The Fish We Haven’t Caught at Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge
I’d go to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge just for the incredible topwater yellowfin tuna fishing. If I’d discovered them before freshwater bass I’d probably have devoted my life to them instead of becoming a Senior Writer for Bassmaster – although I suppose there’s still time.
But the true magic of fishing the Gulf of Chiriquí is the variety. You can spend the morning chasing 200-pound tuna offshore with poppers, then slide inside the islands for roosterfish or cubera snapper in the afternoon – sometimes with the same lures. On other days, you might set your sights on a grand slam of billfish -- blue marlin, black marlin, and Pacific sailfish -- and pick up bonus trophy mahi or hard-fighting wahoo.
On our hosted trips, our groups have checked off nearly all of the major boxes. Someone even landed an inshore triggerfish last time. That’s a species I didn’t realize was even possible here.
So it got me thinking: after five trips and dozens of anglers, what species are still missing from our Panama list?
Species Our Groups Have Landed in the Gulf of Chiriqui
First, let’s go through a list of what our groups have caught. Since we’ve hosted groups of up to 20 across five boats, I may not capture all of the species (some may not have been mentioned in barside conversation), but here are the greatest hits:
Billfish:
Black Marlin
Blue Marlin
Pacific Sailfish
Other Offshore Species:
Yellowfin Tuna
Mahi Mahi
Wahoo
Inshore Species
Roosterfish
Cubera Snapper
Mullet Snapper
Barred Snapper
Bluefin Trevally
Horse Eye Jack
Jack Crevalle
Almaco Jack
Amberjack
Needlefish
Rainbow Runner
Sierra Mackerel
Barracuda
Miscellaneous:
Snowy Grouper
Triggerfish
What’s Left on the Panama Bucket List?
That’s over 20 right there, allowing for the chance that we may have missed some. Still, here are a few more I know they catch semi-regularly within a short boat ride of Isla Parida that we hope to see at some point:
Tarpon
They’re not native to the Gulf, but apparently a few snuck through the Panama Canal and one or two seem to show up on anglers’ lines in the Gulf of Chiriqui each year.
Snook
We ride out through the mangroves to get from the marina to the island where we spend our vacations, and I bet if we targeted them we could hit a fairly untapped opportunity.
African Pompano
A prized catch for their looks, fight, and table quality. They’re out there—we just haven’t connected with one yet.
Yellow Snapper
Another small but feisty fighter that tastes great – and while we don’t keep the slow-growing cuberas, these are on the menu.
Who’s Going to Catch the First?
That’s the beauty of fishing Panama: You never know what new species will show up. Every trip delivers a mix of predictable trophy action and surprising curveballs.
Whether you go by yourself or join us on our next hosted adventure to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, maybe you’ll cross one of these bucket-list species off. Email us today and we’ll get you started down the right path.
