Fishing trip of a lifetime with Rene.
In short, he is a fantastic guy, a master in photography (the best shots of you and your fish) ,incredibly knowledgeable about fishing and seemed to know every square inch of the Panama canal and Lake Gatun. He has a great boat and incredibly high quality fishing gear all purpose built and perfect for fishing there.
The story about my half day fishing trip.
Before the trip Rene contacted me several times establishing my ability level and finding out exactly what rod and reel set up I preferred. He even brought a baitcasting reel and rod so that I could try this out too.
The trip started in Gamboa where I met Rene and climbed aboard his boat. He had brought 6 rods with him for our trip and a tonne of tackle, literally a mountain of lures to try.
We started off collecting fresh small livebait near the marina and headed off up into lake Gatun. It was a flat calm day and we started by trolling a few lures just for a few minutes over a likely stretch. Then we begun casting lures at rises we saw amongst the tree stumps. Rene beforehand showing me the most productive action to use for each different style of lure I fished with. My sole aim on the trip was to catch a peacock bass, I really hadnโt expected to catch anything else.
The fish became more active, seeing quite a few rises. I hooked into and landed after a few jumps a lovely ladyfish. I then managed to catch my first tiny peacock bass.
It was then that Rene noticed some much larger swirls and said to me โTarpon!โ.
He quickly grabbed one of his heavier set ups and tied on slightly big popper. He knew exactly what to use. After the first cast using this the water around the popper exploded. I had been sceptical that such a compact setup could handle such a giant fish! But Rene assured me that the 60lb ultrathin braid and rod (which I had almost folded over later) had landed umpteen huge tarpon in the past.
Rene coached me in the fight periodically checking the drag, telling me when to thumb the line and drag the fish away from structure, when to let the monster run (often after the 7+ leaps clear out the water). We noticed toward the end of the 45 min fight that the fish was going to fight to the death. We both would have hated that to happen to such a giant. So Rene got me to tighten everything up, pumping the fish to the surface testing all his gear to the limit and brought the fish alongside the boat. We decided to keep the fish in the water as it was exhausted and there was no way it would survive being handled. Rene quickly removed the hooks and began to reviving the fish. Then as it regained its strength with a big shake of its head the monster was away. I day I will never forget with a good 45min video of the whole fight recorded to prove it!
Later still reeling from all the adrenalin of such a fight Rene remembered that I had been after some Peacock bass. He took me into some fantastic areas expertly guiding us through tree stumps with his bass motor. Here I caught at least 5 beautifully colored peacock bass. Loosing a few much bigger specimens on live bait in the tree trunks. We saw a massive 4lb+ fish but I was unlucky and managed to get my line tangled whilst trying to cast excitedly at it and spooked the fish. This was caught the next day by another very happy client.
Overall a fantastic morning, Rene is a legend and you will be more than happy booking a fishing trip with him and Panamafishingtrip.
Fishing trip of a lifetime with Rene.
In short, he is a fantastic guy, a master in photography (the best shots of...
