There I was... minding my own business, no plans, yeah...then the phone rings. I think I said yes before I even got asked, Chris from lostcoastexcursions called and said "do you want to...." Chris is who Robbo and I had gone south with several times before, Bob, JBH and KK have joined us, Mingo and Mrs. Mingo, the delectable Vanessa made a splash a few years back... mmmm.
...anyway, Chris has sold the boat (Lost Coast Explorer) but is getting back on track with land based trips...not much has changed really just now we are on the worlds largest uninhabited tropical Island..instead of a boat. I liked it.
I had a buddy that was already down in Panama living it up so he joined us on the way out of town, the weather was very *tropical* rain/rain/rain/... not like the usual January trips I've done. Monsoon kind of rain.... then it started to rain.
Was pretty cool really..... tropical rains warmer than the shower water in the rooms, it would stop then the world would begin to steam, then it would rain some more. Of course we didn't even think about hanging back on the fishing though, got out to the island and ate a good lunch and we were off, I had gone a little crazy up at protackle.com up in Poulsbo pretrip and somehow wound up with a 52.00 popper, I chuck it up and let it fly off of the big surf rod, 1st cast a big Cubera Snapper blows it up...I get one yank and a crank and poof...fish off, dammit! work along the rocks a bit farther and I make the cast I want...right next to a big jagged rock...BOOM!! Grande Pez Gallo inhales the popper then turns back to his home, I feel the line on the rocks then I feel the line cut off on the rocks.... so sad, I had made less than a dozen casts and had more action than I expected for the day, not saying I will fill my box with the high dollar stuff, but the good stuff really does make a difference. We fish out the day with not a whole lot more action, some good follows, some good misses, but a long day of travel had everyone pretty well played out so we went in to get some food and sleep....in the rain.
Everyday is a new day... next morning, more inshore casting. I love that, long bombs sight fishing to cruisers and I was jinxed....missed or lost about a dozen fish that morning. I offer no excuses and I have no explanation. none.
Moved off a bit and was finally rewarded with this crazy fish, houndfish/needlefish/stickfish? I don't care if it's a nothing fish, it looked cool, it fought well and I got it. Happy.
We would take a break from casting every now and then a do a few laps around rocks and islands with the troll gear out...looking for wahoo or yellowfin, they were MIA, no success.
As they have a way of doing on these trips the days flew by, rains had backed off and water was calming down, so we made the run for Hannibal Bank, one of the worlds best Marlin/Tuna grounds, we've done well out there in the past and were looking forward to seeing what we would see.... what we saw was pretty much nothing, nada, zip. The bank was dead, oh well... roll with it...
..and go fishing. We managed to pick up a few Dorado on a current rip out on the big water to salvage that portion of the trip.....everyone loves a decent Dorado. Starvation averted.
Back inshore. The Blue Jack fishing was exceptional, many large fish, they may be a bit picky, but when the go off...hang on!
Back at camp the weather was getting better and better... pretty place, a few people that work the grounds and not much else going on.
Tito the giant crocodile was no where to be found...
But his kids were....we saw several Crocs up in the 15 to 20 foot range cruising around...one right out in front of the cabins, pretty cool..... kinda.
The fishing was improving with the weather and we stayed focused on the inshore stuff ... the muscles were starting to accept that they were not going to get a break and grinding it out began to pay off as I was starting to get my crosshairs on them.
The last day we started off with a bit of a troll....it worked, a nice Dorado..
Was a cool little rodeo Bull.
then we got onto a little mob of peanut yellowfin...not much for a battle but I was craving some more sushi..
It was our last day and the two other guys in the group were pretty well done... I could live with that because I had been itching to do some snorkeling and the last afternoon was perfect for it...
The transformation begins.
Oyster ceviche!
.....whew.
Then it was over and I came home.
didn't drink *quite* as much as usual, didn't catch any huge fish, but..... somehow I still had as much fun as I expected to, looking forward to my next run down to Coiba Park, Panama.
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stam
