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2024 and 2025 have been very good to all of us at Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge. Our small, dedicated team works hard and we’ve been at it for coming on two decades.
When we started out, it was with a single boat and one building. The plan was, I’d come down and fish for a year.
The lodge is bigger now. That building is now our dining room and kitchen. Its porch overlooks the ocean is home to our bar and the outdoor dining room.
We’re proud of what we’ve grown to become. We now have capacity for 24 anglers and we’ve hosted thousands of anglers from all over the world.
Our team has gotten really good at delivering on our promise. Making fishing dreams come true isn’t always easy, but our guys have gotten really good at doing just that.
What follows is something of a point in time. Part of this is a thank you.
A thank you to our clients whose business makes all of this possible. It is also a thank you to our team of captains, mates, culinary guys, and everyone who helps with running a fishing business in our corner of paradise.
This is also something of an invitation. If you’ve fished with us before, come back and see us. If you’ve been thinking about fishing with us, come on down. We’d love to show you what it’s all about.
Recapping the Past 18 Months
Here is some context for just how good the past 18 months have been for Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge. It’s been wild, and we are excited about the future.
Sportfishing Television—Giant Yellowfin, Incredible Inshore Action and Three Episodes
In February of this year we hosted the crew from Sportfishing Television. In four days, fishing two boats, we set out to showcase all of the incredible natural beauty and wide open inshore and offshore fishing that the Gulf of Chiriquí has to offer.
While we were at it, we needed to showcase the mountains of sushi and sashimi that make our happy hour and dinner time so famous. We had our work cut out for us.
The results were incredible fishing and some really great fishing. Underwater cameraman Matt Rissell jumped in to film the end game on a 172-pound yellowfin—the biggest they’ve captured in the show’s history.
The fishing and scenery were good enough during the trip that we landed on three episodes. Each aired on the Discovery Channel and have been published to YouTube after airing.
Here is the backstory of how the trip went and what all goes into making some incredible fishing television. It’s a super fun deal (that’s really about the same approach we take to fishing with all of the clients who come down to fish with us!).
Herding Cats: Splashing Our 5th Boat
In spring 2025, we took delivery of our fifth 33’ catamaran. We proudly run four World Cats and a Freeman.
All of our boats are outfitted with the best gear and equipment in the business: Simrad radars and electronics, twin Suzuki outboards, Tigress outriggers, Blackfin rods, Accurate conventional and jigging reels, Shimano spinning reels, and only the best braided line, fluorocarbon leaders, and lures from Yo-Zuri. Each of our boats is equipped with ample livewell capacity and tuna tubes.
The Gulf of Chiriquí is home to an incredible array of inshore and offshore fishing opportunities. Each of our boats is ready for anything—from live baiting for black marlin, throwing poppers to tuna frenzies, slow trolling blue runners around rocky points for roosterfish and cubera, trolling for wahoo around ledges, deep dropping for grouper on our electric set-ups—every time we leave the lodge.
We’re proud as can be that our fleet has grown to become the finest and the highest performing in the Gulf of Chiriquí. We couldn’t catch all the fish that we do without these boats—or without the skill of our crews that run them.
Our Latest Guest House
Steve is one of our lodge managers. He’s also a framer and soup-to-nuts construction guy. He’s been with us since nearly the beginning, and we really appreciate all that he does.
Steve has built most of the guest houses around the lodge—using tropical hardwoods that we’ve harvested and milled on the island. The result is accommodation that is not only comfortable and intimate, but that seems perfectly at home on the island.
With this house, our guest capacity is 24. It is great.
“Welcome to Panama’s Gulf of Chiriquí” The Cover Feature in Saltwater Sportsman
“In most any other part of the world, a yellowfin spectacle might be once in a lifetime. Here, it’s business as usual.”
In May 2024, we hosted the crew from SaltWater Sportsman Magazine. Among them world-class photographer Adrian Gray of the IGFA and our buddy, and fishing writer, Elliott Stark.
We hit the tuna right. We found lots of frenzies and caught some nice fish.
Finally, we finished the trip with some inshore action—roosterfish and cubera. The highlight inshore was catching cubera snapper on topwater on back to back casts of a Yo-Zuri Mag popper.
You can read the complete article here.
Hosting Two Conchs Sportfishing TV
In August we hosted my buddy Captain Jack Carlson and the crew from Two Conchs Sportfishing TV. Scheduled to air on the Sportsman Channel, and available on streaming platforms, you can watch the footage next summer.
We hit the fishing right. Lots of tuna on topwaters, big dorado and some great inshore action.
We had a great time hosting the Two Conchs crew. They are great fishermen and great partners in media.
Exit Through The Gift Shop
At Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, we have been really fortunate to have great relationships with some of the best brands in fishing. Our friends at Grundens, Yeti, Mustad, Yo-Zuri, Fish Monkey gloves and Costa Sunglasses keep our crew geared up. We use it at the lodge and aboard our boats because it’s best and it lasts.
Steve is completing our new gift shop. This will be a great deal for our guests. We’ll be even more equipped to provide everything you need for your trip.
Soft coolers to pack vacuum-sealed tuna home. Rain gear that’s made to stand up to tropical monsoons. Sunglasses that make seeing roosterfish knifing toward live baits. The best topwater lures in big game fishing and hooks made for catching tuna. And of course, Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge hoodies for you and your buddies.
More to Come
We’ve got a couple other really exciting things in the works. Never ones to spoil the surprise, we can hardly wait to tell you (but they are exciting and will make the guest experience even better).
Thank You
As we take stock of where the lodge is today—five great boats, guest lodging that can accommodate 24, and a great team of skilled and dedicated people—we are thankful. Thank you to all of the clients whose business makes all of this possible. Thanks also to our partners and sponsors who have believed in what we’re building.
If you’ve fished with us before, thank you. We’d love to show all that has changed—and all that never will—since your visit. If you’ve been thinking about your first trip to the Gulf of Chiriquí, we’d love to show you what it’s all about.
Thank you.
Captain Shane Jarvis
