May/2017 Panama Fishing Report – May 2017 here at Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge was nothing short of awesome! We were super busy hosting 6 groups and fished 24 days here from our upscale private island lodge located 12 miles off the Pacific coast of Panama in the Gulf of Chiriqui! Once again the Yellowfin Tuna action was RED hot. Our clients caught multiple Tunas over 200 pounds and we ran into some crazy Tuna busting action offshore on many occasions. It wasn’t just all Tuna…we also caught over 20 other other species…at least that’s how many I was able to count in all of this month’s photos! And Chef Lee dazzled the clients with his usual awesome culinary skills preparing the few fish that we didn’t release.
Danny, Bryan, Rigo, and Javier from California joined us first. These guys were super excited, brought their own gear. wanted Tunas. and Tunas are what they got! The first day was a bit slow as we only got a couple Tunas but the action heated up fast and we did real well the last three days. We had a pretty cool close encounter with some Orcas on the second day. By the last day we ran into some pretty awesome Tuna feeds offshore with fish busting all around us, multiple hook ups, and the guys were smiling big time! Good time with Danny and company!
Both repeat clients…Gary and Jay teamed up for a few days offshore with us again and they timed this trip just right! We did have a couple of days with some inclement weather but that didn’t stop the Tunas from biting! We got into some pretty exciting action offshore getting in front of the Porpoises herding bait as we pitched live baits, casted jigs and swim baits to big Tunas crashing the surface! Another great time with Gary and Jay. Thanks so much for the continued business guys!
The May/2017 Panama Fishing Report con’t – Doug, David, Ben, and Alvin…the crew from our awesome sponsors at Accurate Reels came down for a few days to test out some new reels and have some fun! Not only are these guys the makers of the super smooth twin drag Accurate Reels they are also true hardcore fisherman! These guys brought an entire arsenal of their reels and gear and also sat down with my mate Juan and I to go over and train us on proper reel maintenance. If you have fished with us here before then you know that we are serious about only using the best equipment and keeping our gear in tip top shape. Sitting down with the actual designers/builders of the reels and opening up and servicing a few reels was a great experience. We learned a lot about the reels operate internally, drag settings, and reel maintenance that will most definitely be valuable to us in the future. Other than learning about Accurate Reels…we also got out offshore and caught a bunch of nice fish! In the four days of fishing these guys guys caught more than their share of Tunas and got fish on jigs, poppers, live bait, chunking dead sardines, and swim baits! Awesome experience hanging and fishing with these guys! Looking forward to doing it again with these guys real soon! Check out the post on Accurate’s website from their trip….https://www.accuratefishing.com/destination-panama-team-accurate-visits-sport-fish-panama-island-lodge/
Next up was the group from Washington state and Indiana brought by coolest heart surgeon I have ever met Dr. Chris! Chris’ buddies Tim, Jeff, Shane, and Tad were all pretty cool too. There was definitely a bunch of good karma in this group that paid back with some good luck with the fish! Not only did Tad get a 267 pound monster Yellowfin Tuna (biggest of the year)…Jeff and Shane caught and released a monster 500 pound Black Marlin…and they also caught a bunch of Tunas and Roosterfish among many other species! Speaking of good karma…the morning we caught the monster Tuna we got to the spot we were about to fish and noticed a live lizard standing on top of a big floating log. We decided to save him…ran over to the log, used our net to capture the poor guy, and put him in one of the compartments with some fresh water and lettuce. Then…not 10 minutes later…we hooked up on Mr, BIG! Once we got back to the island we released him into the jungle behind the lodge. Captain Tatin ran the Scandalous, with his mate Pucho, and did a really great job as usual catching fish and taking care of the clients. Thanks for the business and awesome trip BROTATOCHIPS!
The May/2017 Panama Fishing Report continued – The boys from New York were the next group in May. Anthony, Nuno, Tom, Jerry, Jose, and Greg came to put their gear to the test and were also full of good karma. We started off kind of slow offshore with the Tunas but ended up finishing strong the last couple days of the trip with some real good action. These guys are all experienced fisherman who all worked hard casting and working the rods with us to make the most of their time. Capt. Tatin again was running the Scandalous and absolutely slayed the fish inshore with these guys as well as some nice Tunas offshore. We got into some good Snowy Groupers deep dropping and Nuno hooked into a couple of monsters that we never saw. Nuno did get rewarded with a couple of real nice Groupers on jigs during the trip…a 50 pound Snowy and a 40# Broomtail! Overall great trip hanging and fishing with these guys. Thanks so much for the business and we hope to see you back here next year!
Talk about good karma….last up in May 2017 was 4th time repeat client from Florida Don and his crew. Don came back this time again with Keith, and new comers…John, Al, Brian, and Chris. We fished 2 boats with these guys as each day got progressively better with the weather and the fishing! The first couple of days weren’t bad but we had to deal with some rain and caught a few fish. By the last day it was sunny skies, flat seas, and wide open bite offshore with the Tunas! Capt. Tatin again did a great job getting it done. Brain caught a 100 pound Tuna on a spinning outfit and Big John got an impressive Yellowfin Tuna that went 190 pounds on stand up gear! Another great time hanging out, fishing, and hosting with Don and company! Looking forward to fishing with you and your crew again next year!!
Enjoy the pics!
Capt. Shane Jarvis