Pejerrey

Habitat Distribution

• Uniquely euryhaline among popular South American sportfish — equally at home in fully fresh, brackish, and coastal saltwater, which explains its success across rivers, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and coastal lagoons.
• Native range covers temperate and subtropical South America east of the Andes: the Río Negro basin in Argentina north through Uruguay, Paraguay, and southern Brazil, with coastal Atlantic populations extending to Lagoa dos Patos in Brazil.
• Introduced populations are established across much of South America outside the native range, plus Morocco, Italy, Israel, and Japan — the Pampas lakes of Argentina remain the cultural and fishing heartland of the species.

Specific Spots

• During warmer months, pejerrey hold in the surface and midwater column — watch for baitfish dimpling or nervous water rather than anchoring to a fixed spot, since the schools are always moving.
• Sandy and muddy banks with moderate current draw feeding fish, particularly where plankton and small invertebrates pile up along the edge of flow; these edges are worth working methodically.
• As water cools, fish drop off the flats and stage along the nearest depth change — the break between shallow and deep is where they concentrate rather than the shallows themselves.