Sometimes you just get lucky. That’s what happened to me a few years ago when fellow outdoor writer, George Reiger, called and asked if I would be interested in a weeklong trip to Panama. Seems the country wanted to improve its image with fishermen and had openings for four of us to experience what they had to offer, and experience it we did.
George, Boyd Pfeiffer, Larry Larson, and I flew to Panama City from Miami, FL, where we spent one night before heading to Tropic Star Lodge on the Pacific Coast. You have to fly into the lodge because the jungle is too thick for roads to last very long. As soon as we arrived, we were served breakfast and then put on two 31 Bertrams maintained by the lodge. George and I were on one, with Boyd and Larry on the other.
The captain headed for Zane Gray Reef, and I was amazed by the abundance of life there. Fish were breaking everywhere, and the mate set out two hand lines with feathers. Almost as soon as the lines hit the water, the lures were attacked by small tuna, and we had our first two baits. The mate rigged the baits with a bridle, and while he was letting out the line on the port side, the second bait, swimming close to the starboard quarter, was swallowed by something very big. It didn’t take long to discover what had eaten the bait, as a 500-pound black marlin started going nuts across the water.
George was in the chair as the captain backed down on the fish. With water coming in over the transom and George cranking in line, we soon had the big fish jumping right off the stern. At this point the mate grabbed the leader and popped the fish off for a clean release. The hand lines went back in. Two more small tuna came back out. One was placed in a tuna tube, and the other joined his fellow behind the boat. This is when we discovered there were more fish on the reef than black marlin. The tuna did not go unmolested for long before a shark devoured one. I can’t tell you what kind of shark it was, but I can tell you it was very big.
Since the baits were rigged on mono leaders, the toothy critter didn’t remain on the line for very long. The captain tried fishing on the edge of the reef to get away from the sharks, but they were there as well. He could speed up the boat to get the bait away from the sharks, but when a porpoise came after one of the small tunas, he just let him eat. The boat would not go fast enough to get away from the speedy mammals. I found it interesting that the porpoise could pluck the tuna off the line and never get hooked.
We headed back to the lodge in time to clean up for dinner. The four of us joined about a dozen other anglers for a feast fit for kings. One boat had fished for grouper and snapper, and we had these delicious fish cooked in about a half dozen ways. The next morning after a wonderful breakfast, we headed back out to the reef. This time it was my turn and a 750-pound black marlin was my challenge. Unlike George’s fish, mine decided to spend more time under water and didn’t jump nearly as much. I fought it standing up using a fighting harness that worked very well. Finally, the leader came within the grasp of the mate who turned the fish and me loose.
We spent the rest of that day trolling for sailfish close to the beach, and I was lucky enough to catch my Pacific sail to add to my bucket list. The third day we only fished in the morning. The captain trolled along just behind the breakers trying to catch snapper and roosterfish. We did catch a couple of small snappers but no roosters. Most trips to Tropic Star Lodge take six days or more. The folks paying for our trip wanted us to do different types of fishing, so we spent the next few days catching peacock bass and trying to catch tarpon. Learn more at tropicstar.com.
by Eric Burnley