During the last three days in March we at Cebaco Bay Sportfishing Club were visited by Warren Sellers, who had come down from Costa Rica bringing six friends with him. They fished from “Extreme“, a 31′ Bertram and from a panga. Here is his report. TR
The temporary lack of blue water prevented the Marlin and Wahoo from making their usual appearance in Cebaco Bay, Panama but the group downshifted to topwater plug casting the shoreline and jigging the reefs. Final tally for 3 days is as follows,
DAY 1
1 Sailfish..140 lbs..caught trolling
1 Roosterfish 35 lbs..top water casting
1 Yellowfin Tuna 25 lbs..vertical jigging
1 Dog Toothed Snapper 40 lbs..top water casting
1 Rock Snapper 20 lbs..top water casting
3 Grouper 8-20 lbs..vertical jigging
2 Almaco Jacks 5-12 lbs..vertical jigging
3 Jack Crevalle 20-25 lbs..top water casting
2 Blue Fin Trevally 15-25 lbs..top water casting
DAY 2
8 Blue Fin Trevally 8-25 lbs..top water casting
2 Horse Eye Jacks 10-15 lbs..top water casting
1 Roosterfish 35 lbs.. live bait
1 Roosterfish 60 lbs..top water casting
8 Yellowfin Tuna 30-65 lbs..trolling
DAY 3
1 Dog Toothed Snapper 60 lbs..live bait
1 Dog Toothed Snapper 40 lbs..top water casting
1 Roosterfish 50 lbs…top water casting
4 Jack Crevalle 20-30 lbs top water casting
These are the numbers of fish caught and released, many others were hooked but were not brought to the boat to be released. We fished miles of shoreline, reefs and islands with no other boats or people in sight… imagine had the water been blue with a heavy black marlin bite going on….no one in the group had any complaints about the fishing and the amenities on board the mothership were first class, the crew was well versed in their capacity to find fish and tackle was as good as it gets….I plan to make another trip in August 2012 as I can’t wait to return for more wilderness fishing
Warren Sellers
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We were visited by Dale and Richard for three days of fishing during March. Dale had particularly wanted to catch Roosterfish, and he was not disappointed. He sent us this photo the other day.
That’s a good sized Roosterfish, though I’ve just read that the IGFA record is 114lb.
Tight Lines
Tim Rowley
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I headed out to Cebaco Island with Capt. James Wiese, his son Kyle, Kyle’s friend, Ian Goodrich, and Don Rogers who is well acquainted with the Cebaco area. This was the weekend of the 24th and 25th March
We left Panama before dawn to meet a boat at Puerto Mutis. After a breakfast stop en route we arrived at the river port and were met by Cebaco Bay’s ‘Boston Whaler’ with twin 124Hp engines and after a short time were speeding along the ever widening river, past numerous islands and out to the far side of Isla Cebaco. We are planning to replace the Boston Whaler with something else. It was described to me as ‘essentially a lake boat’ and it rolls rather a lot whilst moving about onboard. It also rolls rather a lot when in a swell and when reversing towards a catch, therefore it is not a good sportsfishing vehicle, but fine for our transits between the island and the port. I have been documenting the restoration of a 31′ Bertram and now I found out that Jim has purchased some more of this same model, the Cebaco fleet is expanding.
A short time after arriving we were in Jim’s 56′ Viking, the “Aguja” and headed out to Aguja Reef. We were not met by the flocks of birds that we had hoped for, indicating where the shoals of bait fish were near the surface. Capt Jim soon radioed back to the Cebaco Bay mothership to say that we would be away for the night and we began marinading some pork chops for supper. We were headed for Isla Jicarita and luckily ran across a school of bonito on the way and put five in the baitwell within a few minutes for use the next day.
One stunning sunset later at our anchorage on the lee side of isle of Isla Jicarita we rose in the morning and put the first livebait on the line. There was a tug and then a weightless line as the bonito bait had been bitten right through. It then happened to the other one that we had in the water. Kyle and Don reeled in and place fresh baits on their lines. After a few minutes of letting the bonitos run Kyle received another knock down and his reel screamed as line sped out. He increased the pressure and started reeling in, hauling the rod upright and then winding in fast as he doubled forward lowering the tip towards the clear blue water, and then repeating the process as he hauled in this sizeable catch a few feet at a time. The reel then started screaming again and Kyle realised that it was something very strong, and also realised that it was a porpoise. I asked if it could be hooked as it had not let go of the bait, and could have bitten right through it whenever he wanted, but Kyle answered whilst straining on his bent rod, “porpoises never get hooked, this b****rd’s is just playing with me!”
It gave him a good workout as well, and knew all the tricks: diving deep; trying to get under the boat; letting him wind in a bit before stripping the reel again … Kyle was fuming and a colourful flow of expletives flowed from his lips. Eventually the porpoise let go, or bit though, and half a fish was returned to us. Perhaps the bait fish finally tore in half putting an end to the porpoise’s fun.
We travelled to another spot and lost saw the remaining livebaits returning crushed, presumably by Cubera Snapper. Jim and Don slected the poppers for the day and we soon had Kyle on a fine Grouper and Ian pulling in a Cubera Snapper. I myself was invited to the chair and handed the rod with something large on the end. The reel stripped line but I must have been too slow to apply the pressure and the fish presumably darted into a crevice in the rocks. It wasn’t budging and the hook soon came back with no fish -we think it had been a good sized Cubera.
We returned to Isla Cebaco and enjoyed the beach, refreshing ourselves in the small surf of the bay. The evening saw a feast. Grouper is possibly the most delicious fish of all, though I’m sure that this comment could provoke much impassioned debate. This was served with a huge salad prepared by Nigel, who fame is for Salmon fishing in Alaska.
Tight Lines
Tim Rowley
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Capt. Jim Wiese recently brought guests to Cebaco Island to experience the beauty and tranquility of tropical Isla Cebaco and to experience the thrill of open ocean fishing. The guests were Rafael of SalfaCorp and his family from Chile. SalfaCorp and Intercoastal Marine Inc of Panama recently joined forces in the building of docks, marinas and other marine engineering projects. James Wiese is the president of I.M.I.
Capt. Jim Wiese with Rafael and his family managed to catch a dozen 20lb. tuna one day, much to the delight of the guests as they had never before experienced offshore fishing. Needless to say there were a lot of smiling faces round the dinner table that evening as they tucked in to something really fresh.
Tight Lines
Tim Rowley
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Rob Robinson came to Cebaco Bay with two friends and fished from 14th – 16th of February. I know this is old news now but there are some very good photos to show you – starting with Marty holding a fine African Pompano. All of these photos are of fishing inshore from a 27′ superpanga
Marty holding a fine African Pompano
Rob with a colorful Roosterfish
Bait Choice for the Day
Rob fishing from the panga
Rob and friend with Roosterfish
Holding up a Blue Jack
Rob, Ervin & Cubera Snapper
Cubera Snapper on Floating Popper - Wow, great action !
Roosterfish on Popper
Tight Lines
Tim Rowley
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