All Aboard with Lost Coast Excursions! 5

For the second year in a row I had the opportunity to fish in Panama aboard the Lost Coast Explorer.  For a solid week we fished the famous Hannibal Banks in Coiba National Park.  It is by far the most remote place that I have ever been and fishing with Lost Coast Excursions is the experience of a lifetime. While the marlin fishing wasn't red hot while we were there, it is the variety that keeps me wanting to come back year after year.  Our group caught 22 different species of fish during the week and I'm not sure we even made a dent when it comes to catching the full variety of fish in the area. 

Back in July I came out with my bucket list of fish that I wanted to catch, http://blog.theoutdoorline.com/post/2009/06/23/Bucket-List.aspx and trips like this will certainly help.  I was able to scratch off #9 on the list with this big cubera snapper.

After that was accomplished it was on to to my first billfish for the trip.  One of the nice thing about the Pacific side of Central America is that the sailfish are huge and this one was no different.

At one point we were all excited to find a tree floating in the middle of nowhere.  Usually you can find any number of fish hanging out under floating debries and this tree was no different.  Unfortunatley, when we got a little closer we noticed a gill net tangled in the tree.  The net was holding two dead birds so we gave up on the fishing and our 1st mate Cody jumped in to cut it loose. 

After disposing of the net it was back to fishing.  One of the things that stands out from the week was all of the Dorado that were swimming around.  At times we were literally sight casting to them with poppers and jigs.  Catching dorado up to 35 lbs with medium weight spinning outfits is an absolute blast that has to be experienced.  At one point I casted a jig to one dorado only to see another go airborne three times before crashing my jig when it hit the water.  After setting the hook with a new Mustad treble assist hook the fish went airborne again and put on a show.

After getting another dorado to the boat I tried to gaff it myself as our captain and mate were helping others on the boat who were hooked-up.  As you can see below our 1st mate had to get wet to when things didn't work out as planned.

Beside the fun of fishing with Robbo in Panama for the second time, my buddy Del Stephens, aka "Tuna Dog" joined the party and did not dissappoint.  Del brought  along his Fish Trap swimbaits and caught dorado, skipjack, bonita, and yellowfin one after another. 

Del even caught two bonita at once with this Diawa jig.

For me, destination fishing is one of lifes great rewards.  If you haven't experienced wide open blue water fishing then you need to.  There is no better opportunity to do this than The Outdoor Line Billfish Tournament in Costa Rica in March of 2011.  If you have experienced this type of fishing then surely you can't wait to do it again.  Go to our trip section of www.theoutdoorline.com and sign up now.  The first 30 people to sign up get a Lowrance Out & back handheld GPS.  Don't delay, the best boats will be gone soon.