I fished Gatun, a huge jungle lake that provides water for operating the canal on August 4
and 5 from a 70hp center console provided by John Shyne at Panama Yacht Tours. Both days
we caught over 20 butterfly peacock bass (known locally as “sargento” within the first
hour using live minnows, white grub tails and light poppers. If you wanted to spend the
entire day fishing 100+ bass would be a realistic target. The biggest fish was pushing
four pounds which is actually good size for this fishery that features more quantity
than quality. They actually want you to take fish out of here because there are so many
it stunts their growth. The locals really like them fried whole. This fishing was almost
too easy and I spent more time exploring the jungle waterways taking photos of capuchin
and howler monkeys, crocodiles (the bigger 12 to 14 footers are easily spooked and escaped
good photo distance), iguanas, hawks, turtles and other critters. I highly recommend that
you take a half-day to fish and explore Gatun Lake . It’s very inexpensive and it’s
interesting-a great experience for kids as well as adults (yes, even you hard-core big
game fishermen).
Tony Pena
“The Roving Angler”
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