So…my wife grew up in the Canal Zone from 1964 to 1976…her dad was a canal pilot and later the harbor master. Her childhood friend , who was born in the Canal Zone, decided to bring her mother’s ashes back to Panama to rest with her father that was buried there. Initially, this was supposed to be a “ladies only” trip with all the friends that grew up there…but by the time the trip was formed, several of them had dropped out, leaving only my wife, her friend and her daughter. This is when they asked me to accompany them…after some thought, I agreed to go…but I was going to bring a couple fly rods with me.
Panama
- Thread starter Brute
- Start date
SilverFly
Legend
Nice report. Doubt Panama will ever make it onto my list, but love learning about new places. Cool fish too. I'm starting to develop an interest in the various mackerel species - likely due to the speed factor. Wahoo of course, but Spanish and Sierra Mackerel seem like excellent fly targets.
Well, since this trip wasn’t an actual fishing trip, I cannot attest to how good the fishing really is , although I suspect it could be fantastic. If one actually booked a fishing charter with guides familiar with fly fishing gear, this report would have been drastically different. I made do fishing from the resort boat shuttle for clients of the resort…and the boat captain, although knowledgeable of the local waters, only fished with a hand line for bottom fish species…I still had fun though
A most enjoyable thread, nothing iffy about it. Pictures of the canal, locks, ships transiting, food, historical images, more food, beverages and fish. Nope, nothing iffy.
Back in around 2006 I stayed at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort, which is near the town of Gamboa that was built to house canal zone workers on the Panama Canal. My wife and I went out with a local guide and fished on Lake Gatun and/or the Panama Canal. The guide was more of a conventional fisherman, and spoke limited English, but he tried to figure out our fly fishing. We fished the side bays and caught a lot of small peacock bass, and tried searching the main canal for rolling tarpon, but didn't find any.
The guide would pull up at a spot and make a few test casts. If he hooked a bass, he would have us start casting our flies and we would catch quite a few peacocks until we wore out the school. If he stopped and made a couple casts and didn't catch anything he would say "no fish here, moving". Like Brute, we weren't there for a hard-core fishing trip, but it was pretty interesting looking out and seeing these huge cargo ships cruising by in the distance by as we fished. But it's not every day that you get to fish in the Panama Canal.
Very nice. Thanks for taking the time to post can comment.
Git yerself some Molas!
They’re made in Ecuador.
I think they're the same fish... but what I do know is they make fabulous sashimi and ceviche.
The very first ceviche I ever had was in Costa Rica in the early '80's...Spanish mackerel...it was delicious...
I can attest to the fact the Spanish are excellent fly rod fish. Perfect 5/6 wt fun and tasty also. Short bite tippet recommended as they have some sharpies. School fish so if you find them you find a bunch, all look-a-likes. Sierra’s tend to be larger, but still a school fish, with different markings and coloration, and like warmer waters on the Pacific side. Sometimes the term Spanish is used as an all encompassing descriptive. This side of the Americas has the Atlantic, Spanish, King, and Cerro or Cerra, too lazy to look up but all are great table fare. Kings are local favorite.
