HOOOOO CHEEEEEEEE MOMMMMMMMMA !!!!

Im calling Robbo to book for next year, NOW...cheers Stam sounds like a great adventure

Awesome Pics!

But your killing me....I have about 6" of snow here with more coming down. I need some of that sunshine and jumping sailfish!

I mentioned something about tuna and sushi earlier in the thread, this stuff was outstanding..



Every night it was something different for appetizers, Brent the cook was a goofy surfer dude, that didn't really surf..pro telemark skiier taking a winter off to be warm, and doing a good job of feeding us and the boats crew.

Next day was back to it on *the banks* rough water in the morning but there were bonita shcools everywhere and they were snappy, robbo and I ripped shredded and tore up the baitfish with light tackle, keeping a constant supply of fresh bonita from 2 to 4 lbs on the hooks behind the boat and the sailfish were biting!



We landed 4 that morning with Robbo getting a crack at a big blue marlin, I took some long distance shots with Robs camera that are probably just splashes on the horizon...it hit one of the big penn international reels so we were able to relax a bit, after about 40 minutes I gave Rob a break on the crank and Alberto managed to get his hands on the leader, but the 250 to 300 lb blue wasn't quite ready....he burned me out with my effort and I handed the rod back to Rob for the coupe de grace. Beautiful fish.



We also beat up on the dorado pretty badly that day, I manage to cork the rest of the gang when Bartolo announced " Dorado!! "...a quick cast right on target behind the boat and WHAM!!! the thing smashed the popper but doesn't hook up....I can see the fouled hooks so I rip it in and Barto grabs and clears the plug, I open the bail and tell him ..."throw it!...just throw it!!" he tosses it right in front of the fish and GULP it's on like donkey kong.



The dorado were crazy for the next hour or so....Robbo scored one and the other guys had chances but casting skills and good action on the plugs matter so a couple managed to escape our wrath I give them a few minutes to calm down and rummage through "the bag" for something cool to tie on my salmon rod, I've got 40 lb PP on a curado 300 and Bill Herzog had sent a couple of bass spinner baits down to try, I twist one up straight to my mainline and tune the reel for casting....my first genuine cast and two dorado chase in and one crushes the red and white spinnerbait right at the boat then hauls ass leaving a good scorchin' on my thumb, robbo tosses one of Buzz's swimbaits right on the nose of fish #2 and we're double up!



A day that just left the arms feeling shot.



we weren't alone out there...saw about a half dozen of these guys, I 'spect you don't want to mess with them

It is a land of contrasts too, there is money down there but those that have it seem to have it all, those that don't live a different life than I can imagine.



The luxury yatch in the back could probably feed these guys whole village for ten years

Every night was a cool sunset, with the sun dropping straight down...none of this angling accross the horizon with a long twilight, it's light....and then it's dark in about 15 minutes.



Home sweet home.



Last day Robbo and I went with Captain Frank to just look at inshore stuff and try for some AJ's (amberjacks) and roosters or any reef fish.



Robbo supplied Frank with a big AJ for an amberjack rib dinner and we just basically cast until our arms were ready to fall off, with lots of spectacular scenery, fish and birds always in view.

With a couple of hours left to an evening departure I decided it was time to go ashore, figured that I needed to feel like Robinson Carusoe for a minute, the little boats couldn't run ashore so I swam the last hundred yards or so and staggered onto the beach, was immediately howled at by a howler monkey and was amazed by the size of the lizard tracks (iguana?)..I climbed a vine like tarzan and hung out in a tree for a bit, inspected a sea turtles nest where she had layed her eggs on the last tide....tried to beat open a coconut but failed and then it was time to head back to the boat, swam out and we loaded up for the 4 to 5 hour ride back in where we spent the night and got off of the boat in the morning, wrapped up the trip in panama city which is more fun than it may sound, neat city!....thanks for the travel tips Dave Vedder

I will be back next year, it's even better than I make it sound.

stam

wow....cool pics stamuel!

Holy Crap! Way cool bro. Way Way cool.

wow.

Right On Stam. Great pics and very good storytelling. One of these days I'm going to nut up and drop the dimes to take a trip like that, you only live once.

Robbo, lets see some of your pics!... your'e due for a post around here!

Just plain awesome Stam!

dammit........... Robbo has taken my 12 wt flyrod on that friggin' boat TWICE ALREADY and I HAVEN'T been on it yet........

that is some awesome writing and photos Steve! what an awesome trip.

holy crap............ I'm going next time. Enough watching my gear have fun while I freeze my nuts off.....................

me need beers with Robbo....persuasion time.

Very nice report Stam, you are a lucky man.

I fished for Sailfish once, no luck.

Most excellent report "Quaco". Stam got so much respect from the Panamanian captains they dubbed him "Quaco", which apparently means studly fisherman.

The neat thing about fishing Panama is that you have options. If the marlin or sailfish aren't biting there are well over 20 other species to catch, all of which will kick your ass. Off the top of my head here's a list of the fish that were hooked on this trip:

Black Marlin
Blue Marlin
Sailfish
Dorado
Yellowfin Tuna
Wahoo
Bonita
Amberjack
Mullet Snapper
Rock Snapper
Cubera Snapper
Blue Runner
Blue Jack
Jack Crevalle
Broomtail Grouper
Bull Shark
Whitetip Reef Shark
Barracuda
Roosterfish
Columbian Snapper

It's obviously impressive to see a billfish explode behind the boat, but I swear my favorite thing to do down there is the inshore fishing. Casting poppers and swim baits on spinning gear to a long list of species that live in the rocks is kick ass fun and when the sun is right you can see the fish coming, whatever shape and size they may be. For me every fish is like the first one I've ever hooked, whether it's a 10 lb blue jack or a 60 lb cubera. The water is clear and every fish has to be sick-fast to survive. Drags, rods, and tackle are stressed to their max.

Around one particular rock we fished there were large schools of blue runners, roosterfish, blue jacks, jack crevalle, and snapper swimming around the rock. Steve hooked and lost some incredibly huge fish on swimbaits and I had a school of roosterfish attack my Yo Zuri popper, resulting in a killer fight on a 35 lb rooster.

The Berkley swimbaits were a huge hit down there, but we'll need to modify them slightly to increase the hookup ratio. If you're going anywhere there's bluewater I highly recommend picking up some of these things, as just about everything bit them. Shimano Butterfly jigs also work great over submerged reefs and pinnacles.

I have to say that fishing with Stam on this trip was one helluva lot of fun. The guy has a great attitude and loves life. My stomach hurt after a couple of the laffing fits.

January 12-18 and January 18-24 are two slots I have reserved for next year and once those are filled we're going to grab some February dates. The big boat only holds 12 people, which are split between three sportfishers. Nights are filled with great food, cerveza's, cigars, music, and good times. Tough to figure out why I want to spend more time down there!

Spanish for 'master angler' I would guess..........

That is a good list of fish caught, but what about the Brown Breasted Mattress Thrasher??? Or the ever-elusive Pink Titted Bed Flounder???

Those fall under the Columbian Snapper category. Too many variations of the species, so we lumped them all together.

I think 'Quaco' is Spanish for "Dirty Rotten Bastards Who Left Us Here In The Freezing Damn Cold And Snow for Two Weeks!"...

Awesome pics, dudes...looks like a trip of a lifetime.

Rob, I was talking to Joel about the Panama trip...sounds like something everyone ought to do at least once in their life. If things work out I'd love to be on one of those trips next winter.

I've got some other stuff to talk to you about, too...been too long...I'm gonna give you a ring in the next few days to discuss it.

Fish on...

Todd

Awesome pix and trip.

Damn, damn, damn! Only one month gone this year and you post up the what I'm guessing is going to be the story of the year! Absolutely the best!

Robbo where are the pic's??? Stam said you got a butt load of cover shots......lets see them.

Once again Stam gets my vote for best thread. I don't know how he does it but he somehow makes me think I am there. Way awesome Mahi & Marlin shots & descript - too cool.