December 16, 2013

Panama Fishing Report - Hannibal Bank Marlin, Big Dorados, and Inshore Action! - Nov 22-Dec 1, 2013

We kicked off the sport fishing season here at Propiedad de Paradise Lodge on November 22nd by welcoming the "Extreme Physican" MMA ringside Doctor Gary Furness. Gary is no stranger to Panama, has fished here many times before, but this was his first trip with us here to our private island lodge. We fished for three days offshore and one day inshore on the "TOP Cat" in hopes of tapping out a Marlin offshore.
 
The seas were a bit bumpy as the end of the rainy season was making itself known....but the water clarity was good & bait was around so we thought we'd have a shot at that Marlin that we were targeting. Unfortunately out of the three days we didn't see any. Not even one up behind the baits! Live baiting bridled Bonitos and trolling the plastics...nada. We did find a bunch of Dorados though around various floating debris we encountered and had some decent luck on a couple of offshore sea mounts that hold Almaco Jacks, Cubera, and Mullet Snapper.
 
All and all I was a bit disappointed at the bite the days Gary was here...as I know he was pumped up about getting tight on some fish. We did have one good run of action at Isla Montuosa one afternoon on the inshore species. We caught one fish after the other as we went through all of the two dozen live baits in about an hour! But as soon as the tide changed....the bite shut off like a light. Another highlight, and good catch of the trip, was the 15 pounds of jumbo shrimp we traded from local shrimp boat we ran across one day while fishing at Isla Secas for a small bucket full of beer, waters, and soda. Lis cooked the shrimps up back at the lodge three different ways was damn good!
We did manage to catch quite a few species over the four days with Gary including...Roosterfish, Cubera Snapper, Rock Snapper, Almaco Jack, Jack Crevelle, Blue Trevalle, one small Yellowfin Tuna Lis made some good sushi rolls out of, and a bunch of Dorado!
 
Drew Herma and Eddie McCormick joined us on November 27th for another four days of offshore hunting. Drew was focused on getting his shot at a Thanksgiving Marlin so we concentrated on the best spots in the Gulf of Chiriquí for billfish...Isla Montuosa and Hannibal Bank.
 
We had no problem finding the bait as there were some big Marlin food concentrations at both banks of balled up Bonitos and it was on for Thanksgiving! On the first day the seas were a bit bumpy and we only caught a bunch of big Dorados offshore. We and had knock down after knock down on the plastics with them pretty much every day! We had some issues with the "Cuecos" as my mate Johnny calls them...the Bonito robbing Porpoises. So we decided to go to the plastics to see what we could raise. On the  second day we caught and released a 400# Black Marlin at Hannibal Bank and missed two other billfish. On the last day we caught a 300# Blue Marlin and missed another. The inshore activity was real good one day at Isla Ladrones, only 13 miles form the lodge, as we worked a couple of the offshore humps and pulled on a few nice Almaco jacks. We caught and released a decent Rooster near the lodge as well but the action offshore was much better than we found inshore for the duration of Drew and Eddie's trip.
 
Thanks to Dr. Gary, Drew and Eddie for the business! Enjoy the pics...

Capt. Shane Jarvis
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