Panama
Coiba Island — The Last Untouched Pacific Billfish Frontier
- Experiences
- 4
- From
- $4,320
- Peak season
- December–April (Pacific)
- Typical length
- 6–7 nights
Panama is the "they-call-it-that-for-a-reason" fishery. Tropic Star Lodge, on the Pacific side at Piñas Bay, has held more IGFA billfish world records than any other saltwater lodge in history. The 2,000+ black marlin tagged at Tropic Star over 60 years of operation speaks for itself. Coiba Island, a UNESCO World Heritage marine reserve on the Gulf of Chiriquí, is the less-trafficked modern destination — multiple reef banks, yellowfin schools, and shot-after-shot for blue and black marlin.
Tropic Star is a legacy operation with a waiting list and pricing to match. Coiba lodges (Sport Fishing Panama Island Lodge, Panama Big Game Fishing Club) offer the same fishery at lower cost with newer infrastructure. Pedasí on the Azuero Peninsula is the accessible roosterfish destination — pangas out of a village on the mainland targeting rooster, cubera snapper, and amberjack.
Panama City (PTY) is the gateway. Most lodges arrange charter flights to their airstrips (David for Coiba; Piñas for Tropic Star). December through April is the primary dry-season window. The Pacific fishery peaks January–March; Panama's Caribbean side is minimal.
Panama Lodges & Trips
4 vetted experiences — sorted by featured first, then price.
Islas Secas, Panama
Islas Secas sits in the shadow of Panama's highest mountain, the dormant volcano Baru, twenty-five miles from shore. The resort rests upon one of the sixteen uninhabited, pristine, jungle-clad volcanic islands in the Las Secas Archipelago.
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Tropic Star Lodge, Panama
Tropic Star Lodge provides what many consider to be the finest offshore fishing anywhere, with over 150 world records set at this Paradise location in Panama's Pinas Bay.
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