We ended up going 7 for 8 on Marlin, caught 4 medium tuna, a couple of sails and enough dolphin to keep us fed.

Day 1

We left Panama City around dawn after the guys had dinner and a night at a hotel the night before.  The hotel is about 20 mins from the boat so it is a really easy trip.  Panama City isn’t New York, but there is plenty to do and some pretty good food to be had.

We ran about 2 hours from the marina before we put our lines in.  We had not been fishing for a while so we were scouting as we went south.  We picked at them pretty steadily with a couple of sails and some dolphin.  The highlight came when Bruce pitched a bait to a Black Marlin that came up in the spread.  To be honest, I have kind of lost track of how big which fish was…I recall it being medium sized, say 300 – 400 pounds.  When we picked up the mooring in the bay we decided that we had had a pretty good half day.  After dinner and some drinks and the requisite story telling, we hit the rack early, looking forward to Day 2.

Day 2

Day 2 started cloudy but the wind had quit a little.  Because the reef did not produce yesterday, we ran a little bit and started trolling.  We caught dinner, then we saw birds in the distance and Capt. Mike ran over to investigate.  Among 1 million birds, 100 million Bonito and a pile of porpoises we found some Yellowfin Tuna.  There were some big ones in the school, but we caught 4 30 pounders before they melee ended.  It was just like Blue Planet….so cool!

We picked up a Marlin on the way home – what a great way to end the day.

After quite a debate, dinner was decided and Capt. Mike made a great veal dish which complimented the Fleur de Cana perfectly.

Day 3

Amazing.  Four Marlin on Zane Grey Reef.  Live baiting with Bonitos.  It was going off.  We were getting bites every hour, if not more frequently.  What a great way to catch them…slow trolling with 50′s and these fish were not small!  We had to find the shoulder harness a couple of times – the gloves at least once.

The Dorado became dinner as we talked about what might have been the best Marlin fishing most of us had ever experienced.  Check out some of the pics.  Awesome fish.

Day 4

This was a half day, we had to get back to Panama City before dark.  Well, after yesterday there was no question where we were going – to the reef for live baiting.  By 11:30 am we had 2 releases and lost one right at the boat.  Wow, what a trip.

A very nice boat ride back to Marina with sunny skies and a look at the beautiful Las Perlas Islands and we were back at the dock with the driver waiting for us.  Thanks Mike, Chowie and Aurturo!  Cannot wait until next year!

Marlin 1

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Marlin 2

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Marlin 3

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Marlin 4

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Marlin 5

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Marlin 6

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Marlin 7

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Almost Marlin 8

From Pacific 2010-09-28

Everything was proceeding as normal until they heard Captain Mike call out, “Killer Whale, right teaser!”.  What???  Check it out.  A Killer Whale came up and bit (and missed) the teaser.  Chowie said it was a sissy bite too.  Well, when that Whale jumped right afterwards everybody headed away from the transom and back towards the salon.

The other great story is that one of the guys on the trip (another Mike) caught, from his wheelchair, a Sail and a Striped Marlin.  That is a pretty cool story to go with those great shots.  Way to go Mike!

The first leg of the trip was an overnight run from West Palm Beach to Key West.  Here is De Mako sitting in the marina in Key West.  It is worth noting how the docks look as we stopped along our way.

 The next leg was to Isle Mujeres, near Cancun.  Who did we see coming around the corner, but the old Anne Warrick…built by Sunny Briggs just before he built De Mako.  It is a small ocean!    We saw some sights.  Isle Mujeres is really ready for large scale tourism, with a HERD of tourists coming down the dock to the charter boats – the picture nearby shows the start of the stampede.  Nice place overall.  Lots to do it seemed and generally a pretty spot. 

The next stop was Roatan.  This is a really small island that belongs to Equador.  Interesting how big the commercial fishing fleet is.

The first marina we tried in Roatan.  Everything was lovely except there was no water or electricity.

This ia the fueling process at Roatan.  Honestly.

Unfortunately, it is true.  Every single person we say in San Andres was having more fun than we were.  This pair’s giggling could be heard from our speeding golf cart!

To see all the pictures, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackandbluefishing/sets/72157617648948405/

The link is here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=106606152088836733603.0004682170ae3e0e6ac25&z=5 

As I said, when the guys have a chance to download their pictures, we will add those and lots of stories.

Speaking of stories, the first members are planning their Panama trips so we should have some interesting fishing reports pretty soon.

- Jeff Radke