Panama Fishing Report - Gulf of Chiriquí Action at Isla Montuosa! - Dec 28-Jan 6 2014

Don Bitz and his grandson Don Plattner from Tennessee were our first set of visiting anglers. Big Don brought young Don down to give him a taste of offshore fishing here in Panama. We headed offshore each morning from the island to try and put a hook in a Marlin that these guys were targeting. Lots of bait and busting Bonitos at Isla Montuosa and Hannibal Bank were the attraction for a lot of big Dorados and billfish that were feeding in these areas. We had no problem getting the Dorados to eat, as we caught quite a few big Bulls up to 55#s!, but unfortunately when the couple of opportunities arose to get that Marlin we weren't so lucky! On one occasion we had a monster Black Marlin that must have been 500#s plus explode on a bridled bonito right behind the boat as we were reeling the lines in to get ready and move. I thought we had him hooked good. We were nice and tight, the fish was jumping directly away from the boat, no bow in the line, and 100# test mono on the 8/0 Shimano Tiagra was screaming off the reel. But about two minutes after young Don grabs the rod...the line goes slack and he's gone! Dang it! We did have two other Marlin come up and swipe at the plastics near Isla Montuosa but no hook ups. Young Don caught and released his first Pacific Sailfish, a bunch of Dorados, and one day we fished inshore caught and released a couple Roosterfish here near the lodge. All and all it was a great trip but not getting Don his Marlin was disappointing.

John Barnett and family from Atlanta, Georgia joined us for a day of fishing offshore and a night out on the island. John's 13 year old son Robert was pumped up to get out on the water and chase some fish as he and his Dad are avid sportsmen. We fished Isla Montuosa to find more of the same bait activity of the days prior and it was looking good. Robert caught a nice Bull dorado right off the bat! A bit later we had a Marlin come up and take a swipe at one of the plastics. Again we didn't hook up....but that's the way it goes. We kept at it and missed a couple more nice Dorados. Finally Robert got to fight another decent sized bull that Johnny, my mate, promptly filleted, bagged, and put on ice for the evening's dinner back at the lodge! John's daughter Graham also got in on the action and caught a huge Bonito that hit one of our trolled plastics. Good time with the Barnett clan!

The following day we picked up Don and company at the beautiful Seagullcove Lodge in Boca Chica for a day charter out to Isla Montuosa. The seas were a bit bumpy as a big storm, from the night before, was moving offshore and had churned up the sea a bit. We once again arrived at the "Burbuja" (the spot where bubbles rise to the surface of the ocean from seismic activity on the seafloor) and found a bunch of bird and bait activity. We had no problem catching Bonitos but the bad Porpoises were there in numbers and they were right on our six as soon as we tried to fish the bridled baits. So we switched up and went to the plastics and immediately caught a couple of nice Dorados. As the day went on the seas kept getting nicer and another boat jumps a Mariln right in front of us. A short time later.....the right short plastic gets hammered by a Marlin! It's on! But 5 minutes later right after Don grabs the rods he's gone! Bummer! And about 20 minutes later...the curse continues as we see another come up on the left rigger, swiping his bill at the plastic, hooking up for a minute, and then he spits the hook!! Exciting as hell for everybody to see the big billfish come up and crash the bait but disappointing all the same as we don't get the opportunity to wire and release the fish. That's Marlin fishing! After that we drifted a couple of baits over one of the the sea mounts near Isla Montuosa and caught and released a couple of nice AJs to end the day! 

Enjoy the pics....