Collecting Rio Boqueron

[duanes]

Saturday Aug 15th, 2025 Dani Atencio, his teenage son, and I went on an @ 2 hour trip north, to collect the Rio Boqueron, near the city of Salamanca, in the Colon province of Panama. The Boqueron is a river that flows north, down the Cordillera Central mountain range into the Caribbean, and is about 60 miles north east of Panama City.
It was hoped that we might find some different species than those found in the southern rivers, where we had been collecting over the last months.


On my 1st cast of the net, I brought up an adult Sturomatichthys panamanese, but that was it for me, all subsiquent casts were empty.
Over the next 3 hours of casting, Dani brought up an, 8" machaca (Brycon guatemalensis) and a number of smaller tetras, that were all eleased, but no other species.

As you can see, the river was quite low, maybe only half its normal depth.
The pH was the lowest, I have measured here in Panama, @ 7.8, yet nitrates were still undetectable.

 

[Conchonius]

Other than the amazing fish, I have to say that I really appreciate you crediting your guides in these collection sorties. I would imagine that hiring someone familiar with the area (as well as a second pair of hands to cast!) is indispensable for this kind of operation, kudos to Mr. Atencio for helping you along.

 

[duanes]

He really knows the area, knows the access points to the rivers, knows those rivers that are too contaminated to have healthy fish, those that will only contain Tilapia (or other invasive species) , and also now has an SUV with the ability to hold a few people and gear.

Compared to just someone that just lives here in Panama, and owns a car he is invaluable.
And because I'm an old scrape, helps with access to areas I have a hard time in, and.....has a sense of humor.

 

[duanes]

The Machaca (Brycon guatemalensis) got a bit banged up during collection yesterday, so I'm not optimistic about its chances of recovery.
Sometimes collecting goes well, sometimes it doesn't.