Panama – We cover a lot of fisheries, probably too many if you stop to think about it, but we love it. Most destinations have one predominant billfish, with the chance of catching another species. While this may be true for Panama’s great Black Marlin fishing, Panama offers some of the greatest variety around. Black, Blue, Striped and Sail all call Panama home. They are not occasional visitors, but rather year round residents.

We follow a few operations down there. The most well known has to be Tropic Star (www.tropicstar.com). Tropic Star’s sits in the middle of the jungle, in a remote location. This is exactly how they like it though as they are only a short boat ride out to the Zane Grey Reef. Possibly one the most productive fishing grounds in the world.

Panama Sport  Fishing Lodge (www.panamasportfishinglodge.com) is one we really like. They not only give you good variety on billfish, expect to catch dolphin, wahoo, snapper, roosterfish, etc. They too have a great location that allows you to fish a number of banks and reefs in no time.

While not a “lodge” Coiba Adventure (www.coibadventure.com)  will get you as close to the fishing as you can get. Coiba Island is about 80 miles from the mainland, which is a good thing. You can fish for days without seeing another boat. This also happens to be home to the Famous Hannibal Bank. Capt. Tom Yust has been doing this since 1991, so he knows these waters as well as anyone.

If you are looking to tangle with multiple species, you can’t do much better than Panama. And, if you can’t make it, don’t worry, your friends at the Billfish Report will always keep you informed.