Late January, we had the pleasure to welcome back Andre Schmitt and his German crew. Wind was as bad as it gets on the Tuna Coast of Panama ! For the whole week so we had to stick nearshore on the south coast where it's protected, and we could only fish maybe a 1/4 of all spots. Could have been a very difficult week fishing wise but big schools of roosterfish along the beaches saved us. Final count on rooster between the 3 boat was well over 100 and Javier's boat broke a 6-years standing lodge record with a whoping 51 roosterfish released in one day ! According to the fishermen themselves, they lost/unhooked just as many. A few big cuberas and groupers have been lost during the week, but fishing the bigger fish spots further out proved very tough because of the wind.

Check out the nice variety !

The month of November has been unusually wet and windy in Pedasi, Panama. The fishing has been below average for this otherwise very reliable month. As every year around the end of October, good numbers of tarpons migrate through the area and many were jumped by our guests. But getting one to stick when caught on topwater and treble hooks is another story, so only 2 were brought to the boat. Below is a video of one that was lost boatside. Yes, our Captains still have a lot to learn when it comes to handling a tarpon... Every year there are more and more tarpons swimming around, including some fish to 200 pounds and over, and there is no doubt that in a couple of decades the Pacific will have an incredible Atlantic tarpon fishery. The regular popping and jigging has delivered the usual variety but overall there has been low numbers of trophy fish caught during this month of November that is usually good for that. Slow-jigging is gainning popularity among our guests. This month it's a good size hammerhead shark that was fought for one hour on the slow pitch tackle.
On a side note, we have almost finsh a complete renovation of the deck area and it's looking good !

Here are some pictures from the 2 first weeks of October. It is still rainy season on the Tuna Coast of Panama and we actually got some pretty bad weather that altered the fishing as hurricane Nate battered Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Overall, the fishing was very typical of October: some big tunas still around,but they were kind of hard to catch and often mixed with small and medium ones, which consistently beat the big ones to the popper. There is still good amount of cubera snappers and we saw quite a few big roosters behind our poppers, but only one trophy sized fish was caught over the 2 weeks. Incredible variety as you would expect from the Tuna Coast, especially in this season.

What a delight to post these beautiful pictures, taken by photograph David Sanchez during the trial trip of Spanish travel agency Green Flake Tackle. Check those guys for some tuna fishing in the Ebro Delta in Spain, or for some select destinations, now including Pedasi !

Next season will start at the end of September.

Anglers experienced really slow conditions for the last week of the season. Pretty much as bad as it gets down here really. Even in the middle of a slow week, there are always pockets of activity, and there will be quite a few football YFT and jack crevalle to be had, but the most sought-after species were shy. On one of the boat, low activity was backed by bad luck as they lost 5 or 6 trophy fish, including trophy roosters and cuberas, which would definitely have made the trip otherwise. That's fishing, they said, we'll get them next time. That's the spirit !

And bad luck it really was, as I went fishing on the morning they arrived, and for 2 days fater they left. As sure as after the rain comes the sun, I scored and still can't believe how unlucky our guests have been, "scoring" pretty much all the flat spell... Here are a few pictures of the catches. All of them were caught slow-jigging as it's really what turns me on right now. Surely enough, the tackle and technique showed it's limit, though, as I lost 7 big fish (and Pascal 3) over these 2 days and a half.

Fishing is good right now on the Tuna Coast of Panama. All the interesting species are around and biting and there's some trophy fish to be had. Weather has been pretty unstable for the past 2 weeks, with scattered thunderstorms and occasional bursts of wind, so going offshore for tuna was not the best option. The boats stayed close by where both popping and jigging delivered.

Last week we had Bill and Lisa, from San Diego, fishing with Eduardo. They got many amberjacks and silk snappers on the deeper jigging marks. At the coast fishing was ok, nothing more. They went twice for the bigger tunas offshore. The fish were definitely there but not cooperating, refusing to take poppers and even sardines. Only one 90/100 pound fish was hooked and landed. Here is Bill in the ultimate moments of the fight, puting a nice bend on the Daiwa GT86 to try and lift the yellowfin.

It was a pleasure to meet you guys !

Next was Johan and Seth, from Sweden, who fished with Chino. They stayed inshore and had good action and variety, mostly on topwater. They got quite a few species that eluded the other boat, and vice-versa. In this short video they hooked into an estimated 500+ marlin that took a jig in 120 ft. of water. The fish unhooked himself on the first jump.

2 weeks ago our friends Troy and Dan came back to the lodge. Sadly they experienced the slowest week we've had this year. Even down here things get difficult sometimes. Oh they got some fish, as is always the case, but the fishing was nothing to brag about, really. + luck was not on their side and the 3-4 fish that would have changed the trip were lost, including a corvina estimated at 50 pounds that jumped tarpon-style right next to the boat. Here are a few pictures of Troy's daughter Bethany who still had a good time for her first saltwater fishing experience.

Next are a few pictures from Colin, who was back to the lodge after a 2 year break. It was Colin's 6th time fishing with Panafishing so for him to take a picture, it has to be a nice fish !

Every year, I am really happy when the clouds come back. I love dry season fishing but I may have a little preference towards the wet season. Calm seas, overcast days and big fish lurking around makes for very exciting fishing. Oh, and no, it does not rain that much at all ! This past week was typical June fishing on the Tuna Coast of Panama. There was quite a few big fish around and our Chinese friends lost a few fights and broke a few rods... It was nice to see some big roosters around, as this year has been particularly bad for the big ones. There is still very good numbers of big cuberas and mullet snapper, so this trend should carry on throughout the wet season. Stand-out catch this week was some big corvinas that fell for a slow-jig. We did not go for the bigger tunas as they are quite far out at 35 milles, but a 200 pounder (and a 150 one) has been taken yesterday by the local guys, so we are eager to give it the first go of  the year, probably in 2 weeks when our Canadian friends Troy and Dan come back to Pedasi.

We hosted 2 groups over the second half of May. First group, from Brazil, had good action and lots of fish and variety. Unfortunately, neither the roosters or the big ones were very playful. A few trophies got away so next year will be revenge time for the guys. The guys kindly invited me on the boat for a day and I got quite lucky with 2 beautiful roosterfish, both caught slow-jigging, and a nice variety of fish including a decent amberjack.

We are now getting into the best season for slow-jigging, as the fish stack deeper and start to stick around specific spots where they usually remain for the whole wet season. My 3 last slow-jigging sessions all delivered, with my PB rooster on slow-jig above, and good numbers of mullet snappers which give a really good fight on the slow-jigging outfit. I also got my first Indo-Pacific permit on a 180gr. FCL Labo MSL jig. Slow-jigs really catch anything swimming out there and there are always some surprises coming up.

Second group was also from Brazil and fished with Captain Chino. They had a good week with plenty of action and quite a few days with 60 fish or more to the boat. They also lost quite a few big, unstoppable ones. Specie of the week was the broomtail grouper. I was starting to wonder what happened to them as we had very few so far this season. Well, they made a big comeback this week with the guys boating 23 in just 3 days. Those are pretty impressive numbers for the species and the versatility of the Tuna Coast never cease to amaze me !