PEOPLE FISHING
Captain Rich Adler's account of fishing from Coiba Island
"Another side of Panama"
I
recently had the opportunity
to fish Panama.After hearing
the reports of anglers coming
back from fishing the mother
ship operations, we decided to
book a trip to Coiba Island to be
close to the Hannibal Bank. On
a Sunday, Captain Jerry Melia
of the Hard Eight, Mitch Poricov
of Jersey Shore Diesel, Michael
Hall, and myself left from
Newark Airport, New Jersey on
a four and a half hour flight to
Panama City.After overnighting
in this booming city we flew the
next morning in a small plane
to Coiba Island, approximately
250 miles to the southwest of
the capital and fifty miles off
of the mainland. On take off it
was pretty neat seeing all of
the ships waiting just offshore
to pass through the Panama
Canal.
Coiba is a fifty mile long island
that was used as a prison by
the Panamanian government
for many years. While new
prisoners are no longer being
shipped to Coiba, there are still
a few prisoners with guards
living there. The government
has now created a national
park on the island. After a one
hour flight from Panama City
and landing on a small air strip
at the prison camp, we were
met by Captain Tom Yust in
his center console. After the
prisoners loaded our bags for
us, we ran to our fishing camp
about 45 minutes away.
Captain Tom leases two
buildings from the government
on Coiba. One building can
hold up to six people in two
units. The other building houses
his staff and supplies. These
units are very Spartan, no hot
water (think cold showers) and
the government generator only
supplies electricity from 7 PM to
6 AM. The cold shower problem
was solved when a long black
garden hose was discovered.
After sitting all day in the sun, it
provided a nice hot shower after
fishing. It was tough shaving in
the dark, but we worked around
that.
We fished on a classic 31 foot
Bertram that was kept in great
shape, and all of the tackle was
first class. The first couple of
days, the pelagic fish showed
us no love, but we settled for
Rooster fish from 20 to 50
pounds and Cubera Snapper
from 20 to 65 pounds. When the
marlin woke up we released a
300 pound Blue Marlin that had
been previously tagged, broke
off an 800 pound class Black
Marlin, and then released a
300 pound Black Marlin. These
three fish were all encountered
in less than three hours. Later
the same day a couple of
Dorado decided to join us for
dinner.
When we weren't fishing,
the wildlife at the camp kept
us entertained. There were
parrots, howler monkeys, and
white faced monkeys up in
the trees, agoutis, opossums,
iguanas, and a 9 foot crocodile
walking around, and a resident
population of vultures looking
for a handout. As a diver I found
the snorkeling to be world
class, and I was able to get
right next to a green turtle while
Bluefin Trevally and Rainbow
Parrotfish were circling. The
food provided by our Culinary
Institute trained chef (notice
I did not say cook) was first
class and the open bar did not
hurt any either! We all agreed
on our return that this was the
fastest week of our lives and
we look forward to returning to
Panama in the near future.
12
When we weren't fishing, the wildlife at the camp kept us entertained!
The 43rd Antigua and Barbuda
Sport Fishing Tournament
takes place from 29th to 31st
May 2009 with total prize money
of EC$40,000.
This year the final awards
party will be at the end of
the second day of fishing, to
ensure all our overseas boats
get their moment of glory,
before returning home on Bank
Holiday Monday.
To enter the competition and for
news and updates check out www.
antiguabarbudasportfishing.com
ANTIGUA NEWS

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