Piñas Bay, Panama w/pics

tap · Dec-05-2007, 10:59 AM

November 26 to December 3, 2007: Took the Continental flight
from San Diego to Panama with a connection at Houston. No
problems with gear or flight as usual. Stayed at the Veneto
Hotel which is getting a reputation for its casino and
“nightlife” if you know what I mean (reminds me of the Hotel
Rey/Blue Marlin Bar in San Jose, Costa Rica only fancier).

Sabrina and I were the guests of John Shyne of Panama Yacht
Tours and Captain Randy Rickson of the Great Panama Charter
Company. They had a charter on their 58’ Hatteras “Reel
Left” with six buddies from New York/New Jersey. The plan
was to fish at Piñas Bay during the Tropic Star Lodge
Tournament. A bonus was that the 115’ mothership “Coastal
Explorer” (formerly the “Coiba Explorer”) would accompany us
and serve as the main accommodation down at the anchorage
which is 120 miles from Panama City. My “assignment” was to
help these guys out with the fishing and communication with
the Panamanian crew. Although they were entered in the
tournament I would say they were more interested in having
fun and taking a fairly leisurely approach to the fishing.
For example, most of them didn’t wake up until after the
6:30 a.m. gunshot start when the other 40+ boats were racing
to the fishing grounds.

We fished from November 29 to December 1 in very good sea
conditions. Water temp was steady around 81 degrees and
there were good current lines. The world famous Piñas Reef
(aka Zane Grey Reef) was slow so most of the fleet headed 20
to 40 miles offshore along the drop-off trolling jigs and
live bait. Our total catch was 1 blue marlin (350 lbs), 2
black marlin (400 lbs. but lost primarily to inexperience),
1 sailfish, 22 yellowfin tuna, 19 dorado and on the
“Butterfly” we caught amberjack, cubera snapper, yellow
snapper, African pompano, rainbow runner and sierra
mackerel. One of the guys was reeling in a small yellowfin
and a big black marlin showed up behind it and with a little
drop back ate it. The marlin made a good run and came up
shaking its head and threw the tuna back at us for a quick
show. We lost a lot of fish this trip but everyone had a
good time.

We are already looking forward to our next Panama episode
from December 20 to the 31st fishing from the Cebaco Bay
Sportfishing Club when we can spend more time on the water.

Tony Pena
“The Roving Angler”

SNEEKEE · Dec-05-2007, 11:01 AM

Nice amberjack

reganp · Dec-05-2007, 03:23 PM

Tony, nice report. I'll be very interested in your next cebaco report as I'm heading there in Feb, fishing 5 days on the extreme. PR

squirtis · Dec-05-2007, 04:09 PM

Thanks for the report Tony......DUDE, you get to go to PANAMA WAY TO MUCH.....

Lovin' it,

we will have to hook up eventually down there. I am going to be back the second week of january, but hopefully will be there almost full time by april/may....

Thanks again, great pics and WOW Tropic Star....beautiful

Crackerjack · Dec-05-2007, 04:33 PM

Tony,

looks like you had a good trip! What a great place to fish! Maybe Tropic Star next time....

Snowed 20 inches here yesterday...............

yellowklr · Dec-05-2007, 07:53 PM

Veneto Casino.......A guy could get in a lot of trouble there!

tap · Dec-06-2007, 09:08 AM

Curtis, I have a trip planned for Paradise Lodge fishing with Bartolo and Chicho the last week of January. I'll be including the Lodge in an article I'm doing for Marlin Magazine. Maybe we'll run into each other down there. And Peter, you'll like the 31' Bertram "Extreme" at Cebaco-it's great for offshore trolling but can maneuver around the inshore structure real well for popping. I can't wait to pop those big roosters around the corner from Punta Mariato. There's a place I call the waterfalls that holds roosters all the time.

Tony Pena
"The Roving Angler"

squirtis · Dec-10-2007, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tap

Curtis, I have a trip planned for Paradise Lodge fishing with Bartolo and Chicho the last week of January. I'll be including the Lodge in an article I'm doing for Marlin Magazine. Maybe we'll run into each other down there. And Peter, you'll like the 31' Bertram "Extreme" at Cebaco-it's great for offshore trolling but can maneuver around the inshore structure real well for popping. I can't wait to pop those big roosters around the corner from Punta Mariato. There's a place I call the waterfalls that holds roosters all the time.

Tony Pena
"The Roving Angler"

Hey Tony, Chad is the owner and our friend. Our property is about 4 miles from his. We are staying there the 9th through the 16th of January. We actually tried to book him on the 22nd....Bastard..must have been you..HAHAHA Go get em' and please put a report up of that. Chad is a great guy, and Chicho and Bartolo are hella fisherman, as you probably already know..

Is it just you and the wifey??

Josh D · Dec-10-2007, 04:15 PM

Ahhhhhhhhhhh the Veneto

Watch out fishing with Bartolo, you could end up pregnant.

Thanks for the report, looks like a great time.

tap · Dec-11-2007, 09:03 AM

Curtis,

We'll actually be fishing about 5 days (January 27-31). Right now it will be Sabrina, John Shyne of Panama Yacht Tours and another friend. We intend to use the 29' Proline to run to the Montuosa/Hannibal areas for marlin and tuna but also do a lot of popping and jigging around the islands and high spots. I've fished with Bartolo since 1994 down there and ChiChi since 1989 when he was working at Golfito Sailfish Rancho due to Noriega's confiscation of the lodge at Coiba. Chicho and his other brothers such as Macho have worked their way up to be good captains also.

Tony Pena
"The Roving Angler"

squirtis · Dec-12-2007, 07:59 PM

[QUOTE=Josh D;848991]Ahhhhhhhhhhh the Veneto

Watch out fishing with Bartolo, you could end up pregnant.

Holy Chit,,,,,I just spit beer all over my laptop

He needs a bus for them....

squirtis · Dec-12-2007, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tap

Curtis,

We'll actually be fishing about 5 days (January 27-31). Right now it will be Sabrina, John Shyne of Panama Yacht Tours and another friend. We intend to use the 29' Proline to run to the Montuosa/Hannibal areas for marlin and tuna but also do a lot of popping and jigging around the islands and high spots. I've fished with Bartolo since 1994 down there and ChiChi since 1989 when he was working at Golfito Sailfish Rancho due to Noriega's confiscation of the lodge at Coiba. Chicho and his other brothers such as Macho have worked their way up to be good captains also.

Tony Pena
"The Roving Angler"

Thanks for the info Tony, I can't wait to sit down with a beer and hear a few of your stories man.

Looking forward to the pics