I finally made the trip to do some fishing in Panama for the Peacock Bass. We stayed at La Finca Leona. http://pesca-arenosa.weebly.com/finca-la-leona.html It was a beautiful little cabin on the edge of the jungle. Monkies past by the cabin a couple of times along with many different species of birds. A very friendly place to stay. It is located on a farm but the environment is very natural and the eating was first class. The next morning we went to http://pesca-arenosa.weebly.com/ to fish. We went out on a pontoon boat on Lake Gatun. First of all the lake was impressive. It's basically a flooded jungle. The pontoon boat would ride over the tree tops. This made for the occasional thud. The guide drove pretty cautiously though. I see why. Some of those submerged trees where 4 feet across. Sticks where placed into some of the trees to help mark where the boats could drive. It being toward the end of the dry season down here the lake was pretty low.
The guide would buzz over to an area. We would throw a couple of casts using minnows. If nothing bit, we would buzz over to the next place. The guide was without acception the first to catch a fish at every spot. The fishing was better then I had ever expected. At times it didn't even seem fair. My two kids were banging on the boat doing kartwheels and Sargento's where still biting. We had one rally where we started throwing Rapala's out and would get a strike on every cast. We caught about twenty fish at this spot. All weighed about a lb. or two. We didn't catch any monsters but it was a great experience.
The coloring on the different fish was interesting. Some would have distinct stripes and others wouldn't have any. Some where spangled like crazy and other just green. We caught about three with red eyes and the rest had yellow. They were all fighters though.
On the first day we caught around 80 in six hours, and the second day we caught around 40 in three. What fun. The last pictures I know are pretty sad for someone who appreciates this fishes beauty but the peacock bass is going strong in Panama. Lake Gatun is around 165 sq miles and the peacock bass has actually started kicking out many of the other native fish. We kept about half of the fish and the others went to the locals. Everything under a lb or if it swollowed the hook was let go.
The guide would buzz over to an area. We would throw a couple of casts using minnows. If nothing bit, we would buzz over to the next place. The guide was without acception the first to catch a fish at every spot. The fishing was better then I had ever expected. At times it didn't even seem fair. My two kids were banging on the boat doing kartwheels and Sargento's where still biting. We had one rally where we started throwing Rapala's out and would get a strike on every cast. We caught about twenty fish at this spot. All weighed about a lb. or two. We didn't catch any monsters but it was a great experience.
The coloring on the different fish was interesting. Some would have distinct stripes and others wouldn't have any. Some where spangled like crazy and other just green. We caught about three with red eyes and the rest had yellow. They were all fighters though.
On the first day we caught around 80 in six hours, and the second day we caught around 40 in three. What fun. The last pictures I know are pretty sad for someone who appreciates this fishes beauty but the peacock bass is going strong in Panama. Lake Gatun is around 165 sq miles and the peacock bass has actually started kicking out many of the other native fish. We kept about half of the fish and the others went to the locals. Everything under a lb or if it swollowed the hook was let go.
