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Big Game Board – reports presents…
From Kilsong
„My mission is accomplished in Panama “
I had tried to go Panama for fishing for years as I always heard about great fishing stories around
Hanibal Bank in Panama. But I was hesitant because fishing in Panama is not cheap and I had little
first hand knowledge where to fish. Reggie who is living in South Carolina called to buy a Jigging
Master rod and while talking about fishing, he said his brother has a fishing lodge in Panama. His
fishing package rates he quoted are substantially lower than what I heard from other lodges there.
At first, I didn’t pay much attention to it because usually fishing or accommodations/boats are not great
when they sell their packages cheap.
But I thought it doesn't hurt at all to check the lodge anyway and I called HungyJack who knows
Panama better than anyone I know as he visited Panama about 16 – 17 times.
When he told the location of the lodge, he said the areas the lodge fish is the same areas as well
known fishing lodges like Pesca, Coral Star or Big Game lodge fish and the package prices are very
attractive. I asked him to call the owner of the lodge in Panama to get more detailed information. And
he spent 3 hour 20 minutes talking with the owner next day. @( Jack said the operation is new and
they have three pretty new boats with twin engines. Whenever I go to a new fishing destination, the
first thing I check is Capts as I know Capts can make a big difference. I heard Capt Macho is the king
of all guides in the Coiba area and he is very respected by colleagues. Surprisingly Macho works for
the lodge. I know Jack. He is kind of perfectionist. When he said it is pretty good, it is good.
I already decided to visit the lodge with other fishermen in Mid- April as soon as tax season ends and
called a few fishermen to join me. It was not difficult to get 5 – 6 guys as there are many fishermen
who want to fish in Panama, but they don’t have little knowledge where to go in Panama like me and
they know me I don’t book any fishing lodge just because it is cheap.
I asked Jack whether we could visit the lodge as a scouting trip before I arrange a fishing trip with
other fishermen in April and he gladly said yes. It was big help for me because I know not much about
fishing in Panama.
As I become very busy after mid January, I chose the dates in early Jan though it was pretty tough to
go to Panama within 10 days after I come back from Costa Rica, but I couldn’t go anywhere between
mid Jan to mid April.
Jan 6
We left 5:00 am John K. Kennedy airport, NY on Jan 6 and arrived at Panama City around 10:30 am.
Reggie welcomed us at the airport with a big pickup truck. Even we met for the first time each other,
he was like a old friend as we talked so many times on the phone. He seems to have incurable
disease like me. Whenever fishing is mentioned, I see his eyes lighten up with a big smile.
We chose driving to the lodge instead of flying to David from Panama airport at Jack’s suggestion.
Jack said we don’t lose much time by driving instead of flying as we had to go to local airport to take a
plane to David and it takes 45 minutes from David to the lodge. Due to flight schedule, we have to stay
one night in Panama City if we decide to fly to David. The real advantage of driving is we can bring
more tackles as the local small plane can limit the weighs of luggages.
It took about five hours from the airport to the lodge. The trip was not bad at all.
When we arrived at the lodge, John, the owner of the lodge, welcomed us with a big smile. I
immediately felt comfortable as he is very humble and likable guy.
The lodge is new and clean.
Frankly, I didn't expect the lodge is that good as I thought the lodge would be a little better than a
fishing camp for the package price.
While having dinners, I met Tony Pena and his wife who were fishing two days at the lodge. They
caught one blue marlin out of three shots with Capt Macho that day.
As you know I go to many fishing destinations quiet often, but I had to shut my mouth up when Tony
and Jack were talking about fishing in many different fishing destinations around the world.
view from the lodge
Group picture with Tony Pena's couple, John, Reggie, Jack and myself.
Jan 7
Jack and I fished with Capt Serio and while Tony Pena, Mrs Pena and John fihed with Capt Macho.
We left for Hanival Bank around 7:00 am.
I was glad we went to Hanibal Bank first as I always wanted to fish the famous Hanival Bank. Many
fishermen say the Hanibal Banks is one of the greastest fishing ground in entire North/Central America
and I really wanted to taste what it looks like before to fish other spots.
It was about 50 mile run from the lodge.
We soon as we were ready to troll to catch live skipjack, we heard on the radio, Macho had a blue
marlin. We could see Mrs Tony fighting the marlin on a standup. Surprisiningly she brought the 350 lbs
blue marlin to the boat pretty quickly. She must be a very experienced angler herself.
It was pretty busy to make baits as skipjack were everywhere. The bridling technique is some what
different than I saw in PV.
I asked to use my custom 500g Jigging Mater rod/Accurate B2 30 reel for trolling skipjack as I wanted
to test the setup for marlin.
They used two rods for trolling live skipjack.
The line capacity of Accurate B2 30 is much bettern that it looks.
I could put 660 yards of Varivas Tuna Avani PE8 (80 lbs) on the reel. 8*
I was an amazing sight to see several boats fighting marlin at the same time. I know it is not easy to
land a marlin on a single trip wherever you go in the world. I had a good marlin trip in Puerto Vallarta,
but I’ve never seen so many marlin hookups on a single day as I witnessed on the Hanival Bank
today. I don’t think any boat out of 12 boats which fished on the Bank got skunked with marlin.
By noon, Macho had caught/released two marlin out of three fight, but we couldn’t hook up any marlin
though we almost had a few times. Finally we had our momentum. When a marlin was hooked up,
Reggie asked us to fight the marlin, but I declined as I wanted to test my custom Jigging Master rod/
Accurate B2 30 for malin.
Reggie fought the marlin pretty easy with Shimano Tiagra 50W. The fish is about 350 - 400 lbs. I was
told most blue marlin caught there is about in 300 - 450 lbs range though Macho landed a 1000 lbs
marlin five years ago.
Unfortunately marlin didn't take skipjack of my rod, but I fought a several hundred lbs black dolphin for
15 minutes as the dolphin took the skipjack. They say black dolphin intentionally kill trolled live
skipjack. The dolphin was very powerful. Even I pushed the drag lever to full which is over 30 lbs drag,
dolphin took lines at will until it spit the bait finally.
Tony Pena didn't waste any time. As soon as he took a shower after fishing, he came down to the
outside deck and wrote fishing report before dinner.
Beautiful young ladies who visited the lodge joined our dinner.
Jan 8
We headed for Montuosa after breakfast. Montuosa is about 12 miles from Hannival Bank and the
areas surrounding the island are as productive as Hannival Bank for malin and tuna. The mothership
Coral Star usually anchors around Montuosa Island. However our mission was not for marlin or tuna
this time, but deepwater jigging for snowy grouper and other bottom dwellers and take a shot at tuna if
tuna are around as there were reports that tuna were popping in the yesterday afternoon.
I was very curious after I heard they catch snowy grouper in Panama. We usuually jig for them in very
deep water in 600 - 900 ft in our areas. After positioning the boat for drifting, Macho asked us to drop
jigs. The depth was 400 - 450 ft and I used 450g OTI jig first.
It didn't take long I had a hit on my jig. Yes, it was indeed snowy grouper though it is not big !
There were some mysterious monsters there. I had a fish on jig and big fish took them twice while
cranking in them. I had max drag (about 25 lbs) on my Saltiga 40, but they kept pulling lines and lost
both fish. After the fight, my Saltiga 40’s drag was damaged and I could get only 15 – 18 lb max drag.
Jack had two monsters on his prototype jig which he designed with Everal 12-20 and lost them too
though he used over 30 lbs drag. We saw part of fish mouth on jig hook. They said it could be a
monster cubera. Jack’s prototype jigs were the best producers of the trip. 8) I might ask him to sell
those jigs for my shop.:P
Reggie fished with jigs for the first time and he was so happy when he hooked up nice snowy groupers
and snappers on jigs. I don't know it is because of beginer's luck or not. He actually caught more fish
on jigs than I did. 8*
Happy Reggie. I love fish with him. See all smiles on his face.
We didn’t fish long for bottom fishing to search around for tuna as Macho said there were some tuna
surface activities not far from Montuosa. But we couldn’t find any sighn of tuna activities. We heard
Anglers Pro guys at Paradise Lodge which are located about 20 miles east of our lodge had a great
tuna popping yesterday at Isla Jicaron which is about 70 miles from our lodge. We could made a long
run there, but I prefer to fish spots where the lodge normally fish as this is a scouting trip.
Tuna just showed up now and it is a matter of time tuna invade our area in massive number. I am told
that they can not avoid tuna wherever they go in April.8*
In the afternoon, we fished around the Islands closer to the lodge and we still caught snowy grouper,
mahi mahi and red snappers and other bottom fish.
Snow grouper is excellent for sashimi. Jack and I prepared sashimi of grouper and mahi mahi for
dinner. You can not beat eating fresh sashimi with sake after fishing.
Macho and Serio joined dinner tonight.
Jan. 9
It was not easy decision to go inshore fishing while you know you can catch big marlin nearby, but my
mission of the trip is to experince with many fishing opportunities which the areas can offer. So I asked
John to do some inshore fishing today.
John, Reggie, Jack and the pretty young lady ( I forget her name) and myself were the fishermen of
the day.
We went right back to the spots around Islas Ladrones where we had very nice bites on jigs yesterday,
but bites were pretty slow for some unknown reason. I have fished enough to know fish just don’t bite
some days even conditions seem to be right. Today was one of those days.
I got an unusual fish on my jig. It was a tiny tripletail fish.. The last time I caught tripletail fish was in
NC about 20 years ago.
Even roosterfish didn’t cooperate either! They said roosterfish were plentiful around Parida Islands and
they never had a bad trip there.
I hooked up a couple of times, but lost both times. The assist hook I used for Ranger lure was cut
mysteriously.
However, it was a treat to cast toward beautiful and pristine rocky shorelines whether I catch fish or
not. .I know this is the areas I am going to fish again when I come back.
Even we didn’t catch tons of fish, Jack, John, Reggie, a beautiful lady angler and myself had tons of
fun by talking and laughing all day.
Macho casting a popper.
Her pose must distacted my popping.
I used Accurate Twinspin SR20 filled with YGK Ultra Jigman PE5 along with OTI 8'3" (tip portion was
broken) custom popping rod. I thought I could have 300 yards of PE 5(50 lbs) on the SR20, but I
barely got 270 - 280 yards.
I didn't catch any big fish on the reel yet, it already become my favorite. It is not as smooth as Stella,
but smooth enough for me. And I can cast pretty far with the reel. Guys on the boat were very
surprised to see me cast far without knowing that I have right equipmenta with lighter lines.
Jan 10
Today was the last day of fishing. Originally Jack and myself talked about peacock bass fishing near
Panama city on the last day, but we decided one more shot at marlin. We asked Macho to choose a
destination for malin and Macho chose Montuosa over Hannival Bank as Montuosa is as good as
Hannival Banks for marlin at this time of year and we had a better shot at tuna. He was right we saw a
couple of boats came to Montossa after they encountered slow marlin fishing in Hannibal Bank.
We trolled over an hour to catch baits after we arrived at Montuosa, but we couldn’t catch right size
skipjack. We caught many small skipjack, but Macho didn’t put them in tuna tube even we had 6 on
the boat. Finally we went to a high spot and jigged for them. It worked. We had nice 6 skipjack on jigs
within 15 minutes.
While we were trolling for baits we saw two other boats fighting fish, probably marlins. So we had a
high expection.
It didn’t take long one line took off after we started trolling.
They asked me to fight the fish first. Even though it took lots of line, the fish didn't fight well. we
thought it might be a small marlin, but when we saw the color under the boat, it was not a marlin but a
huge sailfish ! I've never seen such a big sailfish before and probably I'll have little chance to see such
a big sailfish again. Even Macho was impressed with the size of sailfish. They estimated at about 150
lbs ! It took 4 - 5 lbs big skipjack intended for marlin.
After releasing the fish, we started to troll again. Within 30 minutes we had another hit. This time the
fish took skipjack of my rod. It was an excellent opportunity for to compare normal heavy rod/reels and
light setup as I fought the frist one with Heavy duty rod/Tiagra 50W fiiled with 80 lbs Momoi diamond
line with the lighter setup of 5'2" JM Power Spell custom rod and Accurate B2 30 filled with Varivas
Tuna Avani PE8 (80 lbs). While I was fighting with ligher setup, I never felt I was undergunned from
the start to finish. In fact, I was more comfortable with lighgter setup while fighting.
Saifish again ! It was another nice big sailfish, but it was not a long and heavy as the first one. They
estimated at around 110 - 120 lbs.
While trolling another hour, we had a couple of more chances but fish didn't take it at last moment.
Macho told us his colleague reported on the ratio there are lots of spotted dolphin 10 miles away and
asked us whether we look around for tuna. They say spotted dolphin and tuna usullay awin together.
When we ran to the area, we indeed saw several hundred spotted dolphin swimming around, but there
were no sign of tuna at all.
As we had to leave to Panama City this afternoon, we decided to go to the dock.
Even I fished only four days, I got a pretty idea what to expect here and I didn't hesitate to tell John I
would come back in April with 7 other fishermen. I did not catch any tuna this time, but I know the most
abundant fish in April will be tuna.
Fighting nice marlin or sailfish in the morning and fight nice yft on jigs and poppers in the afternoon
everyday are not bad.
Once I like what I see, I tend to come back every year as like ritual. I visited a lodge in Langara Island
off Queen Charlott Island in British Columia 6 - 7 times and the lodge in Panama has a potential to
make me a repeat customer. Frankly I dont' want to expose this lodge becaue it is like a hidden jewel,
but I can not be selfish at my age.
I SHALL RETURN.
Before I visited Panama, I had little knowledge about Panama except good fishing and Panama Canal.
When I saw Panama City on the plane, I was surprised to see many high rising building. It was like to
see a big city in the US on the plane.
The first thing I was shocked is the fact they don't have their own currency and US dollar is their
currency !
It seems the major difference between Panama City and US cities is they speak Spanish instead of
English.
The gas price is a little expensive than the US, but much cheaper than neiboring country, Costa Rica.
The road system is very similar to the US's
Pamana city is a booming town. They told me over 70 percent of high rising building we see in water
front of Panama City were built within last five years.
Old Panama Town
John showed the old town in Panama on the last day before we went to the airport. Most building were
several hundreds old.
Here is the lodge pictures I stayed.
Views from my room. They have six rooms to accomorate 12 guest at a same time. Each room has at
least two bed, air conditioner, satelite TV and bath room. All rooms are brand new and very clean.
As you see the pictures, they have everything we need. When I see their package rates are so cheap,
I got to fined out myself whether there is any hidden cost, lack of comfortness or something is wrong.
But I couldn't find anything wrong. In many aspect they are actually better than other lodges.
As you see my post and Glenn's post, Coiba island fishing is world class, and I couldn't believe I could
fish there with such a low price.
Here is a picture of Shimano Tiagra 50W and Accurate B2 30.
Tiagra has 600 yards of 80 lbs momoi diamond and B2 30 has 660 yards of Japanese Varivas Tuna
Avani PE8 ( 80 lbs).
I fought sailfish with both reels. Frankly speaking, I enjoyed more with B2 30 and I never felt the setup
was undergunned.
Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to fight a marlin with B2 30, but I have no doubt it can handle as
good as Tiagra does.
The 500g JM rod and B2 30 are going to be my goto setup for cow until it fails.
Tackle in Panama
As Airlines restict weight, size and number of check-in bags, we are forced to minimize the tackles to
bring.
trolling
You don't need to bring anything for trolling as boats are equipped with proper rods/reels and terminal
tackles. It is strictly live bait trolling. Making bais are not difficult as there are abundant skipjack with
various sizes. They prefer big skipjack in 3 - 5 lbs range for marlin and 1 - 2 lbs skipjack for tuna.
jigging
I preferred long rods for bottomfish jigging, but I have to use short Japanese style rods for jigging
bottomfish too due to airline regulations. OTI has 7'6" conventional jigging rods with two-piece. If you
still prefer to jig with long rods, that is a good choice.
When I jigged snowy grouper, I used 350g JM rod. I started with 450g jig as we fished 400 - 450 ft
deep, but I switched to 10 oz jigs later as I found I could hold bottom with lighter jigs. I like to bring
many cheap jigs like diamond jigs in 4 - 10 oz range and a few big jigs in 400 - 450 g for bottom
fishing.
For tuna, I recommend 400g - 500g rods as you never know what sizes of tuna you catch next. There
are lots of small tuna, but also you have chance to encounter 200 plus lbs tuna too.
I pefer short jigs for tuna in 6 - 8 inches. I have no doubt those short jigs should work in Panama as
they work in other places as tuna are tuna.
popping
There are two kinds of popping opportunity: Offshore poping for tuna and inshore popping for
roosterfish/cubera/snapper
-tuna popping
I talked with Macho who is regarded as the best Capt in the area and my impression is the casting
distance is not a major concern as boats can chase tuna and tuna are everywhere when they feed on
surface.
I feel 7'6" - 8' rod rated to 80 lbs should work for them.
I like to use PE8 (80 lbs) to give more pressure once hooked a big tuna.
I prefer to use big poppers for tuna as tuna there are very aggressive and are eager to hit any popper
thrown to them. There is nothing like to see a big pooper attacked by big tuna on a surface.
-inshore popping
I prefer to use longer and lighter tip rods for inshore popping as
you got to reach close to shore line and sometimes you use ligher lures.
I used Accurate Twin Spin SR20 and OTI's custom 8'6" rods ( actually it is 8'3" as I broke the tip
section) with PE5 (50 lbs) and I could cast 100 yards.
My recommendation is to use 8 - 9 ft rod rated to 40 - 50 lbs with ligher reels like Accurate SR20,
Stella 8000 filled with 50 lbs braided lines.
The choice of lures are vary. They can hit big poppper as well as they hit very small lures.
I was asked whether they allow to carry on two-piece rod on the plane.
I carried on OTI's 7'6" two-piece conventional and popping rods to Florida, Texas (three times), Costa
Rica and Panama without any problem as long as they fit in the compartments of planes.
From the TSA's website:
"Expensive reels or fragile tackle such as fly's should be packed in your carry-on baggage."
"Fishing Rods / Poles - Fishing Rods are permitted as carry-on and checked baggage. However,
please check with your air carrier to confirm that it fits within their size limitations for carry-on items.
Ultimately, it is the carrier's decision as to whether or not it can be transported as carry-on baggage."