Panama – June 1

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.
- Capt, Mike Springer


Bermuda
Costa Rica
Panama








MAKO, the boat the Club will run in Bermuda, is probably being sanded as we speak. Let me explain. MAKO is being built by Sunny Briggs in North Carolina. The new MAKO is the third boat Sunny built for Allen and me. If you have ever watched one of these boats constructed, you know that the process is 1/2 sanding, 1/2 everything else. Sunny, Jeff and the guys are doing a great job pushing to have her done by May 1. She is going to be pretty! I can’t wait to see her overboard. We will add pictures of both of the boats when we get back from the upcoming trip.