Fishing in Rio Novo National Park

Rio Novo National Park sits in the southwestern corner of Pará state, straddling the municipalities of Novo Progresso and Itaituba.

The terrain drops from the Serra do Cachimbo in the south — a sandstone escarpment rising to around 650 metres — down through broken plateaus and forested valleys toward the lowland drainages of the Jamanxim and Crepori basins, both tributaries of the Tapajós.

That elevation change is what gives the park its character on the water: clearwater rivers interrupted by rapids and waterfalls, igarapés cutting through dense rainforest, and a gradient that keeps the fishing varied across a park of more than 538,000 hectares.

The Rio Novo is the park's central waterway. It forms where the Inambé and Rio Marrom meet, then runs north as a major tributary of the Jamanxim. The river runs transparent over its rocky bed, with the rapids and falls that come with the terrain.

The Rio Claro lives up to its name in the same way. The Rio Crepori drains the western portion of the park.

Smaller waters — Igarapé Boa Vista, Igarapé Água Preta, Igarapé do Cachimbo, Igarapé São Domingos, Igarapé da Serra Pelada, and Igarapé Duas Serras — thread through the forest and feed the main channels.

Illegal mining activity in the region has contaminated most of the park's streams. That reality matters to anyone planning a trip.

The cleaner reaches tend to be the more remote ones, and access throughout the park is genuinely difficult — this is roadless Amazonian interior, administered by ICMBio, and not a place with established visitor infrastructure.

Check directly with ICMBio before any trip for current access conditions, permitted entry points, and whatever fishing regulations apply inside the park boundary.

Rules for a protected area of this designation can differ substantially from standard Brazilian fishing licensing, and the situation on the ground — including the ongoing pressure from illegal mining — can change the picture quickly.

The water here is worth protecting. Go in knowing what you're getting into.