Panama

Tuna Coast

Panama fishing trip

Tuna Coast

Your trip starts with a flight from your home airport to Panama City. There are a bunch of different airlines that fly directly or with a stopover to Panama City. We’re happy to help you book or coordinate your flights. The flight to Panama City usually takes 12.5 hours. When you get to Panama City, we’ll take you to your hotel with our airport transfer. Here, you can kick back and enjoy the evening.

The next morning, after a good breakfast, you’ll continue on to Boca Chica by private transfer. The drive to the lodge is about 6 hours. On your way to the lodge, you can enjoy the fantastic scenery and also buy booze at the supermarket. You can bring your own drinks to the lodge, and all rooms have a refrigerator for your beverages. You’ll get to the lodge in the afternoon. After you check in, you’ll have plenty of time to get your fishing gear ready for the next few days.

The Fishing in Panama

Your five days of fishing usually start at 7:00 a.m. After a hearty breakfast, you’ll head to the lodge’s own boat dock and then get started fishing. Then, you’ll consult with the guides to decide what you want to fish for. You can focus on inshore or offshore fishing.

You’re there at the best time for big yellowfin tuna, so you should head for the underwater mountains off the coast or the legendary Hannibal Banks. The trip to Hannibal Banks takes about two hours from the lodge. There are usually tons of tuna on the banks. Then you’ll fish for them with poppers and stickbaits. Usually, the guides look for birds, dolphins, and local longline trollers when searching for tuna. As soon as the tuna start swimming up to the surface, it’s time to hold on tight! Then it’s full speed ahead to casting range of the feeding frenzy. When you get to the school, you’ll cast the poppers and stickbaits into the feeding tuna. The bites usually happen right away after the bait hits the water.

If the tuna aren’t feeding at the surface, you’ll mostly be looking for dolphins. They eat the same food as the tuna. Your guides will set up the boats in a good spot to see the dolphins. Then you cast stickbaits or poppers into the dolphin schools. Live bait is often laid out behind the boat, too. This gives you the best shot at catching tuna. The tuna can be anywhere from 20 to 100 kilos! You’ll also find marlin, sailfish, and other bluewater predators along the banks.

Inshore Fishing in Panama

Inshore fishing is also very successful in our area. The many offshore islands offer great conditions for cubera snapper, jacks, and roosterfish. When you go inshore fishing, you’ll fish along the coast. You can try your luck at catching cuberas, roosters, and jacks with a popper rod.

When fishing for cubera snapper, you’ll want to use large poppers, sinking stickbaits, and jerkbaits. You’ll usually find cuberas in rough coastal areas with rocks and stones for shelter. Since cuberas are so strong, you’ll want to use popper rods with at least PE8.

You can also find roosterfish along the coast. Popper rods made of PE6-8 are great for fishing for roosterfish. You can catch roosterfish with smaller poppers, stickbaits, and long-cast wobblers. Roosterfish like the sandy bottoms of the area’s wide beaches, so you’ll mostly find them there.

When fishing inshore, you can catch cuberas and roosterfish, as well as jacks, snappers, and groupers. Targeted fishing for jacks with PE4-6 rods is a blast, and small poppers are the best bait. Fishing a school of jacks with poppers is a blast. The explosive bites on the surface are pure adrenaline!

Your fishing day lasts ten hours, and you’ll arrive at the lodge between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. After you get to the dock, you can end the evening with a delicious dinner. The lodge’s restaurant has a variety of local and international dishes.

The departure

Your return journey starts early in the morning after breakfast. Depending on your flight, you’ll either go straight to the airport or spend another night in Panama City.

The journey takes about 6 hours. Depending on your flight connection, you’ll reach your destination the next day.

Accommodation Panama Fishing Trip

The Accommodation

During your trip, you will stay at the Hotel Bocas del Mar. A 4* hotel right on the waterfront with great rooms, a pool, and an excellent restaurant. For your night in Panama City, we have booked the 4* Riande Aeropuerto Hotel for you.

Tuna Coast!

Hotel Bocas del Mar****

The Bocas del Mar Hotel is a four-star hotel right on the waterfront. The modern hotel has very spacious rooms, each with two double beds. All rooms have air conditioning and a refrigerator. There’s a private terrace where you can chill out.

The hotel has two large pools with covered sun loungers and sea views. The Bocas del Mar Hotel has a great restaurant where you can enjoy local or international cuisine in a cozy atmosphere. You can order à la carte for dinner. Just a heads-up, dinner is not included in the tour price.

The hotel offers free Wi-Fi in the main area and in your rooms.

Catering

Meals: Breakfast included, lunch on the boat

Beverages during fishing:Water, soft drinks, and beer will be provided during fishing trips.

Beverages in the hotel: Alcoholic beverages can be paid for on site according to consumption.

Here are some sample prices for drinks and meals at Hotel Boca del Mar (2025):

Beer is $3, wine by the glass is $5, cocktails are $8, and water is $3.

Appetizers are $7 to $22, main courses are $13 to $28, and desserts are $6 to $8.

Panama City!

Riande Aeropuerto Hotel****

For your nights in Panama City, we’ve booked the Riande Aeropuerto Hotel, which is close to the airport.

The hotel has spacious double rooms with private bathrooms, several pools, two restaurants, two bars, and a casino.

A hearty breakfast is included in your trip. The hotel has Wi-Fi.

Catering

Meals: Breakfast included

Beverages: Drinks can be paid for on site according to consumption.

Your boats in Panama!

The Boats

When you go fishing, you’ll have access to a 29-foot and a 31-foot Offshore Pursuit Center Console. Both boats have two 250 hp engines.

High-end Fishing Boats!

Offshore Persuit

Both center console boats have enough space for four anglers. You can fish from the front and back of the boat.

Tuna tubes and a live bait tank are available on both boats.

The boats have 12-inch Garmin fish finders and chart plotters, as well as a Garmin radar for locating flocks of birds.

All boats come with top-notch rental gear. We’ve got trolling rods, spin rods, popper rods, and jigging rods too.

We’ve got radio equipment and emergency equipment like first aid kits, life jackets, and life rings.

You need this fishing tackle in Panama!

Tackle Talk

For Panama, you’ll need four rod setups. If you’re going to fish inshore for roosterfish, you’ll need to use PE 6-8 rods. For jacks and smaller fish species, you can fish with lighter rods of PE 4-6. Cuberas are some of the strongest fighters around. PE8 rods are the way to go!

If you’re going to fish for tuna with a spinning rod, you’ll want to bring a PE 10-12.

When it comes to inshore fishing, the go-to lures are usually smaller poppers, stick baits, wobblers, and skip baits.

Rental Equipment Included!

Our local partners have top-notch fishing equipment on the boats. Along with trolling rods, we’ve also got popper and jigging rods. And if you need a rod, we’ve got you covered—the rental rods are free!

You need these fishing baits in Panama!

Popper / Stickbaits

There are all kinds of lures that people use for inshore fishing. The most exciting is surface fishing. Here, we use poppers up to 160-200 mm. If you’re looking for a good popper, you can’t go wrong with the Halco Roosta Popper, FCL Epipop, Rapala Xplode 130, Yozui Mac Popper 130, or Tackle House Feed Popper 150. It’d be good to bring different sizes with you.

Skipbaits are also very effective. Skipbaits that can be moved quickly on the surface work well (GT Icecream, Xorus Asturie 130, Nomad Dartwing 165, Roberts Ranger Lures 130).

Stickbaits are also very effective. You can fish with sinking and floating versions. We’re big on the Tailwalk GUNZ 160 S&F, Hybrida J1 Tropic, Sakura Mr. Joe 120S, Rapalla Longcast Stickbaits, Sebile Magic Swimmer, and Samson Lures Tweak Baits.

You should have a good selection of natural colors (blue/silver, bonito, blue/white). Roosterfish are also attracted to pink lures, so make sure your lures have a good amount of pink or are completely pink.

These are the fishing lures you need for tuna in Panama!

Popper / Stickbaits

When it comes to popper fishing for tuna, you’ll want to use poppers with small heads. The Halco Haymaker 195 or River2Sea Dumbbell Pop have proven themselves in the past! Another great popper is the Yozuri Mag Popper in 160 mm.

Fast-sinking stickbaits and long-cast wobblers also work well. The Tacklehouse Britt or Flitz are good tuna lures. The HOWK Tunastick 150 is a heavy stickbait that lets you cast long distances. If you’re looking for a slightly cheaper stickbait, check out the Tailwalk GUNZ in 160 mm!

The best lines and leaders for Panama!

Leader & Main Line

For inshore spin fishing, you’ll want to use leaders between 40 and 175 lbs. When it comes to offshore fishing, you’ll want leaders around 200-240lbs. When you’re fishing with live bait, you should use 40-60 lbs of fluorocarbon.

Just make sure you use a good leader, like the ones from Fishermen, Varivas, Nomad, or Climax.

The main lines should be high-performance PE lines. For inshore fishing, you’ll want a PE6 (65 lbs breaking strain). For cuberas, you’ll need a PE8 (80 lbs breaking strain).

When it comes to offshore tuna fishing, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got at least a PE10 (100 lbs breaking strain).

When fishing for jacks, you’ll want to use lines between 40 and 60 lbs. Some good options are Gosen Diver x8, Daiwa J-Braid x8, JB Line One, or other high-performance lines.

Terminal Tackle

Hooks & Terminal Tackle

You shouldn’t compromise on this. Just bring BKK brand hooks, please. You should bring GT-Rex hooks in sizes 3/0 – 5/0! If you’re going for smaller poppers, you’ll need a 1/0 – 4/0 BKK GT-Rex.

For jigging, we suggest using VMC hooks (Jigging Assist Hook 7264 BN) in sizes 8/0 – 13/0. And for the assist hooks, don’t forget the rubber octopuses!

Pop rings should be able to hold at least 220 lbs. Super Heavy Duty split and solid rings (solid rings #7.5 – #9) (split rings #10 – #11) are a good choice here.

When it comes to bait-and-switch hooks, you’ll want to use circle hooks, like Gamakatsu Octopus in 6/0 – 8/0 and Mustad Demon Perfect Circle Hook in 10/0 – 12/0 for marlin.

Helpful tools for your fishing trip!

Other fishing equipment

It’s usually a good idea to bring a good pair of split ring pliers. We’d suggest the hPa Game Plier split ring pliers. These tools make it a breeze to open even the strongest split rings.

It’s also a good idea to have a good waterproof boat bag. Zeck Fishing has some great bags. We’d suggest the Tackle Container Pro or the Tackle Container Pro Catfish.

Since you’ll often be jigging and popping for several hours at a time, we suggest bringing a pair of good gloves.

Since it can get pretty hot in Panama, we suggest wearing UV protection shirts, a sun hat, and SPF 50 sunscreen! You can order our expedition UV shirts directly from us!

Good polarized sunglasses are essential for fishing. We recommend glasses from gloryfy unbreakable. The best polarized sunglasses for anglers currently available are also indestructible!

You can take a closer look at the gloryfy unbreakable polarized sunglasses for anglers here: Polarized Sunglasses for Anglers!