Fishing Report - 03/14/09

Greetings From The Tropics

This week we welcomed back many old friends as well and meet a few new ones. Joining us this week was the Brune brothers Will and Tim from Wyoming and Maine, Jim Bee and Jeff Fergnsen from Colorado, Mark Danhausen from Minnesota. From New Jersey was Bill Hueslenbeck, Jimmy “The Savage” Ridgeway, Tom Keller, Don Hornefi, Wayne Thomas, Nick Ruemeli, Steve and Andy Wurst and Keith Hildebrandt.

We started this week the same way that we ended last week, with a hot Roosterfish bite in the Paridas Islands. You know that there is some fish around when the Roosterfish are eating the Blue Runners off of your Sabiki. Jim, Jeff and Mark led the way landing three Roosters in their first day of fishing (one of which they landed on a size 4 hook on a sabiki rig). The guys landed six in total and saw many others come in on poppers that would not make the commitment.

Day two the crew ran into a huge school of Yellowfin Tuna in the 30 to 80 lb class at Montuosa Island. Although the fish were cruising the surface they would have nothing to do with topwater, so jigs and Blue Runners it was. Every boat landed between 3 and 7 tuna before hitting the beach in search of Roosterfish and Cubera Snapper.

The weather has been beautiful for the last week so there was nothing slowing the crew down from heading south, to Jicaron Island. The tuna bite has been ridiculous the last few weeks, but this week the school has broken up and become skittish. Everybody managed to land a couple Yellowfin on topwater before turning their sites on the inshore fishery. There was great jig action on Amberjack and chunk fishing for Cubera and Mullet Snapper on the reefs. While fishing at Hannibal Bank Will was also able to land a beautiful 350 lb Black Marlin. One of the best bites of the day came when Mark hooked a Snook on fly which was immediately eaten by a Saltwater Crocodile! Today was a great day in terms of diversity with 13 species of fish landed between the boats. That is not counting the Snook or Crocodile!

The Brune Brothers, Will and Tim, led the way on Tuesday landing 13 Tuna, most of them coming on the jig. While Will and Tim were working over the Tuna; Mark, Jim and Jeff were busy drifting baits landing eight Cubera at Montuosa. Jim Ridgeway hooked into a monster Cubera that was estimated at around 60 lbs before it was released to live another day. On their way back to the barge Steve, Andy and Keith stopped by the Snook Hole for one last shot. Andy hooked and landed his first ever Pacific Black Snook weighing 15 lbs. This came just after they had lost a estimated 300 lb Black Marlin that broke 100 lb test leader. The fish had eaten a Cedar Plug while they were trolling for tuna off Montousa. The following day Tim was able to get his Marlin, landing a beautiful 500 lb Black that put on an impressive aerial display at the boat!

I would like to say thank you to everybody that I was able to get to know and fish with over the last 2 months. It was a great run once again. Now I must head back North to start the summer fishing season in Sitka, AK. Until next year; good luck and tight lines.

See Ya on the Planks

Captain Jay Gustin
Captain Ben Floyd

Fishing Tip of the Week: With airline restrictions on luggage it is getting harder to travel as light as they want you to. We recommend three different setups that will take care of most of your basic needs while visiting Pesca Panama and not break the bank in shipping fees getting them down here. For light spinning tackle we recommend a 5000 or 6000 series reel loaded with 50 or 65 lb test braid on a lightweight 7 to 8 foot rod rated 12 – 25 lb test. This setup works great for casting light lures such as a Yo-Zuri Sashimi. For casting bigger lures such as the Yo-Zuri GT Bull we recommend a 18,000 series reel loaded with 80 lb braid on a 7 – 8 foot rod rated 20 – 50 lb test. This setup works great for the XL Tuna on topwater and Cubera Snapper where a little more backbone is needed to stop them from getting into the rocks. For a jigging setup we recommend a six foot rod in the 20-50 lb range. There are many different reels to choose from, but my personal favorite is the Shimano Trinidad TN40 loaded with 80 lb braid with a 50 ft top-shot of 40 or 50 lb test mono. This is a great all purpose setup for trolling Blue Runners along the beach for Roosters and Cubera as well as Tuna, Dorado, and Sailfish offshore. But, its number one purpose is for dropping iron while fishing the reefs for Amberjack, Cubera and Grouper.

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK:


Andy with his first ever Pacific Black Snook. Congratulations!


Keith slammed this Blue Trevally on  topwater


Will with a Tuna that was caught on iron


Tim with a topwater Rooster


Wayne with a huge Roosterfish!


Bill with a nice Yellowfin


Steve with a beautiful Bull Dorado.


Carlos leardering a 500 lb Black Marlin


Nick and Wayne with a double header on Broomtail Grouper!


Now that’s a Cubera!