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Old 05-03-2011, 06:15 PM   #46
PeterCorreale
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

After the group from the Ukraine we actually had a group of guys come down to do some light tackle fishing with us. They had a great trip and managed to land two personal best Tunas on Fly rods. We had plenty of action around Montuosa as well as out on the bank, and we had a couple days of perfect weather conditions. They ate shashimi everyday untill they where sick of it, and fished themselves to near exhaustion. We found a nice floating tree off of Montuosa one day and i jumped in with just a mask and a gaf and put a decent triple tail on the boat for dinner. I also jumped in and got some good go pro footage of the guys with tuna on Fly rods. It was a pleasure spending a week out there with these guys.... enjoy the photos
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Old 05-03-2011, 06:48 PM   #47
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

On our last trip we had a group of exceptional divers come down. Though we didnt put any true Slobs in the boat everyone was able to land some nice fish, including Joes 13 year old son Aiden who put a perfect shot on a nice rooster fish, he then proceeded to wrestle the beast and drag him to the boat like a man possessed. Watch out for this kid, he will probably have more fish under his belt by the time he is old enough to drive then most of us will have after a life time of spearfishing. It was a great trip with plenty of sushi on the table, good fish stories and the beer flowing smooth. enjoy the pics! cheers!!
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Old 05-04-2011, 11:14 AM   #48
saltierdog
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

I was a little disappointed on this trip
Things did not completely work out as well as I had hoped.
There were some engine problems which caused us to lose most of the first day
No tools on the boat, the supply boat was supposed to maintain radio communication with us in case of emergency but the guys were not available (had a radio but likely turned off)
After leaving filet knives on the boat from the last trip and bringing down another knife and my own cooler and ice the crew still did not have their act together and a couple of hundred pounds of the tuna that we shot spoiled
The boat was way too crowded with 4 paying divers plus peter diving and no deckhand to manage equipment or filet the fish. I found myself driving the boat again on this trip and having to figure out my own drift patterns from in the water instead of having the crew figure it out from the boat (which is a lot easier)

the support crew was drunk most of the time (sometimes first thing in the morning) the cook was however awesome once again
and Marylyn the camp host really takes care of the things under her control like a great loving mom

the bank was a bit overcrowded with boats to the point of being dangerous
and the fishermen intentionally tried to drive us off the highspot by making very close passes (and succeeded making our last day a failure)

After a full 2 months of being shot at the fish are already wise to whats happening
we found on multiple occasions that pulling the trigger on a small fish shut down the action and the big fish would not come up at all

My major goal was to get Aidan to shoot a YFT unfortunately that did not happen
partially because It's not easy to shoot YFT (he missed twice) but also because of things that logistically could have been avoided (he only had 4-5 sightings a better run boat could have easily tripled his opportunities)
The trip cost me 5K
I will go back again next year (hopefully with my son) but things are gonna have to change for next season and the sloppiness needs to go away

On a lighter note
aidan had a great time it was a real big boy adventure for him
and with his new mako fins it was great to see him dive to 30 feet with some hang time. I was stoked to get some reef time in with him and watch him stone a nice 3 lb parrot
I also got to shoot a fish close to 100 lbs with my wong mahi (aidans setup) proving to myself that you don't need an 8 band cannon all the time
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Last edited by saltierdog; 05-04-2011 at 11:25 AM.
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Old 05-04-2011, 03:48 PM   #49
fishnstix
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

some food for thought there joe. persistence will pay off and that cow fish will get a shaft to the face.
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Old 05-09-2011, 12:31 AM   #50
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

My friends and I got back a week ago from our spearfishing Panama trip and its time to give a little report. We didn't do the full blown tuna trip because we're all poor 20 something year olds, and did mostly inshore diving.

To start off, Panama City was a cool place and hotel prices were very reasonable at $60 per room with a great breakfast buffet. Then, the 6 hour direct bus ride to get close to the camp cost $12!! It was comfortable as well with reclining seats, movies, and AC

After getting off the bus, we had a transporter truck waiting for us. It was a toyota tacoma truck with the benches in the bed. It took us on a short 15 min ride through the beautiful country to the little mangrove port. From there we headed to the camp, which was another 15 minutes away.

The setting of the surf camp is absolutely beautiful and remote. Outside the house we were in there were howler monkeys, parrots, toucans, iguanas, and tons of land dwelling crabs. A pretty fun scene for someone who lives in the desert!

The next 6 days we spent attempting to surf, and doing close to mid range spearfishing trips using a nice 28 ish foot panga. The viz wasn't the best--around 20-30 feet, but it was enough to work with (Apparently its a lot better Jan-mid May). We boated dogtooth, yellow, and mullet snapper, Rainbow runner, tons of sierra, roosterfish, snook, and blue fin and golden trevalley.

As far as the food goes, it was incredible. Marilyn is an amazing cook and spoiled us big time! Everyday it was something new, plus sashimi and ceviche daily. A big highlight for me was spaghetti with pargo meat balls!

When day 7 rolled around we decided to go out to the bank for 2 days to try our hand at tuna. Glen wanted to take his boat out of the water for significant maintenance, but we convinced him to let us do just one more trip. Turns out he was right, after about an hour of being at the bank the cutlass bearing gave out. I guess with the last group they got tangled in a long line and it must have weakened it substantially.

The good news was my buddy Colin had shot a little tuna so we had sashimi to eat haha. The other good news is that we had enough floatlines to make a long enough anchor line, because we were in 220 feet of water. We added a 400 ft of neptonics floatlines for a total 600 ft. It held up great in strong current until we were picked up. I was glad we didn't have any Chinese made, mono core POS floatlines!

Anyways, we made it back to camp just fine, and decided to defer our tuna pursuits until next season. All in all it was great trip, and It was a super fun place on top of the spearing. Considering its Glen and Pete's first year doing this they did an awesome job. They're looking to improve the operation by adding 1-2 more boats for next year, and possibly a changing ports to avoid tide delays. Great guys!

For anyone considering going I'll share a few bits of advice. Bring good bug spray, I recommend ultrathon. Also, I slept fine all nights, but one night I got hot. It would be a good idea to bring a battery powered fan. Lastly, If it wasn't already obvious the camp and the island aren't for people who dont like roughing it a little. If you have a problem with that go with one of the more expensive charters. Having said that, I dont think you'll find better value for your dollar than right here.

Shane
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Last edited by inshanity; 05-09-2011 at 09:10 AM.
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Old 05-09-2011, 09:58 AM   #51
Marco
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

Looks like fun!
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Old 05-14-2011, 04:56 AM   #52
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

I was with two friends of mine (a father and a son) on Montuosa trip on Easter week. We had engine troubles on the first day and the same continued later, but then it was known how to handle it so not that big of an issue after the first day. Another issue with the boat was the oil spilling to the back area of the boat - not good since we were fly fishing.
The Panamanian crew of the operation had quite a Panamanian attitude. So don't expect everything to go as you planned instantly. Not really the best in the world, you know. Eric's eyes were pretty brilliant in spotting birds/fish thou.
There are bugs on the island. The older of my friends' (the father) legs were like chicken pox legs in the end. I think almost half of the skin area was of the red spots. So, thick socks and long pants might be a good thing to have. And no, the bugs didn't really fear repellent regardless of the make and if it didn't have deet or had 50% of it.

But. And there's a but to the above down-things. The Island is awesome. Tropical paradise island defined. Fishing grounds are just a few minutes from the beach. We saw marlin and tuna from the beach. And, of course schools of skippies and jumping rays were common things to see while having your breakfast or brunch by the table.

It is very simple out there, but it suited us. We liked it very much. Actually, I loved it that way.

We caught fish, got some great photos and video footage - from underwater too (thanks to Pete).

The food in Morro Negrito was brilliant. Marilyn knows her stuff in the kitchen. THE best food I had in my time in Panama (I spent over a week in the country before going to Morro/Montuosa), bar none. Morro is, at least for now, separated in two opearations running in the same facilities. We were pleased to be guest for Glen and Marilyn. And after talking with the other clients of both operations, we can highly recommend Glen and Marilyn.

But, the fishing part could have been a lot worse as well as things on the island could have been a lot worse too if there hadn't been for one guy - Mr. Peter Correale. Our hats are off to you dude. You rock. And sorry about the eternal crave for the sashimi, we didn't know you had to cut it all yourself. But we really appreciate that treat - once a year thing that just melts in our mouths.

The fishing was a bit tough, the tuna were there but they were mostly skittish and you had to have everything lined up perfectly to catch one. On some days they were just phantoms and sometimes just neglecting the flies and/or baits. Would the fish been on a hotter bite, we would have done more snorkeling - something that we thought we should have done more when thinking back on the trip at the airport hotel. We just had too much hunger to catch more of those tunas on the fly.

Cheers,
Sakke
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Old 06-03-2011, 08:00 PM   #53
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Re: Panama Spearfishing Reports

I'm new to spearboard. I've always been interested in marine life, fishing, and diving. Last Decemeber, I took a one week trip to Morro Negrito for some uncrowded waves to help improve my crappy surfing skills. I scored some good waves for somebody as bad and out of shape as me and didn't have to worry about other surfers in the water. However, we were surfing near the rivermouth where the bull sharks breed, and I did have a baby bull come up to my leg. One of the big reasons I chose this surf camp was that they offered fishing.

I met Pete Correale there and was pumped that someone passionate and knowledgeable about fishing was at the camp as well. Pete's a real cool guy and had great stories about fishing from CT, Hudson Canyon, and Costa Rica. I instantly knew I would have a good fishing buddy for this trip and lucked out big time. He had been providing some snook and sierra mackeral for dinners at the camp. Morro Negrito's fishing locker was a bit of mess, but Pete reorganized it and properly set up all the rods which was key to me having a good fishing trip. Once we were all set up, we planned on going to some pinnacles 30-40 min away. Unfortunately, the main boat was under repair and couldn't make a run to the Hannibal Banks.

First day, we get to the pinnacle and I jump in for a snorkel while Pete's spearfishing. While I'm snorkeling around the pinnacle, a wahoo comes cruising by and I surface looking for Pete. He's 100 yds off at this point and he can't hear or see me. Either way, I'm fcking stoked at this point because it's a first for me to see a wahoo. I'm obsessed with pelagic fish so this was a big win for me. Pete comes back and I excitedly tell him about the wahoo, but I'm sure he was probably thinking,"oh he prob just saw a barracuda." I get back on the boat and go trolling with the captain. 4 minutes into trolling the captain's reel just starts whizzing and I see a wahoo thrashing at the top of the water. As the captain is bringing the fish to the side of the boat, another wahoo comes swimming up as I'm leaning over with a gaff. I tried to gaff the other one but just missed. It was the captain's first wahoo and he's got a huge grin on his face. When we troll back to the pinnacle, I see pete with this huge fish and I'm thinking awesome he got one too. We get closer and it's like a 4.5-5 ft barracuda. An hour later and one lost wahoo by me, Pete is the happiest guy in the world since he just speared his first wahoo. I jump in snap some photos and another wahoo comes cruising behind me. Man what a fcking great day. I did eventually get a wahoo trolling on the second day. Wahoo sashimi is possibly the best out there.

Anyways, Pete introduced me to spearfishing and let me mess around with his gun at another reef and shot a trigger fish. Since then, I've speared some hog fish in Belize and did a little spearing in La Paz. Little did I know, 5 months later Pete is slaying monster tuna and living the dream. His pics and video footage are amazing. Now, I am obsessed with spearfishing and read this board all the time. Half the time, I'm laughing at all the stupid drama on here. Now, I'm trying to acquire all my gear now to do some kelp hunting around southern california. Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks to Pete for introducing me to this expensive, time consuming, and awesome sport.

On another note, I had a great time at Morro Negrito for uncrowded surf and good fishing. You have to know what you're getting into for all those people who complained about it on here. The food was great, the staff was excellent, and Steve, the owner, was a real nice guy. I highly recommend the place and wish I was good enough to go on one of Pete's Hannibal Bank trips.

Cheers,

Jerry
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