Last week of April, the dry season conditions are oficially gone. Water has warmed up a lot and the sardines and resulting frenzy are scarce. In fact, numbers have been particularly low this week, but damn the cubera snappers were playful ! When coming to fish the Tuna Coast, it's a good idea to arrive with an open-mind as one of the key to avoid disapointment is being able to adapt to what, and how it's biting at the moment. It can be so different from week to week... For example, in March, it was all about popping the shoreline. Action was intense, but trophy fish were scarce. Some weeks the jigging prevails, sometimes one or more specie is abundant while others are absent. Some weeks have a bit of everything, and unfortunately some weeks are slow. Perhaps more than elsewhere, no 2 weeks are the same, and if you ask me "what should I expect ?", I would have a hard time giving a short answer...
So, our Captains have learned to adapt to the ever-changing conditions. This particular week, the best thing there was to do was using the heavy rod over the big fish marks. And that's what we did for the most part. Cuberas were biting good, many were lost and good numbers were landed. One angler landed 4 and lost 11, amazing numbers considering the specie. It was all about "going big or going home". To illustrate that, the day I went out with some of the guests, we fished the big popping rod for the most part of the day. Between the 4 of us we landed only 4 fish besides the bits and bobs not even worth mentioning. You would think it was a bad day but each one of us landed a trophy cubera snapper, and the other fish was one was the biggest rainbow runner I've seen with my own eyes. In the end everybody thought we had a great day ! Oh, and we (or rather me, to be honnest) also lost another monster cubera snapper...

Wet season seems to want to come earlier this year in Panama. We are just past mid-April. Rains have not kicked in yet but the water got warmer and the wind a lot softer. As the conditions changed, we have been using the big rods more. There are still good action inshore and good numbers of roosters, with a final count of 52 for the week and all anglers having caught one by the end of day 2, but that inshore action is slowly fading away and the fishing is moving further out to the deeper marks. There, the cubera snappers have been seen in huge numbers. Many fish have been lost as usual but all anglers (but one) caught cuberas on topwater lures. To illustrate that, the one unlucky angler who did not boat any actually lost 9. Pulled hooks, unstoppable fish and broken rod all played against him and showed again, if needed, that cubera snapper is one of the toughest fish to land on popping gear.
Overall, it's been a very enjoyable week with a good mix of action and big fish, and a very nice group of great people ! Thanks all for the good times !