Panama: the perfect place for sportfishing

story Panama Post

Panama: the perfect place for sportfishing
The Archipelago de las Perlas, Isla Coiba and Pedasí have become the favorite places of those who love sport fishing in Panama, an activity that attracts foreign tourists, especially from the United States.

Panama offers an unique attraction in the region, since it´s the only country where you can practice sportfishing in two different oceans the same day, that is the Pacific and the Atlantic.

Guilds from this sector promote sportfishing with the touristic operators in the country, as an added value to be included in vacational packages.

The country will continue being privileged for the development of sportfishing as long as there´s a will to apply the regulations necessary to protect and preserve the marine species.

So far, in Archipelago Las Perlas and in Isla de Coiba, fishing with trammel nets has been void, in order to impede commercial fishing of marine species and thus their possible extinction.

Many of the ships intended for commercial fishing in Pedasí, in Los Santos province, are now being used for sportfishing, whose demand continues increasing due to the high amount of real estate projects in the area.

All of this occurs also due to the beauty of the beaches at Pedasí, that allow practicing that sport in zones near the Pacific coast.

In Panama there is the Sportfishing Clubs Association, that has organizations in the provinces of Chiriquí, Los Santos, Veraguas and Panama. Even though each club is independent, the association puts in practice the catch and release system, except in those species considered commercial .

Species

Depending on the season, most of the marine species captured in winter are the sailfish, tuna and dorado, whereas in the summer season you can fish sea bass , red snapper and jewfish.

However, the marlin remains as one of the most sought after species in sportfishing in Panama, especially in Bahía Piñas, Coiba Island and Pedasí.

Panama has the advantage that its two oceans allow sportfishing almost all year long. For example, in Bahía Piñas, this sport can be practiced from May to November and it is possible to capture mainly marlin, sailfish and dorado.