Our Guide Boats: Fly Fishing from a Panga

All of the guides at Blue Horizon Belize use fishing boats called “pangas”. A panga is a Mexican style open fishing boat with a bimini top for shade and an outboard motor. Unlike a flats boat that might be common in the Bahamas or Florida, a Panga has larger sides that can withstand larger waves and rougher seas. Often times our fishing guides have to cross certain parts of the ocean where there is no reef with deep depths and these runs can have very choppy water if the winds are up. So with these pangas, the guides are able to safely boat through these areas.

Most all of our pangas are equipped with a front lean bar as well as a bimini top to provide shade from the intense Caribbean UV rays. They have a front deck casting area with ample spaces as well as comfortable seating for two people. The front casting area provides anglers a top level view to sight and hunt down fish. The guide will typically stand in the back of the boat after arriving at a flat and begin to pole the flats in search of catching a Belizean permit, bonefish, or tarpon.

Some of our reef fishing pangas are larger and can comfortably hold up to 8 people. But the fly fishing guides prefer to use the smaller ones as they can go in skinnier water more easily.