My Trip to Tropic Star Lodge Panama - July 2013

[twoutes]

I've just returned from my trip to Tropic Star Lodge in Panama, and all l can say is that it was amazing. Apperently the fishing was not that hot, but l didn't notice that. Apart from the fishing the service provided by the lodge was fantastic, and started from the minute we stepped of the plane in Panama City. We were placed in a lounge, and drank beer while our bags were collected, and they also helped us clear customs

As l mentioned before l was invited by my friend Bill DePriest the editer of South Coast Sportsfishing magazine, to join him and his dad , also named Bill.

I purchased a new camera for this trip with a 42X zoom, and had plenty of things to photograph along the way. As a matter if interest its a Nikon Coolpix P150, and it really served its purpose on this trip, and many more to come.

I'll get right into some of the hundreds of photos l took, with some descriptions along the way.




The lodge also orginised this tour to the Panama Canal before we were taken to our hotel before our departure to the lodge the next morning




We couldnt pass by a quick stop over at Hooters in Panama City, for thier finger lick'n chiken wings




Tropic star lodge owns 30,000 acres, on which they built thier own little airport, as there are not any roads within 150 miles. People flew in with thier private jets, and others like us came in with a hopper plane organised by them.



Once we landed we had a short ride in thier truck to the beach and loaded up into long boats for a short trip to Pinas Bay.....the adventure virtualy began straight away.
Bill had been there a few times before and pointed out lots of things that l would be interested in. The first being leaf cutter ants, and heaps of other things that l've only ever seen on National Geographic.



 
The bugs there were huge, and we collected a couple of the female Rhino Beetles for closer inspection


 
We were taken to the lodge where we were given wet face washers to freshen up, and served drinks on the patio to take in the magnificent view



Albert the fishing director gave us a spill on the fishing there at the time, and just made me more excited about being there. Rooms were allocated to us, and dinners and lunch orders taken. After a few beers l was keen to get to my room, where our suitcases were already waiting....what a fantastic introduction to Tropic Star Lodge.




The next morning l was woken by a knock at the door, and opened it to find Patterson, with my morning cup of coffee...just the way l like it.
I stepped out on my own private porch, drank my coffee and absorbed the view. The skippers were bringing the 31 foot bertrams to the doc and preparing them for our departure at 6:30am. In the meantime we made our way to the lodge and enjoyed a cooked breakfast.




The bertrams were all identical, except for thier name and pretty floral colors. We scored 'Scandia', skippered by Capt' Gustavo, who had been at the helm for 30 years, and his young but very capable deckie Lerenzo...the excitement was building up and we were ready to go fishing




Thier prefered method of fishing is with live baits, and each boat had a great live well with 8 tuna tubes inluded where they were quickly filled on Zane Grey Reef just a few miles off shore.We also trolled skirted, and hard bodied bibed lure that were flogged by the many Wahoo there. We encountered lots of whales migrating through, and some even close to the boats for the tourists to snap up some shots.


It wasnt long before we were trolling, and watching lots of boats around us hooked up to Tuna, Sailfish, and Dorados.



It wasn't long before our reels started to screem with sailfish, double hook ups on Bull Dorado, and Yellow fin Tuna


Basicly we just kept our eyes peeled for fads, which there were many, and most of them produced fish.....we wern't the only ones hanging round the many floating logs

 
It wasnt long before l was rewarded with my PB Bull Dolphine fish, and Yellow fin Tuna Ever!



The fleet



We talked our skipper into taking us up along the coast to do some inshore fishing close by Playa de Muerto,one of the Wounaan Indian's Village, where the fishing was real good for some of the exotic species Panama has to offer

 
Bill done really well with his PB Rooster fish and Cubera Snapper, and also some good shots for the cover of his magazine



Bill snr also caught his first African Pompino, and l my first Amberjack.



Much smaller than Bills, l was wrapped when l was finally slimmed by my first Rooster fish

 
There were a few feeders around the lodge were these hummingbirds would zoom in for a feed, and l also couldn't help taking more shots of the fauna and flora there.



Oh...most importantly, the bar was well stocked and the bar tender up to speed with all the cocktails



One funny thing. Many of the guests wanted a photo with this soldier at the airport when we were about to leave, and he wouldn't oblidge. I stepped up and told him l was from Australia, and he then suprised me by chanting ozzie ozzie ozzie, and obliged. Got no idea how he knew that, and l along with everyone else was very suprised.

Well thats it, a very small glimpse into my very exciting trip to Panama, and l only hope that l get the opportunity to go there again one day soon
[/font][/size][/size][/size][/size][/size][/size][/size][/size][/size][/color]

[twoutes]

Here's a short clip of some of the offshore fishing we encountered on the trip.

[shanook]

As usual fantastic mate, the sea is so abundant compared to the med. well done

[twoutes]

As usual fantastic mate, the sea is so abundant compared to the med. well done

Thanks shanook.
Hopefully governments in med' will impose proper restrictions based on scientific studies to prevent full depletion of stocks

[Jonathan]

Great pics as always from you twoutes! Thanks for sharing

[twoutes]

Great pics as always from you twoutes! Thanks for sharing

Thanks Jonathan. Appreciate the feedback.

[shanook]

The mentality in the med is "kill yourself before others kill you".  Mind you this is slowly changing but will it come about soon enough.
Tuna have taken a breather with the new restrictions. We have seen an increase in numbers (just by observation nothing scientific).
We need to see an increase of inshore, coastal, fish and this can only happen if the trammel nets are abolished completely.
More fads closer to shore will increase the number of fish that will gather, the amateur will not touch the fisherman s fads and hopefully the fisherman won't touch these fads (last observation is wishful thinking).

[twoutes]

Over fishing and lack of fish management isn't only a problem in the Med' shanook, but it sure can make a huge differenace once the balance is in the fishes favour, and can quickly turn around with good management.One important factor, l think, is to have fish in the water long enough to mature, and they have the opportuinty to reproduce 1,000's of fry, which even by nature's sake have a very small survival rate.
Hopefully things will improve so we can not only keep harvesting seafood, but all the pleasures it gives us personelly.