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Star Jumpers
by Frank Bolin
Sails surrounded Vintage 360 degrees on the compass rose. Everywhere I looked, one, two, three, four, heck a hundred or more broke the slick Pacific sheen.
Some danced, many pranced, a few probably tailwalked for our entertainment. But, most charged sardine schools in a scene that slightly resembled Indians circling a wagon train in a classic John Wayne western.
Welcome to Panama, and Tropic Star Lodge to be exact, a solitary fishing outpost poised on the volcanic slopes of mountain-ringed Piņas Bay (translation Pineapple Bay) on the country's southern Pacific coast. The lodge is revered among marlin enthusiasts for its spectacular black marlin fishery. But, blacks are a January-February thrill and my trip was in late April, just in time for the start of sailfish season.
The first step of any lower Panama sailfish jaunt is to catch bait. After that, sails are practically a done deal. So it's a good thing that procuring bait doesn't take too long, not with the endless anchovy/sardine schools encountered along this jungle - and I mean impenetrable jungle - coast. To stock up, simply troll and/or jig skipjack tuna schools with small bucktail or Mylar jigs. The idea is to bail enough skippies into the boat to rig a day's supply of Panama strips - the standard sailfish bait for Tropic Star's 14-boat fleet of 31 Bertrams and guest boats alike. Make sure to catch lots of bait. While I was there, 50 sailfish shots per morning were commonplace and 46 anglers competing in the Presidential Challenge Panama out of Tropic Star Lodge released 570 sails.
Sailfishing the southwest Panama coast is an adventure I'd recommend to anyone, especially spindlebeak freaks in need of a heavy fix. Instead of relaying the trip in words, I chose another route - bombarding your senses with visual images. Kick back and join me on a spectacular Panama angling journey.
Continued...
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