Come join us in Panama in January of 2025 — on an island oasis with incredible food, fun people, and otherworldly fishing.

When the opportunity arose to fish at Sport Fish Panama Island lodge for a second time in the same year, I was a bit nervous. Honestly, our April adventure in Panama was life-changing, so I knew that the potential was there, but I had no idea if the fishing in November would be anywhere as good. Here's a trip report.

While some friends have been wowed by our tales and pictures of our initial trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, others who I know would love it have been oddly resistant. Here are their primary excuses and my responses. The long and the short of it — you need to go!

We’ve now made two trips to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge and we’ve been amazed by the incredible fishing and scenery in the Gulf of Chiriquí. The many islands and rock formations give you a sense of why this fishery is so good. It has a wildly changing topography that creates currents which bring in baitfish. A few islands are particularly well-known.

When we returned from Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge in April, I was generally on a high, but a tad bit depressed because I did not land a roosterfish. Others in our group had accomplished that task, including the petite redheaded woman I live with. I’d caught roosters in Costa Rica in 1995, but that felt like it was so far in the past as not to count.

Have you ever traveled someplace, had a fabulous time, and no matter how long you stayed when it came time to go home it was just too short? As we prepared to leave Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, I felt a pit in my stomach. We loaded up the dinghy with our luggage what felt like moments after we’d arrived. I remember thinking, “I don't want to go home. When are we going to come back?”