Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge Trip Report – November 2022
‘Cause nothin’ lasts forever/Even cold November rain (Axl Rose, in his 1991 magnum opus “November Rain”)
Apparently Axl has never been to Panama in November – or if he did visit at that time he got lucky on weather. In 2021, we made the second of two trips to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge right after Halloween and we enjoyed generally calm seas and perhaps an hour or two total of rain. This year, however, we must’ve brought the crap weather with us because it rained for much of our four and a half days on the water. That didn’t necessarily affect the fishing, which was still superlative – and in some respects (see below) better than either of our prior trips – but it did force us to think about what to chase on which days.
For example, on the third full day we made a long run almost to the Costa Rican border to chase tuna, and then proceeded to follow the blitzing schools (given away by the locations of dolphins and birds) around for hours, feeding them a mixture of poppers and live baits. We caught quality yellowfin until our arms and backs were sore. It wouldn’t have been comfortable to make that run on our first full day out, so that day we focused on inshore species like roosters and cuberas. Because of the versatility of the fishery and the superlative planning of Captains Shane, Juan and Johnny, we ended up with more total species than on any prior trip.
One highlight I missed was on the third full day, when Captain Johnny’s boat “stumbled across” a group of sailfish with their fins out of the water. They pitched a live bait to one and it ate immediately, then put on an aerial show for my friend Joe Lineberry before eventually being subdued.
The popping wasn’t as good as on our first trip, but it was better than it was on our second trip. However, that second trip produced by far the best average quality for tuna – including a 200+ pound beast that is the biggest we’ve seen by about 70 pounds. On this trip, the quality and number of roosterfish was at its best, and we caught far more cubera snapper than on any of the prior two trips – that was the one species I wanted more than any other and it took me until my last fish on the last day to get it done, but I feel like I went out in style. Click on the video below for a “Sizzle Reel” of our experiences:
If you asked me to rank the three trips, I’d say they were all excellent in different ways. Obviously the quality of the food, lodging, boats and staff remained consistent, but there were slight differences each time. I’ve compared them based on nine criteria in the table below, ranking them first, second and third in each category. Obviously, this is a very small sample size, and sometimes the difference between “best” and “third best” is miniscule, but it may help you decide when to plan your trip down there.
That’s the bottom line. If you are an angler of any sort, you NEED to make this trip. I’ve only been home a few days and I’m already strategizing about how soon I can get back, and what goals I’ll set for Round Four.
Lessons Relearned
ALWAYS Bring Raingear – As noted above, on last November’s trip to Panama we experienced minimal precipitation, but this time we made up for that with near-constant rain. Just about every morning we’d wake up hoping for clear skies and easy conditions, but usually there’s be the patter or pelting sounds of big raindrops on the roof. We were told that this type of weather is more typical of early October in the region. Fortunately, everyone had raingear, but this just reiterated the number one rule of fishing for me: I don’t care if you’re headed to the driest desert during the driest part of the year. ALWAYS bring some rain protection with you. At worst, you can use it as a wind shield or a pillow on the plane.
Choose your times – The best thing about fishing in the Gulf of Chiriquí is that you can pursue multiple bites – inshore, busting tuna, offshore billfish – in the same day. However, sometimes conditions (to include not just wind but also water clarity) make it tough to do one or more of those things on any given day. Accordingly, if you head into a three- or four-day trip with a specific goals in mind, and you get conditions conducive to those goals on one or more days, it pays to get while the getting is good.
Get in shape – After pretty much getting my ass handed to me by a 200+ pound yellowfin on last November’s trip, I vowed to get in better shape. While I wasn’t as religious about it as I could/should have been, I did join Hanna’s Orange Theory Fitness cult and went a couple of times a week. I felt that it paid off when it came to fighting strong, hard-charging fish. In addition to the strength training, I feel that additional core strength balance from those workouts helped when the boat was getting pushed around. This is a grueling type of fishing, and if you’re not physically ready you’re going to come home sore, exhausted and beaten down.
Travel With Positive People – For the third straight trip, we were fortunate to go with people who relished every aspect of the experience. While it will never be 100% new for us again, we love seeing it through newcomers’ eyes.
The Group
There were seven of us on this trip, including me and Hanna. The other five included:
Carl and Lisa Vicars (TN), who joined us in Panama last November and will be heading to Alaska with us in 2023;
Joe Lineberry (ONT), who I met through mutual friend Kevin Short;
Mark Jenson (WA), bass tournament angler who heard me talking about Panama on Bass Talk Live; and
Roger Neri (WA), who we met through SFPIL owner Shane Jarvis.
Everyone was great on this trip, fighting through the rain and maintaining a positive and friendly attitude throughout. Of course, that’s made easier when you’re catching multiple PBs or firsts. Nevertheless, for the third time in a row we were fortunate to have no major mishaps and the pleasure of fishing each day in different groups.
Species Caught
Our group landed the following species (listed in alphabetical order):
My New Species
I added three species to my “life list”: Almaco Jack, Cubera Snapper and Rock Snapper
Various Notes
Biggest Tuna Overall — 110 pounds
Biggest Tuna Popping — 80 pounds
Biggest Roosterfish — 40 pounds
Biggest Mahi — 30 pounds
Conclusion
We still haven’t decided when we’ll be back, but WE WILL be back sooner rather than later. If you’d like to join us, or need information, or want to take a trip of your own, email Hanna so that you can get on the calendar.
