Inshore Vs. Offshore Fishing
Inshore
In terms of size, action, and diversity of opportunities, the Gulf of Chiriquí is home to one of the best inshore fisheries in the world. With hundreds of islands and incredible bottom structure, you can do it all.
This is one of the best places in the world to catch big roosterfish and cubera snapper. It is also one of the best places to catch lots of roosterfish and cubera snapper.
These are the headliners, but there is much more. Mullet snapper, bluefin trevally, sierra mackerel, amberjack, rock snapper, grouper, all manner of jacks. We even sometimes catch wahoo inshore.
We’ll bump troll live blue runners and goggle eyes on smaller conventional tackle. You can cast poppers and stick baits on spinning tackle.
We have jigging outfits to drop vertical jigs on bottom structure. We can even break out the fly rod if you are so inclined.
No matter which areas we target, much of our inshore fishing takes place around some of the most beautiful, tropical islands you’ll ever see. It is a wonderful experience.
In being prepared for this incredible diversity of species, our boats are equipped with a variety of tackle. For big snapper and roosters, we’ll troll live bonito on 50-pound conventional tackle (this sounds like overkill until it’s not!). We’ll drift chunks of bonito over high spots for cubera.
Offshore
- In terms of size and number, it is One of the World’s Best Yellowfin Tuna Destinations
- It is one of the top black marlin fisheries in the Northern Hemisphere.
- We catch good numbers of blue marlin, sailfish, dorado and wahoo too.
The offshore fishing here is so good in part because the Gulf of Chiriquí itself. The productivity of the Gulf—measured in terms of bait and sheer amount of life— supports an incredible diversity of fishing opportunity.
The deep, clear open ocean is the home of the blue marlin. Underwater structure and high spots are the haunt of the black marlin. The Gulf of Chiriquí has both, in spades. Part of the charm of fishing here is that all of these different habitat types are close enough that we can fish them all in the same trip.
There are hundreds of islands that rise from the depths. There is also plenty of open water and an accessible edge where the continental shelf gives way to the deep, broad Pacific.
Ability to Fish Inshore and Offshore in the Same Day
Another thing that makes the Gulf of Chiriquí so incredible is the ability to fish inshore and offshore in the same day. In many regions, the places you fish inshore and the places you fish offshore may be separated by 50 miles or more.
Because of the incredible bottom structure and the many islands that rise from the depths, a day of fishing at Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge might well include some time fishing for marlin, tuna, and roosterfish or snapper.
This is a really great feature of the fishing here—one that is not available in most other places.
Just a Click Away
Tuna. Marlin. Roosterfish. Mountains of sashimi. The stuff fishing dreams are made of. Let’s do it.
