Tips & Tales
| 28 Jan 2009 |
Late one night after too many drinks and way too many tall fish tales, I asked my close friend, Dr. Guy Harvey, legendary marine artist, angler and conservationist, if you could only fish at one destination for the rest of your life, where would it be? His immediate response, “Piñas Bay, Panama.” He proceeded to entertain me with stories of so many giant yellowfin tuna, monster blue and black marlin and gaffer-size dolphin than any fisherman could ever want to catch. I was green with angling envy, you know the kind, and said, “Listen here pal, the next time you guys are heading down; you know who to call!” It didn’t take long and we were already putting together a dream team that included, Steve Stock from Guy Harvey Enterprises, Ray Douglas who owns King Sailfish Mounts, Mitch Widom, the founder of the Keymorada Invitational Fishing Tournament, and a handful of guys that I grew up with fishing South Florida and the Bahamas. To say we were chomping at the bit right from the onset would be a vast understatement. Counting the seconds until that September day, our trip to Panama was all that we talked about. We were headed to the world-famous Tropic Star Lodge where the folks have it wired. The staff’s attention to detail is amazing. From the moment you arrive, everything is handled with first-class ease. I’ll get into that and the incredible fishing in a moment, but to really appreciate a sport fishing adventure of this caliber, first you have to realize where The Tropic Star Lodge is located. Piñas Bay, Panama is in the middle of nowhere, literally. The nearest road is more than 100-miles away and you’re only 50-miles from the Columbian border. To reach this remote destination, we hopped on a short Copa Airlines flight out of Miami and before we knew it, we were greeted by a Tropic Star professional who escorted us through customs and immigration. Minutes later, we were already on an air-conditioned bus to the very swank, Sheraton Panama City. Check-in was a breeze and after a welcome surf & turf dinner, some mild gambling and a few cigars, we hit the rack anxiously anticipating our early morning charter flight into the jungle.
NirvanaThere it was, sliced out of the mountain, the Tropic Star Lodge with a fleet of glistening 31-foot classic Bertrams rigged and ready to go the distance. Combined, these vessels have surely released more billfish than any other fleet fishing any of the world’s oceans. After a short orientation, it was time to fish. We only had a half day remaining so some boats chose to venture offshore while others stayed closer to home. With three days of offshore action ahead of us, we opted to scout the beaches in search of elusive roosterfish. Fifteen-minutes later, we were slow-trolling live goggle-eye up against the rocks, and I mean right up against the rocks literally feet from shore. When the first rod doubled over and line sizzled off the gold International 50, I suggested to Tom Barba, a long time friend, to go for it. He had never caught a roosterfish, so this was his big chance. After a long and arduous fight coercing the fish to the surface, we realized that Tom wasn’t connected to a roosterfish at all, but rather to a fat yellowfin tuna! Where in the world can you catch yellowfin tuna only feet from shore? Apparently in Panama you can, and wahoo as well! We landed both pelagics before finally scoring a pair of roosters. After a brief afternoon of fishing, we had a box full of tuna and wahoo and were headed back to the dock for some well-deserved bragging, or so we thought. Humble PieThe fleet returns to the dock around the same time each day, where the smiling staff is readily waiting with tropical drinks, fresh dolphin fingers and tuna sashimi. We hit the dock boasting about our spectacular afternoon’s catch, when we realized that the offshore boats blew us out of the water! From talks of marlin and numerous sailfish releases to an amazing 100-pound cubera snapper, we felt that maybe we had made a bad decision. I didn’t lose any sleep; I was assured by the dockmaster that our time would come – and it did! We were informed that dinner would be served at 7:30, so the guys hit the pool to relax for a couple of hours before mealtime. Again, the staff greeted us with platters of fresh sashimi and other tasty treats. Poor bartender; he had his work cut out for him. Our stay at the lodge was comprised of what they call a “Half Week” trip, four nights with three full days of fishing. Two of those nights, we enjoyed traditional poolside Panamanian barbeque dinners which were absolutely insane! Now I know what they do with all the fresh fish! Yellowfin tuna prepared four different ways and grilled dolphin was just the start. An array of sausage, steak, shish-kabob, salad, pasta and much, much more soon followed. After a full day of fishing, a few cocktails and a meal like that, you’re toast by 9:00 p.m.
Each morning we were awakened at 5:30 by a knock on the door, an aromatic pot of coffee and a reminder that breakfast would be served in the main dining room at 6:00 a.m. sharp. After a traditional dish like Juevos Rancheros, we boarded our designated Bertram and by 6:30, were off to catch bait. I figured a few pilchards or maybe some cigar-minnows and maybe a few runners – time to break out the Sabiki rigs. Hardly, bait turned out to be 10-pound bonito! We kept the frisky bonito alive in tuna-tubes, each vessel is equipped with six plus a traditional livewell, stocked each morning with frisky goggle-eye just in case you want to tempt something smaller than a 14-foot marlin! Running out of bait was never an issue as we constantly ran across acres of bait pods. Anytime we were running low, we’d toss out a few jigs and load up. During our first day offshore, we were greeted by calm seas, warm weather and scattered showers – perfect weather for South Floridians who didn’t feel like getting roasted. On the way out to the grounds – a short 20-minute run – we passed weedlines and floating debris that any one of us would spend an entire day fishing back home. These guys just kept going. Finally, we’d had enough and told the captain that we wanted to cast a few jigs toward a giant floating tree limb to try and pick off a few dolphin.
That was easy; we were covered up within seconds and having a blast. The captain and mate must have thought we were loco whooping and hollering over dolphin. I learned later that Panamanian crews consider dolphin a nuisance that screw up their marlin efforts. We didn’t care, we were in Panama and we were hooked up! After putting a few fish in the box and releasing who knows how many more, the captain starting screaming what would later become the week long rally, “Marlin, Marlin, Marlin!” The mate quickly shifted gears and deployed three live bonito. I was up first and while I have caught and released numerous sailfish and a white marlin over the years, stories of giant blues and blacks calling these waters home had my adrenaline level soaring. We all saw the boil at the same time. Thirty-yards behind the boat, the helpless bait disappeared in a giant hole caused by a massive beast that wouldn’t show its face for the next 30-minutes. That half-hour can only be described as sheer pandemonium. The mate screaming, “Reel, Reel, Reel,” my buddies screaming, “It’s kicking your ass you sissy,” and me pumping with all of my might in an attempt to recover whatever line I could. What I hoped was my first blue marlin turned out to be a black marlin, probably the most sought-after big-game species in the world. When it finally showed its face and began freight-training away from the boat, we were all shouting like a bunch of nursery-school children. The black put on a display that will be ingrained in my psyche forever. Finally, the skilled mate had the fish boatside where we shot some photos of the mighty fish. Estimated at 450-pounds, we watched her swim away seemingly unscathed by the encounter that just took place. Later that evening over cocktails, Ray Douglas talked me into a fiberglass head-mount to commemorate my outstanding catch – basically a life-like replica of my 450-pound black marlin jumping out of the wall. I’ll never forget the look of ‘sheer joy’ on my wife’s face when I brought it home. My amazing feat occurred in the first hour of fishing and we still had three full days ahead of us. It only got better! During our stay, the fleet tagged and released 48 blue marlin, black marlin and Pacific sailfish.
The most memorable catch had to be the double-header we battled on our last day. We’d been slow-trolling livies around huge schools of bait without much luck. My friend, Kurt Dionne of Lighthouse Point, had yet to release his first marlin. The other boats had all been calling in releases and as the final day began to wind down, we were starting to get a bit nervous. Suddenly, a sailfish blasted the left rigger. I grabbed the rod and attempted to get the fish to the boat as quickly as possible so we could get back to finding Kurt a marlin when suddenly, a second rod screamed to life as a blue marlin in the 350-pound range exploded behind the boat. Of course, things never go the way you plan and the sailfish wanted no part of cooperating. The fish took off towards the bow while the big blue rocketed off the stern. The captain ordered me to the front of the boat to fight the sail, while he backed down on Kurt’s marlin. Since this was Kurt’s first, I recommended that we cut the sail off so I could take photos for Kurt. The captain didn’t want to hear a word of this nonsense. He grabbed the rod while I went to the cockpit to snap a few pictures and amazingly, fought the sailfish while simultaneously backing down on the marlin. Once we tagged and released Kurt’s blue, I grabbed the rod from the captain and proceeded to finish the job. What an experience!
Important Facts about Panama
Contact DataTropic Star LodgePiñas Bay, Panama 800.682.3424 www.TropicStar.com
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I recall someone telling us to prepare ourselves for a National Geographic type of adventure. After flying over the beautiful Pearl Islands and salivating over all of the drag-screaming possibilities, seemingly out of nowhere a landing strip appeared and we were on the ground and quickly aboard a panga for a ten-minute river cruise to the lodge. Planes…pangas…river cruises…this was already an adventure! 
As spectacular as the marlin fishing was, we also took a beating from yellowfin tuna up to 150-pounds. Each guy that caught one wanted no part of number two. These fish are pure muscle and they pull hard! We also caught numerous dolphin in the 30 to 40-pound range with a couple of 50s thrown in to seal the deal. Our trip to the Tropic Star Lodge took place in early September during what they call the ‘slow-season’ – 48 billfish, countless dolphin and a bunch of yellowfin tuna in three and a half days. I can’t wait to go back when things heat up! 
