Veraguas Fishing Reports

The last couple weeks of fishing has been hit or miss here at El Rio Negro Sportfishing Lodge. The Water Temperature has been averaging around 82 degrees, a tad up from the previous two weeks. The winds have calmed down and scattered showers have become commonplace now that we are entering rainy season. (If you are coming to Panama anytime soon I would pack some good rain gear.) The Tuna have been just off the shoreline here on the Azuero peninsula (Cerra Hoya Natinal Park) which has made the popping quite exciting. We started most days working the poppers inshore near Isla Roncador all the way up to Punta Mariato with yellowfin hitting everything we threw all the way up the coastline on most days. The Tuna where everywhere in the medium size range. We are starting to see more and more Dorado as well up and down the coastline lingering in the drift lines. On the days we caught an abundance of fish the water was clear blue with superb visibility. On the slower days the water was “green” and filled with Jelly fish / Plankton with extremely low visibility. A few pics below. Tight Lines – Rio Negro Team

The strong winds have seemed to die down here on the Azuero Peninsula this April. After taking a beating in March it has been nice fishing on smooth waters. We have had spotted rain showers so if your planning on coming to Panama for a fishing charter I would advise you to bring some rain gear. The water temperature has been averaging around 78 degrees here in the Gulf of Montijo. The Medium size Tuna have moved in with some up to 130 lbs. They seem to be hitting everything we throw at em jigs, lures, poppers and live bait. An abundance of Tuna here on Panama’s Tuna coast! – Captain Ahah and Team

Still dealing with wicked weather here on the Tuna Coast. On most days the wind has been cranked up coming from the north, then by the afternoon it would switch coming from the south. The water temperature moved back up a tad from 76 to 80. If you’re into surfing there was a nice 6-8ft south swell rolling through. The Coinuja (blue runners) were less abundant than the previous 2 weeks when the temperature was lower. Most of the days we hugged the shore along Punta Mariato which was loaded with football size yellowfin tuna. The larger caliber tuna were found about 8 miles offshore but dealing with the chop made throwing the popper a challenge. We still managed to grab a few nice ones. The inshore scene was average with the assorted Sierra, Pargo and Jack Crevalle. Captain Ahah and Team

The beginning of March was brutal weather wise. The north winds were whipping 20-35 mph for 2 weeks straight minus a day or two. The positive was that it really helped to cool the water down along the coast of the Azuero Peninsula to under 75 degrees. Not wanting to take a beating we hugged the coast all the way past Punta Naranjo on many of the days. This made for smooth rides with the option to throw the popper on several hot reefs along the way. We had good luck with several Jack Crevalle and Blue Jacks. Once around Punta Naranjo we typically trolled live bait or Rapalas. The Yellowfin we hooked up along the coast were all smaller in the 20-30 lb range. We did better on the Amberjack side with one weighing in over 80 lbs. All the Amberjack we caught were caught with live bait. Repeat and repeat until the winds finally died down and we were able to run offshore to find the schools of big Tuna. Once we did the action was fast and intense. The Tuna are in. Pictures below. Captain Ahah and El Rio Negro Team

The water temperature is continuing to fall and is now about 79 degrees. This week the dry season north winds were very light making for very calm and smooth trips to Isla Coiba, Isla Jicarita, Isla Cebaco and Panama’s Tuna Coast on the Azuero Peninsula. We even had spots of rain showers. Not exactly the norm for this time of year. The first half of this month we had Richard and Francine from Ottawa Canada. They wanted to load a cooler with packs of fresh filets so we headed to Isla Jicarita which is a small island on the far south end of Coiba. As we approached Coiba we saw a ton of bait and bird action on the surface. We had some luck throwing the popper and snagged a few small mullet snapper. A short time later as we approached Isla Jicarita we dragged the teasers and plugs to see about picking up some tuna with much success. The porpoise and birds were working the bait balls just 300 feet off the Isla and the yellow-fin hit the lures immediately. The action was non-stop and a lot of fun. After Coiba we decided to try our luck near Punta Mariato just off Cerro Hoya national park on the Tuna Coast. First we picked up our live bait and also caught a few snappers and groupers jigging the reef while catching bait. We then headed down the Azuero peninsula to a reef called Roncador. We dropped live bait and had immediate success with some decent sized amberjack. There were also an assortment of small snappers and Jack Crevalle caught on the popper while trolling the live bait over the reef. All in all its been a decent first week of February.