When to Fish in Panama: The Real Calendar

When should you come fishing in Panama?

Whenever you want. We fish here year-round, and there is no bad month. Just different months. That answer surprises people, because most published calendars tell you to come between December and April. They are not wrong. They are talking about one coast. We work both, and that changes everything: on a single trip you get rain and sun, flat water and swell. There is always somewhere it is happening when you come.

What about the rainy season?

The name oversells it. It rains more, true, but it depends entirely on where you are. It can be three hours of rain in the night and you never notice. It can also be twelve hours straight. The country is narrow and it has two faces, so the weather is never the same everywhere at the same time. On the Pacific, the dry season runs December to April. On the Caribbean it does not work that way: September and October, the wettest months on the Pacific side, are the calmest in Bocas.

And Bocas is something else again. The archipelago has its own microclimate. In September and October it rains little compared to what the word suggests. This is nothing like an Asian monsoon. It often falls at night, it does not get in the way of the fishing, and in the morning you wake up to glass. For popping, that is the dream. It is one of the reasons we love being there at that time. Some trips run on a single coast, others on both. That gets decided from your dates and what you want to fish.

December to April: what everyone sells

This is the Pacific high season, and it earns its reputation. Easier seas, steady wind, and heavy concentrations offshore. Marlin and sailfish mark the first half of the dry season, yellowfin tuna the second. Roosterfish and cubera are there year-round in the Gulf of Chiriquí, resident along the island chains and rocky shores. If you are coming for big pelagics, this is the obvious window. It is also when everyone comes.

September, October, early November: the window nobody sells you

This is the stretch most people tell you to avoid. For us, it is when we head to Bocas. The swell drops, the wind drops with it, and the sea goes flat. Shore jigging and popping turn excellent. Above all, it opens beaches and stretches of coast that are unfishable nine months a year because of the huge shore break. You set foot on places almost nobody fishes, because almost nobody can get there the rest of the time. October is my favourite month in Bocas.

What no one else will tell you

That window has a trade-off, and we would rather say it upfront. In October some sought-after species may not be around. Yellowfin tuna for one: in Bocas, the migratory pelagics move through mostly between March and August. If that is what you are coming for, this is not the moment. If you are coming to fish water nobody touches, it is the best. Tarpon runs from June to January, with residents year-round. It depends on what you want to live, not only on what you want to land.

So how do you choose?

You do not choose the month, you choose the coast to match the month. We take your dates as they are and build around them. If you land in October, we give more time to Bocas. If you land in February, we swing to the Pacific. And if you have room for both, take both. It is still the best way to see Panama. The rest is worked out with you before you leave.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a bad time to fish in Panama?

No. We fish year-round. What changes is which coast we go to and which species you cross paths with.

Can you fish during the rainy season?

Yes. It rains more, but it can be three hours in the night or twelve hours straight, and it is never the same on both coasts at the same time.

When is the best time for Bocas del Toro?

September to early November, once the swell has dropped. The sea goes flat, shore jigging and popping deliver, and zones that are unreachable the rest of the year open up.