My customers and friends were looking at me with disbelief and shaking their heads! »What the hell are you doing ludi Japanac??« they were asking! »I am going to Panama soon! I gotta be ready!« I told them. Well the trip to Panama wasnt going to happen until the 22nd of April, but that is how excited I get, when I know that I am going to my favourite place for fishing on the world! This year I had a group of friends and fishing buddies from Slovenia who were eager to try their luck at this incredible destination! I was in close contact with John, the owner and operator of Panama Sport Fishing lodge, following the weather and fishing reports. Strangely the fishing was slow for Panama standards during the best month of the year, February, March and April! (editorial comment Jürgen Oeder: because of a strong La Niña event and below average sea temperatures Finally one week before our departure John calls me, and says »Marc the fishing for Marlin and Tuna is not good! It is red hot, its on fire!! We are having several Marlin strikes per day, and Tunas over 200lbs on poppers!« Suffice to say, that I did not sleep much until we finally departed to my »promised land of fishing«, Panama watch out, here we come!!
After a 12hr direct flight from Amsterdam we finally arrived at Tocumen International airport in Panama City. We were greeted by one of the Lodges friendly staff who took us in Johns brand new Range Rover to our hotel in Panama City. Even tough we were travelling for so many hours, none of us was sleepy. We were all excited and full of anticipation of the days that lay ahead of us. I dont remember how many Vodka Red Bulls, Mojitos, and Caipirinhas we had that night, but trust me, judging by our bill, it must have been quite a lot!
The next day our driver took us on the 5 hour drive to the lodge. Upon arrival we had some welcome drinks a good meal, and we prepared our tackle for the upcoming week. Of course my first question was: »How is the fishing? What are you guys catching?« The answer was quite disappointing! John told me that the bite had stopped completely, and that the tunas were acting finicky, because they were feeding on very small bait, and that it was very difficult to come close to them!
I have heard that before!! Sounds like we are on the Adriatic sea! Luckily I took not only big lures, but also my favourite mediterranean tuna lures! We still had high hopes as we departed on our first day of fishing! John gave me his newest boat. A Palmetto 33 custom center console, fast and stable, perfect for jigging and popping! As we got out there I had a feeling we were chasing Luc (Little Tunny) around Blitvenica! Lots of schools of small tunas on the surface, once you drive towards them to come in casting distance, they go down, only to appear again half a mile ahead of you, behind you, or to your left or right!
Luckily we had the small casting lures so we managed to get a few Yellowfins in the 10 – 15kg class! The other boats who only had the big poppers got skunked! Since the bite offshore was slow we decided to stay inshore for a couple of days, and fish for Cubera Sanppers, Jacks and Roosterfish. We fished around Coiba, Islas Secas Paridas and had a lot of fun catching on Poppers and live bait! One day we were popping around islas Paridas on the high morning tide, and we had one or several Roosters behind the popper on virtually every cast! Simply awesome!!« The best poppers turned out to be the Heru Cubera in 100gr, and the Sebile Splasher!
The last couple of days we went offshore again to give Marlin and Tuna another shot! As we came to the offshore positions around isla Montuosa, and Hanibal Bank the activity of Tunas got a little better, but unfortunately we did not manage to hook any big ones!
To our surprise we caught some nice Dorados (Lampuga) in the 20kg range on our spinning outfits! The best lures were the Smith Baby Runboh, and the new Nature Boys Surfish Tuna! The fact that we caught Dorados showed that this year was very unusual. Dorados are winter fish in Panama! Normally you can catch them there during November and December. On our last day of fishing Panama showed us, what it is like under normal conditions! As we arrived at Montuosa the ocean was boiling with fish! There were Tunas everywhere! We had double and triple hook ups! Every cast was a fish! Fish were so thick that we had a couple of break offs, because tunas were swimming through our lines with fish on!
As the morning bite slowed down, we decided to try one more time for the only Panamanian game fish that we did not manage to catch on this trip, the black marlin! We trolled big live bonitos around the drop offs at Montuosa island. Making a long story short, we did not succeed! The water color was green, wich is not good at all for any offshore predator! Another boat that was trolling around islas Secas that day had three marlin hook ups, and caught 2!
What I learned was, that even in Paradise you sometimes have to work for your fish! All in all we had a great trip, with great company, and wonderful experiences! One thing is certain, I will be back!! See you on the sea, your Marc Inoue and Team Maguro! And now some pix of my trip in 2011
We caught big snapper…
…bigger yelowfin tuna…
…and very strong roosterfish.
