Propiedad de Paradise Lodge is truly "off the grid" located in the heart of the Gulf of Chiriqui on Isla Paridas 13 miles offshore the Pacific coast of Panama. One of the advantages to being out in the middle of "Jurrasic Park" is that we are that much closer to the action! Offshore the famed Hannibal Bank, Isla Coiba, and Isla Montuosa are all short runs from our tropical island lodge and at our doorstep is an insane inshore fishery! Much closer to the action than the land locked lodges. Everyday I count my lucky stars that I am able to fish these spots with my clients because it never gets old! Especially throwing poppers at boiling Yellowfin Tunas offshore!
It's even more special when you can experience fishing here with great people. Ronnie Wills and his son Noah, from Texas, spent a day with me out searching for Yellowfin Tunas and like so many days of recent there were plenty of Tunas around but not many would eat what we were throwing at them. After having thousands of Tunas busting all around us all day at Hannibal and not getting a bite we ran to Isla Montuosa to see if the Tunas there were in a better mood. Late in the afternoon, right before I was about to call it a day, we come across another boil with Tunas, Porpoises, and birds going nuts! First cast into the frenzy with a Popper and WHAM! Ronnie's got a BIG Tuna on! After all day of seeing the Tunas busting we finally put a hook in one! After battling for over an hour.....the fish gets close and we can see that it's foul hooked in it's side. Ronnie pulls using the harness and gets the Tuna boatside and finally to the gaff! It's amazing how much strength these fish have and then to foul hook one make it that much harder. Great job Ronnie!
Another great group of gentlemen....returning angler Ed Scarbourugh, Pierre Lebrenton, and Mike Kerpel joined us for a few days but our luck wasn't as good with the Tunas as in the weeks prior. Same story pretty much each day.... Plenty of Tunas busting all around but hard to put a hook in them. Very frustrating! The fish didn't want to eat our live baits and these gentlemen weren't into casting the poppers all day. We did get a few hits but not a stellar outing as I was hoping for these guys.
The following group of Brazilian sportsmen has some better luck offshore during their stay. Sergio Bodenmüller, Ari Coelho, Carlos Zago, Gervasio Silva, Tito Koerich, Dr. Paulo, Itamar Silva, and Ricardo Kuhnen were all full throttle on getting into the action offshore. Capt. Bartolo fished the "Scandalous" as we had a larger group this time and we were able to cover more ground. We worked various schools of Porpoises and Tunas as usual but had the same scenario as with the guests of the priors days.....picky Tunas that don't want to eat live baits but will strike the occasional popper. We kept at it, got our shots, and they caught some nice Tunas. Although the fishing was a bit slow these guys made the best of it and had a great time! Enjoy the pictures......
Capt. Shane Jarvis