Our Panama Fishing Calendar helps you to plan your ideal trip around peak seasons for your favorite species, local weather patterns, and fishing hotspots throughout the country. Using our twenty years of experience living and fishing here in Panama, we help explain the weather patterns and fishing seasons so that your Panama fishing vacation is as successful and productive as possible.

Whether it’s visions of marlin exploding out of the water in front of the Tropic Star Lodge, surface boils of yellowfin tuna at the Hannibal Bank, or a giant cubera snapper crushing your popper, Panama offers some of the best inshore and offshore action in the world. With over 1,300 miles of coastline on two different oceans, knowing where to go and when to visit should be the starting point of any fishing trip. Our Panama Fishing Calendar is based on traditional weather seasons and historical fishing patterns, but the fishing differs slightly every year based on ocean currents, ocean temps, La Niña vs. El Niño years, and the presence of baitfish. The good news is no matter what time of year you plan to visit, Panama’s best fishing lodges are spread throughout the country, so we always have an option to send you where the best fishing is going to be.

What to Expect During Panama’s Dry Season

The dry season, or summer, in Panama runs from December through April. During this time of year, you can expect 90 F and sunshine on the Pacific Coast nearly every single day. The hottest and driest months of the year are March & April, when temperatures on the Pacific Coast can reach the upper 90s F.

The months of December through April are considered the peak fishing season in Panama. During the first half of the dry season, we see the best marlin & sailfish action, while the second half of the dry season marks the start of peak tuna season. During this time of year, the water is clear, blue and full of baitfish so the inshore fishing in Panama is great too. The vast majority of days, the conditions are perfect as a typical day features sunshine, 90 F weather, and 1-2 ft seas. Due to the dry season weather coinciding with the North American winter, these months are also considered the high season for tourism in Panama. This is when hotel and airfare prices will be slightly higher, and they will book up faster due to higher demand.

Anglers need to keep in mind that Panama is the only country in Central America that runs from east to west and it is about 350 miles long, so the weather conditions vary by location. During the dry season, places like the Piñas Bay in the far east (home to Tropic Star Lodge) and the Gulf of Chiriqui in the far west have perfect fishing conditions. However, during those same months the Bay of Panama, right in the middle of the country, gets blown out by 20-30 mph winds almost every day. The reason why is due to the geography of Panama. The far east and western sides of the country have mountains that block the winds, which creates ideal fishing conditions. The Bay of Panama is flat and low, and home to the Panama Canal, so there is nothing to stop the seasonal winds coming across from the Caribbean. A map below from windy.com clearly shows the strong winds in the center of the country and calmer conditions in the east and west.

Panama’s Caribbean Coast

Last but not least, the Caribbean Coast of Panama can have entirely different weather than our Pacific Coast. While December through April is the dry season on the Pacific, December and January are two of the months with rain and wind on the Caribbean. The dry seasons starts in January, but the weather can be spotty as cold fronts from the north and winds from the Caribbean can make things windy and rainy for days at a time. The weather improves as you move deeper into the spring months, so we try to plan all of our Panama tarpon trips for the months of February through May. Similar to the Pacific Coast, March and April are usually the hottest & driest months of the year on the Caribbean.

What to Expect During Panama’s Green Season

Panama’s green season runs from May through November. Foreigners call this the “rainy season” while locals call it the “winter” to contrast the dry season’s “summer”. For those of us who live here, we refer to it as the ‘green season’ because we know it doesn’t rain all day long. It doesn’t even rain every day of the week. A typical day in the green season starts off hot and sunny, and then around 2-4 PM it will become cloudy and rain for a few hours before clearing up again around dinner time. After five months of no rain, the afternoon rain showers turn Panama back into the lush, vibrant green that you expect to see in the tropics.

When the green season starts in May, the fishing in Panama doesn’t shut down, in fact in some areas it gets even better! Just like the dry season, the effects of rainy season vary across Panama’s 350-mile-long coastline. The eastern part of country that borders Colombia is home to some of the densest jungle in the world, the Darrien Gap. This area receives much more rain than the hottest & driest region of Panama, the Azuero Peninsula. So while the Tropic Star Lodge sees a pullback in billfish bites starting in May, the fishing gets better in the Azuero Peninsula.  Over in the Gulf of Chiriqui in the west, the months of May & June are some of the most productive and the most popular because it’s the very peak of yellowfin tuna season. The bite remains strong in July & August, including a nice return of black marlin.

The wettest months of the year on the Pacific Coast are September, October, and early November. Panama is generally too far south to receive hurricanes from the Atlantic or the Pacific, these months generally bring the heaviest rain and the greatest chance at seeing weather systems like tropical depressions and tropical waves. Of course it doesn’t rain for 60 days straight, there are great weather days and even great fishing days during these months, but if you are planning a fishing trip to Panama you can pick a better time.

Panama’s Caribbean Coast

On the Caribbean Coast, May usually offers very good weather and fishing conditions. Once we get into June, July, and August there can be more rain, but since there are no hurricanes, the weather is otherwise nice. September and October are the wettest months of the year on the Pacific, that is actually the dry season along the Caribbean Coast. For great snorkeling, tarpon fishing, and less crowds, September & October are a great time to sneak over to Bocas del Toro.

Fishing in Panama During El Niño

In Panama, fishing during an El Niño year typically means hotter, drier weather and warmer water temperatures. This was seen first-hand during the 2024 season as we were fishing in 85 F – 87 F water. The marlin numbers were expectedly down as they prefer 78-84 F water, but the sailfish were still around as they can stand higher water temps. Tuna aren’t worried too much about water temps, so as long as the baitfish are around and the currents bring them into the area.

A stark reminder of El Niño’s effect in our heads was 2023. During one of our hosted weeks on the mothership in Panama, the weather in mid-May was bone dry, hot, and water clarity was 80-90 at Coiba Island. This was one of the slowest weeks I’ve experienced in ten years of hosting. This was the same year that there was a drought, and the water levels of the Panama Canal were dangerously low. The El Niño lasted until 2024, and water temps during another one of our hosted weeks was 86-87 degrees all week. Coincidence or not, this was also the same week that we experienced a truly epic red crab hatch with literally millions of red crabs swimming at the surface in the Gulf of Chiriqui. That week turned into a record catch for us as we caught over 400 fish that week.

Fishing in Panama During La Niña

We experienced an unusually long La Niña cycle from 2021 to 2023. During this stretch, we noticed heavier rains during our green season and slightly cooler water temps. The marlin bite was anywhere from good to great, but it varied by the week. More rain during the green season created more trash lines offshore, so the dorado fishing was some of the best we’ve seen. The tuna fishing again wasn’t generally affected one way or another, as long as their bait is around, they will be close behind.  The heavier rains can generate more green water inshore, but at the same time they help dump out more bait from the coastal rivers, so overall the inshore fishing isn’t too heavily affected from La Niña or El Niño.

Panama Fishing Seasons by Species

Big game anglers know that Panama is one of the world’s best fisheries, but the question we still hear frequently is “When is the best time to fish in Panama?“. The answer of course depends on what you want to fish for and when you are visiting, so we’ve created a guide to the most popular species in Panama.

Too many websites give blanket answers like “Winter” or “Spring”, or they list fishing seasons that span half the year like ‘December through April,’ but that doesn’t take into account local weather seasons and historical fishing patterns that we’ve come to learn over the past two decades. Too much of this advice is also given by people who don’t live in Costa Rica or even fish, but we’ve been living and fishing here since 2003, we fish in the local tournaments, and the fact that 40% of our customers are repeat and referral guests means we put our anglers on the fish.

When is the Best Marlin Fishing in Panama?

The best marlin fishing in Panama is December through February.  Even though we catch marlin twelve months a year here, but historically the peak months of December through March. Better evidence is that the famous Tropic Star Lodge only accepts 7-night reservations in the months of January & February, which they consider to be their prime marlin season. The peak of the rainy season is October and early November, then we transition back into the dry season (Dec-Apr). Once we get into December, the summer weather has established itself, the blue water has returned, and baitfish are plentiful. Combined with the peak mahi run from November to January most years, there is usually plenty of bait around to keep marlin interested.

We also have a second marlin season that is often overlooked, though it seems to be gaining more popularity every year. Once the rains start in May, the ‘green season’ is settled in and established by June. Most years the months of June, July and August offer incredible marlin fishing all along Panama’s Pacific Coast. This is a great time of year to target black marlin in particular.

The best time to catch sailfish in Panama is February through April. The peak season is typically listed as five months long, but the sailfish numbers are stronger towards the back half of the dry season once the water is warmer. It’s important to note that in Panama you’ll never catch the number of sailfish that we see in Costa Rica and Guatemala, but the ones we do catch tend to be very big sailfish.

During the months of May through August we still see sailfish almost every day, but oftentimes their numbers are not as big as during the dry season, so they become harder to target.

When is the Peak Tuna Season in Panama?

The peak tuna season in Panama starts in March and ends in July.  This refers to the best tuna fishing in Panama, which is done on and around the Hannibal Bank in the Gulf of Chiriqui. The bite starts a bit earlier around the Azuero Peninsula, also known as the “Tuna Coast”.  Here the fleet of pangas starts to see tuna running by the peninsula in February and March, but the best numbers and biggest fish are caught in the Gulf of Chiriqui from March through July.

Perhaps more than the mighty marlin itself, big game anglers flock to Panama every year for the chance to do battle with yellowfin tuna. Renowned as one of the best tuna fisheries in the world, catching tuna on a topwater bait is a dream come true in Panama. Whether it’s targeting that 200+ lb. cow tuna or running & gunning after a school of feeding fish, tuna fishing in Panam is about as good as it gets.

The Best Time to Catch Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) in Panama

One of the most popular and recognizable fish in the world, mahi-mahi is called ‘dorado‘ in Panama. We catch dorado every month of the year in Panama, but the best months are November through January. Every year at the end of the green season, there is a big dorado run that starts in late November and runs through December into January. These fish are usually mature adults ranging from 30-50 lbs, with a few 60 lb+ trophies out there.

After the peak dorado season, most years the bite is consistent throughout the rest of the dry season (Dec-Apr).  Once the rains start in May, the rivers fill up and wash out everything they’ve been holding for five months so trash lines form off the coast with dead trees, palm branches, and (unfortunately) garbage. These form the perfect habitat for dorado, so from May to August we usually experience a nice ‘second season’ of dorado.

When the Best Time to Catch Roosterfish in Panama?

If you are interested in how Panama’s fishing seasons compare to Costa Rica’s, here you can view our Costa Rica Fishing Calendar.