A variety of opportunities for sea anglers that is hard to beat. The North American continent offers pretty much everything you can imagine – from the far north in the Arctic regions of Canada / Alaska to the tropical areas of the Central American countries (which are assigned to the continent of North America). Canada is also the country with the longest coastline in the world: An incredible 265,000 km of ocean coastline, which would stretch more than 6 times around the globe — mind you — without river or lake shores.
In such a vast area, it is hardly surprising that the fishing techniques also cover practically the entire range of possibilities. From trolling or drift fishing, natural or artificial lures, popping or jigging — you can do it all here, depending on where you are. From extremely heavy tackle on the giant tuna in the far north, to light tackle on tropical surface predators, the possibilities are almost limitless.
A list of all the fish species that can be caught here would go beyond the scope of this article. Therefore, here are a few examples of the most sought-after fish species on the North American continent.
Bluefin tuna
A fish that is hard to beat in terms of fighting power and endurance — and therefore naturally the dream of many sea anglers. In North America, it is mainly found off the coast of the USA and Canada. It was here that Ken Fraser caught the world record tuna off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1979, setting an IGFA world record of 1496 pounds that will possibly stand for eternity. However, tuna giants over 1000 pounds (so-called “granders”) are still landed every year. Fishing is mainly for mackerel, which are offered on the surface on a complex kite installation.
Blue marlin
The largest of all swordtails – and also a tough fighter. Blue marlin can be found in the Caribbean as well as in the Pacific in the subtropical and tropical zones and are among the classic “big game” fish. They are caught exclusively when trolling. Especially the Pacific coast off Costa Rica and Panama offer fantastic opportunities to fish for marlin – it should be mentioned that in addition to the blue marlin, the black marlin and in some regions also the striped marlin occur. Most fish weigh 80-150 kg — but much larger specimens are also possible.
Roosterfish
A fish straight out of a picture book! The dorsal fin rays, which resemble a cockscomb, were obviously decisive in the naming. The roosterfish is found in coastal waters of the Pacific in the tropical zone and is regularly caught mainly from Mexico to Costa Rica and Panama. It can weigh over 50 kg and is a very hard-fighting fish that is often caught with surface lures (poppers).
Cubera Snapper
You don’t want to encounter this fish “in the dark”… The facial expression alone reveals that this predator is not to be joked with. And indeed: When a cubera is hooked, it pulls down with full force and tries to get into rock shelters or reefs. If it succeeds, it is lost. The tackle should therefore be very stable in order to be able to resist. It is caught with both natural and artificial lures – and in shallow water areas also on surface lures. One of the best areas to fish for cuberas is Panama. Cuberas can get very old — they say about 1 year of life per pound of weight. One of the largest, officially confirmed cuberas caught weighed a proud 126 pounds….