Jigging and Popping at Boca Chica, Chiriqui, Panama

Great fishing in Panama's Gulf of Chiriqui. Tuna seemed late.
Finished another fun trip to Panama with the guys. This year, rather than fishing out of Cebaco, we tried something different and went further west to fish with Kerry Leggett's operation called Come Fish Panama. Kerry runs a nice operation out of Boca Chica, which is a short one hour flight from Panama City to David, and then from the airport, another one hour van ride will get you to the hotel right on the coast. This location provides convenient access to fish the smaller islands and sea mounts in the Gulf of Chiriqui. While the hotel is used to accommodating groups of loud smelly fishermen, it's definitely not your typical fishing hotel. It also caters to other eco-tourists, and has upscale amenities like an on-site restaurant, infinity pool, massage center, A/C, and daily room service. After an early morning tableside breakfast, it's just a short walk downhill to the dock and off to the fishing grounds.

Depending on the sort of fishing you want to do, inshore is as close as a 15 minute boat ride that will put you on roosters and cubera along the pristine coastline. Heading out a little further and you will reach the islands of Islas Secas and Isla Ladrones, with endless jigging spots along the way. We were able to pick up a big 25-30# african pompano on the first day jigging, and that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the 5 day fishing trip. On other days, we fished further south to Montuosa, Hannibal, and the furthest at Isla Jicarita and Jicaron, which was about a 2hr boat ride, picking up broomtail groupers, mullet snappers, silkies, and a really nice 45-50# cubera. The jig spots were anywhere from about 80-200ft, and we used an assortment of speed and flutter jigs between 100g-230g. There was current at most places, but nothing severe. 50# braid with 80# leader is probably the minimum you would want to fish with at those spots. Large cubera inhabit the deeper water reefs, so if you want to target them, bring your heavy stuff and it may be a good idea to hit the gym a few weeks before your trip. We had a few mystery fish that didn't have a problem making runs with 30# of drag pressure, leaving us scratching our heads after being snapped off. Our captain showed us a picture on his cell phone of what he said was a goliath grouper, which was about the length of his 5'11" frame, and easily twice the girth of himself. I didn't know we had goliaths on the Pacific side until I came back and looked it up, but it was massive. He caught it on a 100g jig. Highlight of the trip was we were catching quite a few of the small Amberjacks and releasing them when a MASSIVE Cubera exploded on the surface to take one of them. Looked (and sounded) like a grenade went off next to the boat!

The tuna were there, but not in large numbers yet. It seems like the season is getting pushed back a little later this year, as we didn't see the typical open ocean boils that are just begging to throw a cast into. Instead we spent an afternoon chasing them behind the commercial long liners. They were mixed in with the dolphin and would occasionally boil behind the fishing boats. This sort of fishing was like sniping, requiring you to patiently wait and shadow the commercial boat until the boil showed up; then maneuver the boat so as to not startle the pack, and make a precision 80 yard cast into a 30ft diameter boil that lasted seconds, while being careful not to snag the commercial fishing lines. Yeah, it was tough. We managed to pull only one Yellowfin Tuna about 45# out of that afternoon, and then set a course for home.
Overall, it was another great fishing trip to Panama, and the waters around Central America never seem to disappoint. Here's a short video of some of the fishing we did.
This trip we were testing some new gear listed below:

Prohunter Mafia Gen 2 Popping Rods: H, XH, XXH
Prohunter Safari Popping Rods: H, XH, XXH
Prohunter Safari 5 pc Travel Popping Rods
Prohunter Safari 3 pc Travel Jigging Rods
Ocean Legacy Keeling Stickbaits
Ocean Legacy Long Contact and Hybrid Contact Jigs
Nomad Streaker Jigs
Daiwa 2020 Saltiga 14000, 18000, 20000