A bunch of us from Jersey and a couple of friends from the UK, recently went on our annual fishing trip to the beautiful Pearl Islands situated 50 miles from Panama City. Our host for the week is Charles-Henri Canto, who runs a 5 star fishing lodge on the stunning island of Viveros with his company https://www.panama-fishing.fr/
This is my 4th visit to fish with Charles, I simply cannot get enough of what is on offer here. Before I mention the fishing I must say from the minute you walk out of the airport all your needs are met. The accomodation is breathtaking, the food prepared by the beautiful Sara is 5 star, the boats are all equipped with new 200hp to 400hp engines, the crew and skippers are very knowledgeable and excellent seamen.
Now for the fishing! We had 3 boats between the 8 of us, each day we all head out in different directions to cover the islands. Of course the target species are the normal Cubera Snapper, Amber Jack & Rooster Fish, but you also know there will be a miriad of other species en-route. We had literally every species we could dream of and more, some quite rare ones in fact! Alas, only one small rooster was caught in our week but we saw plenty but they were so transfixed on tiny Sardines they were just not interested in our lures no matter what we chucked at them.
By the end of day one my fishing buddy Phil Crank got one off his bucket list with a lovely Cubera Snapper, I also had my first Golden Trevally. We had literally dozens of fish and the stamp of Jack Crevelles were huge this year, all averaging 20lb with my biggest being 24lb. We saw what we can only discribe as a motorway of jacks passing us for 5 minutes, it was a sight to behold, literally thousands of fish chasing Sardines, with Mullet Snapper and the odd Amber Jack and Rooster Fish mixed in with them. I can tell you a 20lb+ Jack Crevelle on light gear is something every lure angler should experience, they are machines! As the days went on the species and wildlife sighting just continued, with visits around the boats from Humback Whales and Bull Sharks, Sea Snakes and Turtles, it is truely wild out there.
With boxes and boxes of lures with us we found the fish were only interested in the small lures. So the Duo Blazin 92 & 110, the Tackle House K-Ten BKS 115 & 140 were the lures we were running out of the quickest.You just don't know week to week what the fish are tuned in to, our big poppers and stick baits hardly got used, but our slow jigs and softies did come in to play and produced some great fish.
I will let the pictures do the talking, I have over 200 photos but here are a few of my favourites. If you ever fancy a trip out to see Charles then do get in touch with him via the email on his site.
