Panama Fishing

My Brother Joe has bragged for the 25 years about the incredible fishing of Lago Gatun (the lake formed by the Panama Canal.) He has claimed that the reason you come back to shore is that you are quite simply tired of catching fish.

Obviously, I written this off to brotherly hyperbole. But I now confess to all who read this blog.....My brother Joe was right! So Joe, his son Ben, and I went fishing.

We hired a local guide with a flat bottom boat and something that looked and sounded like an outboard motor. He took us way out into the lake. He knew just the right spots to drop anchor.

We were fishing for peacock bass which run the size of our large mouth bass. At times all four of us would have fish on the line. At one time I had caught keepers on 4 consecutive casts. I simply made my cast with no bait on my bare hook. I caught my next keeper.

I am proud to say that I caugth the first and largest fish of the day. Obviously I have it pictured here.

This lake not only serves as the canal for huge ships, but also commerce for may of the locals. This is just one of many dugout canoes we saw on the lake.

Here is Arsinio, ourguide. He preferred the name Cholo. This name actually means half-breed, but to him it meant a man with a boat, which was a good thing.


This is a typical boat we saw on the lake.

Here is one of the boats cruising along full of passengers.