jigging and popping at Panafishing Lodge in Panama

[ksong]

 
I just returned from jigging and popping trip out of Panafishing Lodge in Panama.
I fished Panama 8 times and all trips were for tuna around Coiba Island/Hannibal Bank.  But this trip was for inshore jigging and popping for rooster, cubera, grouper or snapper fishing around Pedasi area.
This trip was perfect to test new 9'6" Black Hole Suzuki rods for popping rooster or cubera or jacks.

I left Newark Airport at night on March 26 and arrived at Panama City at 5:30 am. on March 27.




After waiting for a while, guide came with a mini bus and we headed for a hotel where other anglers were waiting.
My fishing  partner David was there as 7 other anglers from Germany,
It took 6 hours to get to the Panafishing Lodge.




The lodge is cozy and nice.




All rooms are clean with air condition.









preparing tackle for tomorrow trip




first night dinner.  Food are excellent for our stay.








first day fishing. We this is my first trip at the lodge, I just followed what Capt decided.
we drove about 15 minutes to the beach where our boat were. The beach is southside as it is protected from north wind.
We could not fish Westside due to high north wind during our stay.











I fished with David. Capt ran the boat to the west along the beach. We started popping for rooster. As there was no bite, he ran to offshore for jigging.
On my first drop I hooked up a decent grouper on my Black Hole Slow Pitch jigging rod.  Grouper bites were great by landing 2 each along with various fish.




David is new to slow jigging, but he landed two nice grouper upto 40 lb. He used 6'6" Black Hole Cape Cod Slow Pitch rod /IRT 500 reel.










We tried popping later without any success.
But we learned the other boat landed 11 rooster.

Pierre-andre Demauge, the owner of the lodge joined our boat next day.
He is fine gentleman and loves fishing. It was fun to fish with him.
He landed a nice grouper with 6'6" Black Hole Cape Cod Slow Pitch rod quickly. He showed how to jig with slow pitch rod by landing fish constantly.








.
We tried different area for popping rooster and we could not locate them.
But we found one boat landed 51 rooster !!!  I was wondering why Capt don't communicate each other even cel phone is working there. ( I found later they don't communicate at all).
I told Pierre that the main purpose of this trip is test our new Black Hole Suzuki rods for popping rooster and I wanted to concentrate on popping.


My wish was granted and we fished where they got 51 rooster on next day.
When we got there, birds were working and we could see fins of rooster every where.
I used normal rooster lures like GT Ice Cream or pencil poppers, but I could not get any bite while David hooked up constantly using small sinking stickbait called Mr Joe by Orion.  Hot bites died down quickly. Capt said the bites would resume around noon on high tide. So Capt ran the boat to the west.
We could not locate any rooster until 1:00 pm and I asked Capt to go back the area where we got hot bites as I know rooster are there.
When we got there, it didn't take long to locate feeding roosters.
Capt changed my lure to small stickbait similar to David's.  But strangely I could not get bite while David got hit constantly.
In retrospect, it could be cranking speed, color of lure, action of lure or combination of both.
I guess the main problem was I could not crank as fast because of my old age.
David got 15 and I got only 2 rooster.
But I was happy because I could take pictures and video of fighting rooster by David who was using 9'6" Black Hole Suzuki Special rod.









I could land only two small rooster using 10' Black Hole Suzuki Special rod.




David even got a nice mahi mahi with the same setup





and many needle fish, jack, spanish mackerel  or albie








hot lure used by David



another nice dinner







On the next day, we went to the area we fished rooster. But we could not get any bite for an hour.
So Capt ran the boat to the west.  I had three roosters following my lure. That was it.  We went to the area where we got rooster around 2;00 pm
And we found feeding rooster.
I didn't have any pictures of rooster as I thought we could land big one. But unfortunately hot bites stopped soon.
Here is  a picture of fighting a rooster by Capt using David's 9'6" Black Hole Suzuki Special rod while David was resting.






Owner Pierre-Andre Demauge joined our boat again next day.
We tried jigging first. Pierre lost a monster grouper on Black Hole Cape Cod Special Slow Pitch jigging rod when the 80 lb leader line got frayed by the rock.
Pierre showed again how to jig using slow pitch rods by landing varieties of fish.
























Pierre's lure bucket





with our Capt Eduardo




Here are other boats' catches






















I had wonderful time there with wonderful owner and wonderful anglers. I can not expect more than fishing with my partner, David.  He is very kind gentleman  and is excellent fisherman.  I am looking forward to fishing with him in the near future.

We had constant north wind blow and we could not fish better spots which are located to the west.  But nontheless, we had good fishing and I am happy to test new Black Hole Suzuki rods for rooster. I think 51 rooster on a boat in a single day is a record in any lodge.
Thanks Pierre-Andre Demauge for my wonderful staying there,  You have a good operation there and I can understand why many European anglers visit there year after year.
























a

[Tiddlerbasher]

Hey Ksong thanks for the ride

[whalebreath]

Roosters do love a flood tide!

[alantani]

wow!!!!