Here are some fresh news from the Panafishing lodge in Pedasi, Panama. I am pretty happy to be able to post a nice report after the mixed results from Mike's group in late January, and the 2 groups that followed (all reports from all groups are being posted on our website).
Our area experience the windiest season in memories. Too much wind makes the jigging really difficult, and clouds the water at the coast, which is bad for popping, so overall really limits the options.
With that in mind, I was feverishly watching the wind forecast for the new group consisting of 3 spaniards which company was a delight. 30 knots on the first day, lowering to 25 and 20 for the next 2. OUCH ! February is always kind of windy but that is really bad. The last 3 days were more typical of a normal year, with winds between 10 and 15 knots, and calm mornings or afternoon.
As expected, we had a bad start. The first day was pretty much unfishable, the guys called it a day at noon, coming back home with only a few jacks, a small snapper and a baby mullet snapper that may have been 3 pounds...
The next 3 days were average to bad, with stirred waters on the popping grounds and impossibly fast drifts on the jigging spots. Besides the usual action on jack crevalle and sierras, and a few good amberjacks, only a few good fish were caught: a blue jack, a nice shark, a couple nice rainbow runners, and maybe a few more.
By the end of day 4, I was really sorry for those guys, who really deserved better, and I was resolving to post another "not so good" report on our website.
The last 2 days really made the trip, however, with the wind allowing to fish the more exposed spots and the water clarity returning to normal. Our 3 friends got 5 roosters each day, only BIG fish, with the smallest one running about 30 pounds. Each angler got a HUGE roosterfish between 70 and 80+ pounds, and a very nice amberjack was also caught on jig.
In the end, 3 happy fishermen returned home with some really nice memories and pictures, which made me really happy !