We finally were able to fish Panama when the water conditions were right. It is always tricky when there are weeks between trips to keep track of fishing conditions. Schedules being what they are, you have to find a gap in the work schedules and hope for the best.

Well, we got lucky. Four of us flew down last Wednesday, took the 20 min taxi ride to the boat from the airport, hopped on the boat and ran 60 miles to San Jose Islands. We anchored up for the night there. The islands are essentially empty but provide a great way to break up the run (I think of it as South but it is really mainly East) to the fishing grounds.

We woke up early Thursday and ran another 20 miles to fish down towards Pinas Bay. The first day we went 9 for 12 on Sails and caught a few nice Dolphin. Day Two we worked the Zane Grey Reef for a while, trolling live baits for Marlin while catching Yellowfins and Amberjacks with poppers cast from the bow. Later on in the day we moved offshore for a bunch more Sails, big Dolphin and an estimated 250 pound Blue Marlin. We had a great dinner on De Mako and had a few cocktails as day turned to night and recounted all of the stories from the day.  Not a bad day at all!

Friday (Day 3) was “The One”. It made the trip! Like the previous day, we started off live baiting the reef in hopes of a big Black Marlin and we got her! Captain Mike Springer, who has caught his share of big fish, estimated her to be 700 pounds. On a 50 pound outfit. Stand up! I fought her for close to three hours and we got a great jumping release. I sure was glad to have a trained professional along (Kenny the dentist) to take care of all those teeth I had ground down to nothing during the fight.

We moved offshore, caught a Sail quickly and then caught an estimated 500 pound Blue to complete the De Mako’s first ever slam! I won’t go on and on about the Blue because I was not the angler.

Day Four consisted of a bunch more big Sails and Dolphin and finished with the heart breaking loss (because I was the angler) of a 200lb class Yellowfin after a three hour battle with under-matched spinning tackle (looks like I am going shopping!!).  Overall, an amazing trip!

I am really glad Black and Blue had a great trip in Panama to make all of us anxious to return next year. De Mako is making the trip up to Los Suenos shortly so that the boat is in place to fish the Marlin run off Flamingo in September / October.   By December (hopefully November) the action should be heating up off of Los Suenos. I know we are all anxious to make it back to Costa Rica this winter.

So anxious, in fact, that the days are being booked faster than I would have expected. If you are a member and have not picked your days for this winter, I would suggest that you take a look at the calendar and start picking. If you have been waiting to join, we have a few more months before we close out the “Founding Member” category (they get first cut at scheduling days), so you might want to get in touch and become a member before that ends.

- Jason Doyle

We just finished a few days of fishing in Panama.  While the fishing was pretty slow, we did manage to fund enough action to keep ourselves entertained.  The trip started with a direct run east towards Zane Grey reef.  We anchored in a nearby bay just as it got dark and made a steak dinner.

In the morning we set out on our first day which is always a bit of a scouting mission as we have not been this way for a number of weeks.  The water looked much better than it had and as we trolled East towards the Columbian border (but not too close) we had a Black Marlin come up on the right teaser.  We pitched a bait to him and we were off to the races.  This fish, which was about 200 pounds, was acting more like an Atlantic Blue than a Pacific Black, digging down deep and staying there.  On the 30 pound outfits it is really hard to budge a fish when they want to do that, it is a matter of changing the angles on him and coaxing him up of his own accord.

After about 30 minutes, we got the leader but the fish was too green and jumped away from the mate.  We increased the drag at that point and put a little heat on the fish.  He did not like that much and De Mako was throwing smoke as the boat had to do quite a few maneuvers to keep the fish out of the props and out of the cockpit.

Some of the pictures came out pretty well – check out Chewie being stretched out by the fish.

We caught a sailfish later in the day and missed three others.  There were bonito everywhere!  It was actually hard to keep the baits away from them at times.  Not just on the edge, either.  They were all over.  We had a little luck with the sails, but generally it was quiet.

We ended each day trolling live bait over the reef.  You might be interested in the display of the depthfinder – now that is BAIT!  We never got a bite live baiting but it was great to be out around 5 or 6 pm.  The bait came to the surface in big bait balls, the birds were working, it was quite a site.

We trolled back towards Panama City on our last day and spent the night anchored off Las Perlas islands.  Really pretty spot (but no fish live there).  On the way to the anchorage we were able to catch a couple of nice sized dolphin around floating drbris.  There were hundreds and hundreds of little 5 pounders swarming.  You had to get lucky to have a bigger fish get to your bait first.

All in all, a great trip.  Caught some fish in a pretty location, had a great time with great company.

Look at all that bait!

- Capt, Mike Springer

As promised, the first trip report from De Mako and the first from Panama!

After our trip from Florida around to the Canal, our first set of members came down to try out the fishing.  While the water quality certainly wasn’t great, we all had a great time and managed to catch a Black Marlin and five Sailfish.

After the members landed, they made the 30 minute trip to the boat using a driver that I have known for years.  Before long, De Mako was out of the slip and headed to overnight in the Las Perlas islands, about 60 miles from the Marina in Panama City.  The weather was ok, calm seas but cloudy.  We had a great dinner on the boat anchored in the lee of those beautiful islands.  We went to sleep anxious for what the day would bring.

I was concerned about the fishing as I had heard that an unusual amount of green water had pushed into the fishing grounds.  The first day of fishing we certainly found this green, green (maybe coffee would be a better description) water.  We looked for the blue water but did not find it that first day.  As we moored in Pinas Bay,  we were all hoping tomorrow would be better.  After a good night’s rest we set out in rainy conditions.

The water did seem a little better today and it wasn’t long until a Black Marlin came up on the short left teaser.  Jason was on the rod and decided to pitch the 30 because the fish did not look all that big to him.  Well, on the bite, we all changed our mind.  That Black looked like a rolling Tarpon as it took the pitch going away from the boat.  After about 30 minutes, Chowie released the fish – about 300 pounds.  Take a look at the photos the members took of the fish.  Pretty work on the rod and behind the camera, I would say.

The day continued with what I would describe as pretty slow action.  We ended up catching 5 of 10 Sailfish bites.  The fish were their normal selves, putting on a show on the light 30 pound tackle.

That night, the members had a cocktail and dinner at the Tropic Star Lodge.  They said that the food and atmosphere was great.  It sure is a beautiful place.  Quiet and still, with jungle all around.

The next day we steamed back to Panama City to catch the return flight.  All in all, a great start despite difficult condiitons.

We are going again soon, so stay tuned and book your flights down!

- Capt. Mike Springer

We ran the first trip as Black and Blue Fishing Club this last week.  We fished out of Los Suenos in Costa Rica.

We faced oddly challenging conditions for this time of the year due to green water (think of the Chicago River on St. 

Patrick’s Day – it was that bad).  We worked at it pretty hard and I am happy to report that…We put the BLACK in Black and Blue.  Our fish was about 300 – 350 pounds and ate the right rigger.  We fed her the bait on one of the 30 outfits and when we came tight and saw the first jump we all wished we had a 50.

I brought the boat back to the fish as quickly as I could and the fish cooperated by staying on top and putting on a show for all of us.  I would guess that we were able to release the fish after a 30 minute fight.  That light tackle sure lets these fish show off.

So, for the record Captain Allen…as of today, April 12, we have been waiting on you for four days to get the Bermuda Blue Marlin to finish off “Black and Blue”.

As I said, the water conditions were pretty tough and we managed only one other fish – a sailfish that provided the normal aerial display. I love these fish!

This will be the last report for a while as we are taking De Mako from Florida to Panama over the next week or so.  While the trip is long, you do get to see a lot of pretty cool spots.  So, wish us luck and I will be sure to post a trip report when I am back to a computer.

I hope the first Panama Fishing Report will follow soon after.  Have a good Easter.

- Capt. Mike Springer