jaú, for instance. The ruler lists the minimum size of this monster fish as 90 centimeters—almost 3 feet! Right away, I know that I don’t have to worry about what in the world a jaú looks like: I will never catch anything that big.

Likewise, pintado have to be whopping 80 cm (over 31 inches). Again, I know that whatever I catch cannot possibly be a pintado.

That brings us to the famous dorado. Dorado has a rich, golden color, with reddish-orange fins, and likes to jump a lot when hooked. That should be easy to identify. Unfortunately, there’s another fish called piraputanga, which is also a rich, golden color, with reddish-orange fins, and likes to jump a lot when hooked. How to tell the difference? Well, a dorado has to be 55 cm (22 inches), while there is no minimum with piraputanga. Right away I know that if a fish I catch has a rich golden color, with reddish-orange fins, and likes to jump, it must be a piraputanga.