Panama bound

[SamSteele]

Day 4 started early due to the tides and impending weather rolling in. Breakfast at 5:30 am and launching boats at 6. The boat ride out to the fishing area for the day was nearly 2 hrs due to both distance and weather.

Once there we had a few hits, but nothing seemed to be sticking. My son then caught a small blacktip shark on a big popper. I caught a blue runner for bait, and then hooked a nice jack crevalle.



We then couldn’t seem to buy a bite. We fished alongside two other boats from the lodge for the end of the day and they were hitting all sorts of species beside us, but it just wasn’t our day. I guess we used up all our luck yesterday. Oh well, one more day to go and here’s hoping it’s a doozie!

Day 4 done.

SS


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[Sloughsharkjigger]

Some great stories, location and pictures SS… keep it on.
Definitely an adventure with the boy on top of some crazy fishing!
I always say the best fishing partners are the kids no matter how old.

Heading to Italy Sept 2025. Amalfi Coast/Sorrento area. Just starting to plan it out.

Cheers

[58thecat]

Hopefully you get a YouTube vid for us to enjoy the trip with you as this is just teasing us!



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[thorne]

Those pic are absolutely amazing!! Great job!! Feb can't come fast enough now!!!

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Hopefully you get a YouTube vid for us to enjoy the trip with you as this is just teasing us!



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No YouTube vid. I did bring all my GoPros and mic’s, but it is just way too rough. No one wants to watch a video where you get tossed by waves for hours. Haha.

SS


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[SamSteele]

Day 5.

Well the song “It’s the final countdown” was playing in my head as we had breakfast this morning. We quickly finished up and got the boats launched while the wind was down. We headed in a completely different direction today, heading east instead of west.

The routine was started the same. Fast jigging with flat fall jigs in 100 ish ft of water. I hooked into a blue crevalle pretty quickly, which was pretty fun to catch.


The blue on its back was really cool to see.

We fished a while longer and got some bait, bonito and rainbow runners. A big rooster took the runner but not the 12/0 circle hook in it. I caught a spotted rose snapper that went into the box for dinner. We then had a shark chomp the back end off the bonito and decided it was time to move.

The previous day we had told our guide that we had already caught good roosters so we wanted to try for some other species. We ended up trolling for a while and got a wahoo to hit one of the cranks. Unfortunately it didn’t stay connected, but it kept us rolling for a while longer.

We then decided to do some deep jigging in 350 ish feet of water with 300 gram jigs. The wind and current was high so you had to predict where the boat would drift and the current would carry your hook so that it was roughly vertical by the time it hit bottom. Not an easy task in a bouncing panga!

My son dropped first and immediately connected with something very big. The local captain started yelling “grande piscado” and was really excited. It was at that moment that the 50lb braid broke. The guides were guessing but suspected that it was either a broom tail or Goliath grouper that got back into the rocks and cut the line.

While he was bringing his up, I got a tilefish. Not much of a fight, but a new species. I followed that up with another small snapper (didn’t catch the name). Both will be dinner tonight.



The guides decided that the current and waves were just too much to stay on the deep spot so we moved back to the area we started to end the day, catching a few more bonito and rainbow runners there.

And then the day was over.



Overall, a great trip. Caught lots of good fish despite tough conditions and got to spend some great time with my son. I will likely do a follow up post with thoughts on the lodge itself for those that are considering it. Kind of a pros/cons list along with some recommendations from our experience.

Thanks for reading along and hopefully you all enjoyed the posts.

Day 5 done.

SS


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[58thecat]

Another great adventure, appreciate the follow up on your trip as we are in the planning stage but in kayaks.


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[thorne]

Outstanding! Such that I have moved my plans up to mid Jan instead of end Feb...lol. got an itch that needs to be scratched! We'll done! Loved the thread!

[SamSteele]

I compiled a list of thoughts on Los Buzos while on the drive back to Panama City. Keep in mind that we did the Mixed Sportfishing package, not the kayak trips so things may be slightly different for them but most things will likely be the same.

Pros:
- Big fish possible
- On the beach accommodation
- Massage services onsite (for an additional charge)
- Rooms had AC
- Chance for world record
- Safe area
- Dinners were good. A lot of fish so if you don’t like it be prepared.
- Unlimited cold bottled beers for free.
- Reusable water bottles provided for each day.
- Hobie and Jackson kayak fleet.
- Outboards were in good shape. 60 hp Yamaha 2 strokes.

Cons:
- Fishing equipment is not great. Penn and Daiwa reels especially. They say they are switching to all new Saragosa 8000 reels, but we lost 4 good fish due to equipment issues. Poor split rings on jigs, braid with splices in it that broke under strain, etc. The main rod I used for jigging had three different braids on it with 4 different knots, plus the leader and the knot at the lure. That’s a lot of potential failure points if knots aren’t perfect.
- Long runs to fishing areas uses lots of time in the day. Perhaps this was due to the conditions and using pangas, but be aware.
- Nowhere to get snacks on site. There is a store about 1 mile down the road if you want to walk. Be prepared to speak Spanish though.
- Lunches were pretty pathetic. Basically either a PB&J or Processed ham and cheese sandwich on white bread, along with some cookies/crackers.
- Long drive from PC to the resort. About 6 hrs with two stops.
- No place to hang things in rooms to dry
- No TV in the room for watching movies at night
- Guides rarely fished, and when they did they would often hold a bait rig
- Only had one set of towels between the both of us for the week.
- No housekeeping in the room for the entire week.

Suggestions:
- Bring your own rods/reels if feasible and you have them. 7’ ft jigging rod and 5000+ size spinning reels w/ 50lb braid and 80 lb fluoro would be the minimum.
- Tipping is at the end when you clear your tab/check out but it is in a pool. If you want to tip a specific person, do it on Friday as you won’t see them Saturday.
- Bring any snacks you may want with you from either PC or the stops on the way to the lodge.
- Weather in Nov/Dec sounds unpredictable. Suggest Jan - May as time to go. Tuna in March
- Fishing activity ends by 2-3 pm at the latest. Dinner is at 7 pm. Be prepared to entertain yourself over that time.
- There is decent wifi, but power outages happen. Generators backup power but wifi doesn’t work as well off them it seems.
- Adjust your expectations. YouTube shows all these big fish, non stop. That was not our experience. We caught big fish but you had to work really hard for them and even then it wasn’t a consistent thing.
- Wear light clothes with UV blocking (we used a lot of Columbia Omni-Shade stuff). The sun is no joke down there.
- Wear fishing gloves, not for the fish but so the back of your hands don’t burn
- Suggest shoes that cover your feet, or socks to wear inside slip on footwear so your feet don’t burn.
- A small dry bag/box for your stuff in the boat. I had a small Pelican case that I put phones and sunscreen in. That helped keep them dry and safe. Keep in mind that they should be in shade or the phone will overheat when you want to take a picture.
- They use Garmin Striker sonar units, so if you don’t know them maybe watch a video or play with a display model before going to speed things up.
- There is no atm at the resort, so bring any cash you want/need. Most things at the resort can go on your tab which you clear at the end, but if you want to tip directly or end up walking to a different restaurant or bar and want cash you should bring it with you.
- The drive is long out to the resort, so if you get car sick, sit at the front of the vehicle and be prepared for some twisty roads near the resort.
- Bring Dramamine/Gravol (not the ginger ones). Suggest taking one the first night and then one in the morning for those windy days. We had some crazy wind and waves and didn’t have an issue with seasickness by doing the above.
- Unless you have someone to take photos of you with your fish on your personal phone, your guide will take a photo on his phone and then send it to the lodge where they will send all the photos in an email to you within a week or two. Which means you can’t post any fish on social media until you get that email with all of the photos.

If there is anything specific that you want to know, feel free to shoot me a message and I will do my best to help.

SS

[58thecat]

Thank you Mark for the detailed updates. Yeah we are looking for Kayak destinations and your input got us thinking perhaps elsewhere or bring the items that seem to be prone to failure on their end. Don't want that fish of a lifetime breaking off. Place seems our type of place more on the side of ruffing it. ohhhh decisions, decisions, decisions, at least there good decisions. Thx again.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by thorne

Outstanding! Such that I have moved my plans up to mid Jan instead of end Feb...lol. got an itch that needs to be scratched! We'll done! Loved the thread!

I got the last week of Nov guiding or I should say helping then we need to sit for extended breakfasts so I can pick your mind on your hot angling vacations, locations, items you use from past etc....

[SamSteele]

I forgot to mention that they have had 7 IGFA world records since 2019 and have unofficially broken many more world records.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s still a good place to go but wanted to share first hand experiences that you won’t see on the YouTube videos for those promoting the place. We had a good time, felt safe, and caught fish that had been on our bucket list for a long time. The things I listed would have helped me prepare better, making the experience even better.

SS


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[SNAPFisher]

Yep! Good write up and congrats on the trip. Prayers for good weather didn't help. I like your comment about this time of year. Personally I would book during potentially calmer times like the ones you pointed out....though that can always change. Probably March if the tuna are around.

Good on you and the boy for toughing it out! I can imagine a two hour run in those seas just to wet a line. I'm already tired thinking about it

[Coiloil37]

Thanks for the play by play without the instagram bling. It’s refreshing to see other locations and adds some variety to the forum. It looks like a good trip with the youngster.

I too have to deal with the weather and she’s an unforgiving master. It would be even harder from the boats you were fishing from and to the uninitiated the photos don’t give the seas justice. Cameras flatten out the apparent conditions.

If others are struggling with sea sickness on trips like that, compounded scopamine is still the best option. I’ve provided it to several forum members and could easily do it again. It’s the only thing that works for my two boys and I’ve yet to hear from anyone that it didn’t work for.

[HL_transplant]

Originally Posted by Coiloil37

Thanks for the play by play without the instagram bling. It’s refreshing to see other locations and adds some variety to the forum. It looks like a good trip with the youngster.

I too have to deal with the weather and she’s an unforgiving master. It would be even harder from the boats you were fishing from and to the uninitiated the photos don’t give the seas justice. Cameras flatten out the apparent conditions.

If others are struggling with sea sickness on trips like that, compounded scopamine is still the best option. I’ve provided it to several forum members and could easily do it again. It’s the only thing that works for my two boys and I’ve yet to hear from anyone that it didn’t work for.

Can't get the patches anymore in Canada maybe in countries like Panama they are common still idk

[Outbound]

Looks like it was a fun trip despite some struggles. Thanks for the write up and pics!

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by HL_transplant

Can't get the patches anymore in Canada maybe in countries like Panama they are common still idk

The lodge actually said that they have had a lot of people with adverse reactions to the patches. Vision issues and impaired cognition apparently. Not for everyone but enough that they recommend the pills over them.

Glad the posts and write up helped some folks.

SS


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[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by HL_transplant

Can't get the patches anymore in Canada maybe in countries like Panama they are common still idk

I’m talking tablets, not patches.

[Hunter Trav]

Glad you had a good trip with your son Mark, and thanks for sharing your adventure with us!!