Since 2002, the Brazilian authorities have granted River Plate Anglers exclusive entry permits to fish river systems that flow through Indian reserves and government preserves. Over the last two decades, River Plate has refined the floating-cabin system for peacock bass fishing on the Amazon River. River Plate now offers 12 exclusive rivers. River Plate has earned and kept its Exclusive Entry Permits for more than 20 years by funding and implementing a variety of assistance programs for local communities and tribes.
Quick Facts - River Plate
2026 Rates: Start at $5,990 p.p. for 5 nights / 4.5 days fishing
Location: Exclusive private river systems in the Amazon Basin, including 12 rivers in the Rio Negro watershed.
Season: River Plate's season runs from July through February, the low-water months in the Amazon Basin when 70 to 80% of the flooded jungle dries up, concentrating peacock bass to 2 to 3% of the area they usually inhabit. The River Plate Advantage: Water Levels are key to fishing the Amazon. Rivers in the Amazon do not dry up at the same time. Four distinct rainfall seasons/zones span roughly 1,000-mile swath of the Amazon where most of the good peacock bass fishing occurs. River Plate has exclusive fishing rights on 12 rivers. They can select the best water levels for their 10 private rivers within a vast 1,000-mile wilderness. They have watched and perfected this system for years and have backup plans in case of rainfall anomalies.
The Floating Camp is moved 1-2 times per week.
12 Private Rivers in the Rio Negro System
Group Size: Eight anglers per camp and six fly-in safari floating River Trains. Species: Peacock bass are the main attraction, but other hard-fighting species include the pacu, catfish, piranha, jacunda, pirarucu, bicuda, and more. Catfishing is popular in the evenings, and they have equipment you can use, but you'll need to find bait. Peacock Bass: Their explosive topwater strike, combined with an astonishing ability to break heavy lines/leaders and straighten even stout saltwater hooks, makes peacock bass one of the most sought-after species in the Amazon basin. Peacock Bass are very territorial, which is why commercial or sportfishing can rapidly overfish popular areas. The Marmelos River reopened to fishing in 2017. River Plate has exclusive fishing rights to the Marmelos River (south of Manaus) from mid-July through August. Before this agreement, the Marmelos had not been fished in four years. Roçado Fishery - Click here to visit the page.
The Fishing Program
Fishing Season: runs from July through February, which are low-water months in the Amazon Basin when 70 to 80% of the flooded jungle dries up, concentrating peacock bass to 2 to 3% of the area they usually inhabit. Boats: 20 ft. lightweight aluminum tunnel-hull boats with 40 HP outboard motors, trolling motors, and high-back swivel seats. The boats are light enough to navigate the shallow sandbars. Two anglers per boat and guide. Most of their fisheries are narrow, well-defined rivers. It's almost impossible for the guides to get lost. Guides: Carefully trained local guides are very familiar with the Amazon. They speak very little English. Many have guided for River Plate for over 15 years. You will have the same guide throughout the week. Equipment: River Plate provides baitcasting and spin tackle, including heavy and mid-action TFO rods, Shimano reels, and all lures except jigs. Equipment is subject to a $100 loss or breakage fee.
XL Peacock Bass - Flies or Lures
Typical Fishing Day: 6:00 a.m. - The staff will walk by the floating suites to make sure you’re up. 7:00 a.m. - Breakfast is served. 9:00 a.m. - Your guide is ready to leave. You’ll fish the river and its adjacent lagoons while the floating suites navigate to unfished areas. The Camp is moved once or twice a week. (Travel time from the camps to the fishing grounds averages between 5 and 20 minutes.) 1:00 p.m. - Return to the cabins for lunch and a nap, or enjoy a traditional asado (BBQ) on the beach, then head back out to fish for the afternoon. 5:00 p.m. - After returning to camp, enjoy a professional massage ($30 per hour) or sit in the river in a chair with water up to your neck, and a Brazilian Caipirinha, a cocktail of cachaça, lime, and sugar. 9:00 p.m. - A buffet-style dinner is served. End your evening relaxing in a lawn chair on the sandbar outside your cabin, enjoying a glass of wine.
Floating Mobile Cabins
Floating Cabins: During your trip, the floating cabins are moved one to two times per week to fresh, unfished waters.
These deluxe, shallow-draft floating cabins can bypass shallow water and sandbars. Mobility is key to exceptional peacock bass fishing. The floating cabins draw only four inches of water and navigate past shallow-water natural barriers. The 270-square-foot air-conditioned cabins provide comfort and style, with 110- and 220-volt electricity and a private bathroom with a shower. Comfortable twin-size beds or queen-size beds. Their staff of 14, along with a bilingual host, provides personalized, hands-on attention. Free daily laundry and maid service. Communications: The Cabins offer complimentary Starlink Wi-Fi. We recommend WhatsApp for phone calls. Everyone you want to communicate with also needs the app. Satellite phone calls are $5 per minute.
24-hour 110 AC and Private Bathrooms
Chilled Wines, Ice-Cold Beer, Soft Drinks...
Meals: You'll have a cooked breakfast in the dining cabin. You'll take a packed lunch with you on the boat. Four-course dinners feature fresh fish, beef, or chicken, accompanied by regional sides. Alcohol: Alcohol: Chilled wines, ice-cold beer, soft drinks, and caipirinhas—Brazil’s famous lime-and-cachaça cocktail—are included. Beer and Wine Limit: Due to the remote location and safety concerns, guests are limited to 45 cans of beer per person per week. For the same reasons, wine is limited to four bottles per guest, per week.
Getting to the Floating Cabins:
1.) River Plate requires guests to arrive in Manaus, Brazil, on a Friday. Most guests fly from Miami to Manaus, Brazil, a 4.5-hour flight. A River Plate representative will drive you to a 4-star hotel in Manaus for your overnight stay (a 10- to 20-minute drive).
2.) On Saturday morning, you'll have an early breakfast at the hotel before departing for the 6:00 a.m. floatplane flight to one of their eight River Train camps. Flights vary from 45 minutes to two hours, depending on the river you'll fish. (The Rocado is a 3-hour flight.)
3.) You'll take a 10-minute boat ride to Camp, unpack, attend a brief orientation, eat a quick lunch, and fish all afternoon. The package includes one night at a hotel in Manaus and a round-trip floatplane flight from Manaus to the cabins. All floatplane flights have a strict luggage weight limit of 35 pounds per person. Soft duffle bags with no rigid bottoms are required. You can leave your main luggage at the hotel in Manaus. The hotel staff can keep your luggage until you return from fishing. Departure Day: After breakfast, you'll take a floatplane flight back to Manaus. The package also includes a day-use stay at the Quality Hotel on the final day. Book your flight home for after 3:00 p.m. on Sunday. Brazil eVisa now Required: As of April 2025, citizens from the United States, Canada, and Australia require an electronic visa (eVisa) to enter Brazil. The Brazil eVisa fee is $80.90 USD. • Click here for the Brazil eVisa website.
Rates and Details
Rates valid through February 2028. Season: July through February.
7 nights / 6.5 days guided fishing: (6 nights at camp and one hotel night in Manaus)
2 anglers per cabin and guide $6,990 per person
1 angler per cabin and guide $11,883 per person
Land-Based Lodge on the Itapara - $7,990 per person The Rivers by Season:
July - August - Marmelos River
September - October: Matupiri and Igapo-Açu
October - November: Jatapu
October - November: Rocado River $7,490 per person
September - December: Lower Jufari and Xeruini
November - December: Omero River
November 2027 - February 2028: Itapara River
January - February 2028: Upper Jufari and Kabori Rivers
5 nights / 4.5 days guided fishing: (4 nights at camp and one hotel night in Manaus) Two anglers per cabin $5,990 per person Rivers Fished for 5-night packages:
July - August: Marmelos River
Sept. - October: Matupiri and Igapo-Açu
Sept. - December: Lower Jufari and Xeruini
Nov. - Dec. 2026: Omero River
Nov. 2027 - Feb. 2028: Itapara River
Jan. - February 2028: Upper Jufari and Kabori Rivers
The Packages Include:
•All necessary ground transfers in Brazil (as per itinerary)
• One night, upon arrival at a 4- or-5-star hotel in Manaus
• A roundtrip flight on a floatplane or Cessna Caravan between Manaus and Cabins
• Use of a day room at the Manaus hotel on departure day
• Cabin lodging
Guided fishing in remote private waters
• Use of baitcasting and spinning tackle, including heavy and mid-action TFO rods, Shimano reels, and all lures (does not include jigs)
• Fishing license
• All meals at Camp
• Brazilian wine, beer, hard liquor, bottled water, juices, and soft drinks)
• Daily laundry and maid service at Camp
• Wi-Fi service in the hotel
• Starlink Wi-Fi at Camp
• All community fees and leases for fishing in Private Waters
• Upon request, our eBook, Fly Fishing for Peacock Bass by Larry and Guy Schoenborn.
The Packages Do Not Include:
• Airfare to and from Manaus, Brazil
• A Brazilian eVisa, $80.90
• Gratuities for guides and staff, about $600 per person
• Fly-fishing outfits and flies
• Baitcasting jigs and catfishing rigs
• Satellite phone calls, $5 per minute
• Food and beverages in Manaus
• Extra hotel nights
• Special airport transfers when not arriving/departing with the group
• Tours, shopping trips, and items of a personal nature
• Global Rescue medical evacuation coverage
• Travel insurance
• Anything not listed under inclusions.
Sample Itinerary for 6-day Package:
Friday: You'll fly from the U.S. to Manaus, Brazil. At the international airport, as you exit Customs, you'll be greeted by a staff member who will drive you to a four- or five-star hotel for the night. (The package includes the hotel night upon arrival.) Sunday: Breakfast at 6:00 a.m. At 7:00, you will be transported to your Cessna Caravan charter plane for a 90-minute flight to your safari camp, located on private Indian lands northwest of Manaus. You will settle in, have lunch, fish in the afternoon, and return to your floating cabin around 5:00 p.m. for dinner and the night. Monday - Saturday: Breakfast at 6:00 a.m., departing for the day’s fishing at 7:00. You will return to camp around 5:00 p.m. for dinner and the night. Sunday: Breakfast at 7:00 a.m. You will depart the camp on a Cessna Caravan charter around 9:30 a.m. and arrive in Manaus around 11:00 a.m. Upon arrival, you will be driven to a hotel for a day room or taken directly to the international airport, depending on your return flight departure time.
River Plate Angler's Policies:
Deposit Policy: A deposit of $2,000.00 per person is required to secure a fishing reservation. In case of cancellation by the guest or agent, the deposit is forfeited in full unless a replacement is found by the agent. RPA has the right to fill the empty spots, and there will be no refunds of deposits and/or final payment to the agent; this event overrules the odd number prohibition, i.e., RPA accepts an odd-number group, in this case, forfeits the deposit of the canceled reservation and holds the right to complete the group with another person. The final payment is due 90 days before departure. Cancellation Policy: At this point, participants are responsible for total land costs, and no refund will be made unless a replacement is found by the agent (RPA has the right to fill the empty spots, and there will be no refunds of deposits and/or final payment to the agent nor of any unused portion of the land package). Receipt of the deposit and final payment by River Plate Anglers’ legal vehicles implies an acknowledgment that the issuer of payment has read and accepted the cancellation/refund and responsibility clause.
Travel Insurance: Fishing with Larry strongly recommends purchasing comprehensive travel insurance that includes trip cancellation coverage and Global Rescue medical evacuation. Visit our Travel Insurance page.
Fishing with Larry Payment Options: 1.) Credit Card: A 2.5% convenience fee applies for all credit card transactions. 2.) Check: Please include your invoice number in the memo. Mail checks to Fishing with Larry P.O. Box 419 Columbus, MT 59019. 3.) Wire Transfer: Send money electronically. Typical fees are approximately $15–$30 for domestic transfers and $45–$50 for international transfers. Please email Toni at toni@fishingwithlarry.com for wire instructions. 4. Please review our Travel Terms & Disclaimers prior to submitting your deposit.
Gary with Large Peacock Bass
Gary with Large Catfish, Too
Gary and Lynn with River Plate Double
Three Kinds of Peacock Bass:
Fly Fishing for Peacock Bass eBook on Amazon
Eric Schoenborn's Recap:
"River Plate Outfitters allows all fishing methods at its camps, including topwater, shallow lures, jigs, and flies. Many people set their expectations based on shows they’ve watched and typically have high expectations for watching giant peacocks crash their topwater presentations. The truth is that while fishing topwater makes for good TV, strikes on topwater gear are often more challenging than other methods. When a topwater strike happens, it will make your jaw drop as the sound of a giant Peacock hitting the lure sounds something like a 55-gallon drum dropped off a ten-story building into the water where your lure used to be.
Topwater lures consist mostly of wood-chopper-type lures, which make an incredible amount of noise and splash as they are worked through the water. Lures like Zara Spooks, Rat’ln Walk, and jumping minnows walked on the top in a rhythmic motion produce good results. The most productive technique for peacocks on my trips has been weighted flies. Peacocks are a suspended fish that use cover to ambush minnows. These minnows can be imitated with flies, and when retrieved quickly with a sinking line, the results are deadly. Along with flies, weighted jig heads tied with rattles, flash, and synthetics imitate baitfish and can be very productive. Another tool in the tackle box is shallow-diving lures, such as the Yo-Zuri mentioned above. - Eric Schoenborn
