Fishing Report - 05/06/05

Greetings from the Tropics,

Father and son anglers, Bob and Ethan Berto from Ketchikan, Alaska joined John Bressi and his gang from Chile including; Jamie Fernandez, Christian Prieto, Enrique Soto, Alejandro Alvarez, Carlos Arenas, Sergio Malicett, Carlos Garrido, Jose Iribarren, Mario Elgueta, Fernando Nunez and Mario Aguilera for some fishing from the floating lodge here at Coiba Island, Panama.

This week several changes came about at Pesca Panama.  The first was Captain Travis "Roberto" Peterson leaving the fantastic fishing in Panama to return to Alaska for the up coming  fishing season.  Thanks Travis for helping make this a great year of fishing here at Pesca Panama.  The fish at Coiba can rest easier!

The second change was the return of clean, blue water to our fishing area.  The rich blue water was welcome after three weeks of off colored overly warm water.  The water conditions were right and the tuna bite was on with the crew finding fish from just off Punta Hermosa on Coiba to our normal fishing grounds at Montuosa!  Our anglers found plenty of action as the 20 lb to 60 lb class tuna aggressively attacked our poppers. Fishing with live bonita produced numerous yellow fin in the 130 to 150 lb class with the largest, a 268 lb tuna, caught by angler Ethan Berto while fishing with Captain Macho. Ethan was also able to hook-up on the largest fish we have ever hooked, a whale shark. The monster sized animal, reported to be as long as the 27 ft boat, just slid down to the depths of the ocean while our angler and crew could only hang on to the rod and reel. Now this is another species of fish to add to your list!

We also "wacked the wahoo" finding these lightning fast predators in most locations. The wahoo devoured our "secret" willy z - wahoo lures...Thanks Ricky for the lures! This is our second consecutive week of good wahoo fishing and we look forward to a long wahoo season that usually runs through November!

Tight Lines,
Captain Jay Gustin


Whale Shark. Note snagged popper, the small red dot


Many tuna the size of the fish Jose is holding were landed this week on poppers


Mate Tatin makes a nice gaff shot on a tuna caught on a popper


Last morning's catch


Sailfish caught on hook and camera


Ocean Master boats at Isla Gamaz


Captain Macho and Ethan Berto with a 268 lb. yellow fin tuna


Smiling fishermen Rolando, John and Jamie