By Pete Gray

 

Name a country that has a booming economy, friendly people, easy access, an open arm to visitors and new residents- as well as fantastic fishing- it’s Panama. When you travel with Cass Tours and Richard “Cassman” Castaneda every detail of your trip is taken care of. This was my 5th trip trip to Panama and my third with Cass Tours and Pesca Panama, and I can’t wait to return.
miketunaOur journey started at LAX on a non stop flight on Copa Airlines to Panama City. We were greeted by our transfer and quickly headed for the Veneto Hotel in downtown Panama City. The next morning we headed for the regional airport for our flight to David in the northern part of Panama where we all boarded the 27 foot Ocean Master twin outboard center consoles and ran through the river out to the first island to the Pesca Panama barge that would be our home for the next 5 days. We had a group of 12, many of whom I have been on this trip with before. New to Pesca Panama were my friends Mark Wheeler, who owns Encinitas Ford and Randy Bixler. Both Mark and Randy are avid anglers, and own fishing yachts that have taken them to many exotic destinations in Mexico, but this was their first experience in Panama.
The new owner of Pesca Panama, Mike was aboard the barge to greet us along with many familiar the crew who were likewheelerjack old friends. We put our luggage in the rooms and after a quick lunch we were off for some inshore fishing. This first half day was a “tune up” and we caught a few jacks and hooked a nice rooster fish that came unbuttoned. Depending on what you want, you can fish one, two or three to a skiff.
The next morning we were back in the skiffs and off to Montosa Island, about a 2 hour run. The huge advantage of Pesca Panama is you only need to do this run once in and out, as the barge that day moved to Cobia Island. If you were in a land based lodge, your run to the prime fishing grounds is 2-2/12 hours each day each way! Montosa was loaded with signs of life, and there had been some good tuna scores here the previous day. Three Let’s Talk Hookup listeners that joined us as first timers on this trip were Gary, Ed and Dana-life long friends that enjoy fishing and travel together. These three had an epic trip, and started it off this first day at Montosa with a blue marlin, black marlin, sailfish and several jacks. They caught big tuna, big Cuber Snapper and had the trip of a lifetime! We hooked what we thought was a marlin but never saw it before it spit the hook, then Captain Jose saw a school of birds and we were off at 25 knots to see what was up. We arrived at a foaming school of what we thought was tuna in a school of dolphin. It turned out to be yellowtail jacks in the 20-30 pound range. We threw our poppers into the foaming school and were instantly bit. It was incredible how long this school stayed up, and we had a blast catching and releasing the jacks until our arms were EdCuberasore. There was a huge abundance of red crab in the water that turned out to be not so great for the rest of our fishing. Seemed most of the fish, especially the big Cubera Snapper, were all full of these and not hungry. Even with the abundance of this food source, everyone still managed to have fair to good fishing most days.
Our second day we choose to head back to Montosa from our base at Coiba Island as the sign was certainly good the previous day. Unfortunately, though we had shots at tuna to 100 pounds, they were “ up and down” so fast we only managed a few small yellowfin.
Our third day we here headed to Jacaron Island, just south-west of Coiba. Soon into our travel we got the call that the tuna were up, and we blasted to the area to find a school of 50 to 90 pound tuna foaming on the surface. I casted my Shimano Stella with a popper into the foaming school and was instantly on a 60 pounder. There is nothing like the thrill of seeing a big tuna leap out of the water mouth open to inhale your lure! We landed three of these beasts and then the fish seemed to be down, so we moved over to try some bottom fishing along the island. We were drifting chunks of bonito over a high spot and I hooked what was likely a very large Cuber Snapper that I could never stop and soon took me into a rock and cut me off. I switched boats this day and fished with my friends Mike and Jimmy, seasoned Pesca Panama veterans. My regular fishing partners Mark and Randyskiff stayed on the tuna and that ended up being a good choice, as they landed 22 for the day.
Our last day we talked owner Mike into letting us do the 45 minute run back to Jacaron to get on the tuna again, even though it was the total opposite direction to where the barge would position that evening. We arrived in the area and it was a different look, no birds, no dolphin. So we moved inshore to the island and caught some fish until one of the boats radioed that the tuna were back up. We ended up catching 10 tuna and had some great inshore fishing on the Waxwing and surface iron. Another great day. We ran back to the barge which was anchored back near petepargothe mouth of the river for cocktails, stories and a great meal at the “tiki bar” on the back deck.
Our final morning we fished inshore and caught some some jacks and assorted fish along with the trophy of the day, a 25 pound Cubera Snapper by Mark Wheeler on light spinning tackle. Mark is an excellent angler and did a great job getting this beautiful fish to the boat for a photo before being released. We finished our trip withbeach a stop at a local white sand beach on one of the many islands for a swim and a round of “beach coconut bocce ball” …what a great end to a wonderful experience.
We traveled back to Panama City and had a great group meal at Martin Fierro’s Steak House before bidding our traveling companions so long till next time.
If you want to be a part of this great trip next year, our Cass Tours/Pesca Panama trip is set for April 2 to 9, 2016. I will be there, Cassman will be there, and if you want to be there, there are very few spots available- so call Cass Tours at 800-593-6510 or visit the trips page at www.letstalkhookup.com for more information.