There are many great things about coming to fish with us. Lately, we’ve devoted quite a bit of newsletter space explaining the incredible tuna fishing we experience. 

Tuna frenzies might be the most exciting spectacle that fishing has to offer. The Gulf of Chiriquí is ground zero—the home of the tuna frenzy.

Frenzies happen with regularity. Just check out our Instagram feed!

A yellowfin blasting a topwater lure can change your perspective on life. Not just on fishing… but on life itself. This might sound like an exaggeration, but come down and give it a shot. Afterward, you’ll likely see the world a bit differently than you did before.

We’ve written about The Many Charms of Isla Parida. We’ve broken down the best times to come and context for what makes this place a truly world-class yellowfin fishery. 

These articles are dedicated to describing your experience while you stay and fish with us. What follows is something else.

This is how you can bring the thrill and exhilaration of a trip to the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge home with you. How you can share the experience with friends and family.

When done right, this type of thing might lead the people in your life to start trying to talk you into coming back more often. The best part, all you need is a cooler.

Available Dates left in 2025:

June 4-June 6,

June 11-16,

June 21-July 11, 

July 14-28,

July 31-August 9, 

August 12-16,

August 26-31,

September 11-22,

November 4-18,

November 22-December 12,

December 17-22,

December 26-31 

Nothing Tastes Better than Fresh Tuna- Especially When You Caught It

Our culinary team at the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge is great. Dedicated and professional, our crews and guests provide them with mountains of yellowfin (and dorado, grouper, wahoo, and more).

The crew from Sport Fishing Television filming Chef Edgar prepare for Sushi Night at the lodge.

Every night they transform fresh tuna into platters and platters of sashimi, sushi rolls, and poke dishes. Then there are the seared tuna appetizers and the dinner portions—grilled tuna steaks that are two inches thick.

Happy hour and dinner time at the lodge are epic. It’s uniquely fitting. Just as a day of quadruple hook-ups in tuna frenzies can change how you define “good fishing,” the experience of eating as much of the freshest tuna you can imagine as you can will forever transform how you define “good seafood.”

Our team at the lodge can do all of these incredible things for a couple of reasons. Sure, they are trained, experienced, and really good at what they do. But central to the fresh tuna dining experience is the fresh tuna itself.

And that’s how you can take the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge experience home. You can bring a pile of tuna back with you.

Vacuum Sealed, Party Ready

At the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge we have two industrial grade vacuum sealers. We keep them in a dedicated room in the back, behind the guest accommodations.

A cooler full of Panama yellowfin. Made it home to the states… frozen and ready to party.

They are serious pieces of equipment. The type of thing with enough suction to crush an empty beer can (really).

We use them to pack out tuna for our guests. For $15 per bag, we can keep your freezer stocked and equip you with the main ingredient to bring the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge dining experience home.

This process is much easier than many people imagine.  All you need is a cooler. You can bring down your own soft-sided cooler or we can sell you one here.

The Yeti Hopper is a great option. A Hopper 12 is small enough to bring as a carry-on. The 18 is great too, you can check it on your flight.

Just tell us how many bags of tuna you’d like and our crew will pack your cooler and have it ready and waiting for you the morning of your departure from the island.

The bags will be frozen. They keep their temperature well, just leave the cooler closed until you get home.

When you check your cooler at the airport ticket counter, just tell them it’s fish. As long as you don’t have any liquid ice, your bag will be fine. You don’t need ice (the mass of the fish and the insulation of the cooler, should be enough to keep everything frozen).

When you get back to the states, just check the “meats or food” box on the customs form. If TSA asks, just tell them it’s tuna. They’ll usually smile and let you pass. They see it all the time.

Once you get home, you can pop your fish straight into the freezer. Some of the outer bags might begin to thaw. You can either use these for the dinner party you’ve been planning or you can freeze them. As long as there are still some frozen aspects of the fish (and it’s not completely thawed) you should be fine putting it into the freezer without worrying about freezer burn.

If a bag or two has thawed, that’s no big deal. So long as it’s cold, you’ll be in good shape to eat it in the next day or three.

Tuna Preparation Tips

You don’t have to be an expert chef to turn your tuna into a great meal. You already have the star of the show, you don’t have to be fancy—it’s more about not over-complicating it. Generally speaking, the higher the quality of your ingredient (whether it be yellowfin from Panama or a dry-aged, prime ribeye), the less you need to do to it.

The fish of a lifetime can also be an incredible dining experience for your family and friends.

Let the tuna speak for itself. If it’s made it through the travel process alright, you can sear it, grill it or prepare sushi, sashimi or poke. You’ll know that its ok by the color and, once you open the package, its smell.

Fish that hasn’t been processed doesn’t smell like much. If anything, it smells like the ocean (store-bought stuff might have a tinge of bleach).

While you might not be ready for an Iron Chef-style tuna showdown with Chef Edgar, here are some basics that will get you on the right track.

Sushi

A house-made sushi platter. Created by a fisherman, not by a chef.

Making sushi at home is fun. It’s not as intimidating as it sounds.

These days you can get the necessary ingredients (aside from fresh-caught yellowfin, that is) at many grocery stores. Making sushi rice is easy, especially if you have a rice cooker.

Making sushi rolls is great fun for the kids—or your friends. You can prepare all the fixings and a create a sushi bar for your guests to roll their own. Many people—even serious offshore guys—will tell you, “You know, I’ve never made sushi at home.” Its really fun.

You can also try your hand at creating a sushi board. These are really fun and taste great.

Our buddy Chef Cosmo Goss breaks down everything you need to make great sushi at home. Here’s how to do it.  

Sashimi

Sashimi is a great option too. To make it, just slice your tuna steaks into portions that are ¼ inch thick. You’ll need a sharp, straight-edged knife and it’s easier to cut tuna when it’s cold— even in the process of thawing.

Your first attempt won’t be as clean-looking and polished as what we do at the Lodge, but that’s ok. It will taste great.

Once you have the pieces cut, you can eat them with sushi rice (the recipe is in the sushi article above) or just dunk them in your favorite sauce. Soy sauce and wasabi are great options. You can also incorporate some citrus, some hot sauce, all kinds of things.

By the time you get it home, we’ve already done all the heavy lifting. Don’t be afraid to try it.

Again, there’s no pressure here. Start with the soy and wasabi, add some variations until you find some things that you like. Remember, you have the star of the show and you caught it at the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge.

Grilled Tuna

If you ever want to feel like a badass pitmaster, just invite a bunch of your friends over for some grilled yellowfin. If your friends do not fish, they have probably never had any fish so good. Invite your fishing buddies, they’ll know what a good friend you are to share something so great.

When grilling, keep it simple. Sea salt, some black pepper, coat the steaks with a bit of oil and maybe some lemon juice.

Get your grill hot. If you have the option, wood (Chef Cosmo recommends white oak) or lump hardwood charcoal are best. Pellet or propane grills will get the job done, too.

With the grill hot, place the steaks on the grill. Depending on the temperature and the size of the steaks, let them cook for three or four minutes before flipping them. Repeat for the second side. You’re aiming for a sear on the outside and a nice pink, raw middle.  

Some people might like them a bit more cooked. That’s ok— grilled tuna that’s cooked through makes a great tuna salad sandwich. Like a really good sandwich—not the canned tuna stuff they feed to federal inmates and patients in the hospital.  

If indoor cooking is your thing, you can sear your tuna on the stove. The process is the same. A cast iron pan is great, but you can use what you’ve got.

Get the pan hot, slap the fish on and let it sear on the outside while keeping the inside cool and pink. 

The Intersection of Great Food and Great Fishing

So, come see us. Let’s catch a pile of yellowfin.

Bring some home. It will only take a bite or two for all your friends and family to understand why you like this place so much. They might even try to invite themselves to dinner again—or to your next trip down to the lodge.