huge broomtail grouper caught off of the tuna coast in panama

January 2020 Fishing Report

The beginning of the year started out with a bang. The month of January was rainy for about a week but, overall sunny. There were slight offshore north trade winds coming from the direction of the gulf of montijo. The water temperatures varied in the upper 70’s to lower 80’s. The north winds had started slightly, but it was not the normal 20+ knot north wind coming out of Puerto Mutis that we typically see in January. The fishing on the tuna coast and Cebaco Island was outstanding.

Three groups joined us for the month of January at our all inclusive private panama fishing lodge here in Playa Reina, Mariato. Fishing all our normal spots including Sombrero Rock at Cebaco Bay, Punta Mariato, Aguja Reef, Gulf of Montijo, Hannibal Banks, Isla Coiba, Jikaron and Jikarita which is the southern most point of the Coiba Island Archipelago.  We fished 19 days out of the month of January and did not come across another sport fishing boat on the Tuna Coast of Panama. 

Group 1

Our first group of January was the Mendez Family who came from Boca Raton Florida. They came specifically to catch tuna’s on topwater poppers and to spear a few in open blue water. The first three days we spent chasing tuna around the Azuero Peninsula and Cebaco Island. The water had a green hue to it and didn’t have the best visibility. So we stuck to catching the tuna on poppers and spinning gear. Everyone caught dozens of tuna and we also released our fair share as well.

The last two days turned magical, as the water changed to crystal blue with superb clarity for spear fishing. So we started early and ran out past Cebaco Island’s sombrero rock to search for the boiling panama tunas. We ran about 40 miles off shore and found the birds working hand in hand with the porpoise and tuna working the sardines. Our guests were lucky enough to tag multiple tuna for each diver on both days. A truly magical 5 days of tuna hunting. The group left with their allotted filets perfectly vacuum sealed and flash frozen at our lodge ready for transport back to Florida.

Group 2

Our second group of January was the Morris Group from Austin Texas. The Morris duo had fished with us before and wanted to introduce their grandson to “offshore” fishing. We did our typical run a few miles offshore of the southern most point of the Azuero Peninsula near Cerra Hoya national Park. As luck would have it the birds and tuna were working the sardines fairly close in to shore. We had a heck of a day catching and releasing tuna on Halco poppers and Yo-zuri swim baits. All the tuna were in the 20 pound range. After spending the mornings popping tuna we ended the day jigging and dropping live bait on the inshore reefs. This produced some nice broom tail grouper, cubera snapper and rooster fish which were all caught by their 12 year old grandson Kyle.

Group 3

Our third group was Juaquin Carrizo and his wife from Sao Paulo Brazil. This was Juaquins third time back, he wanted to focus on jigging and inshore fishing. We started by fishing some hotspots in the Gulf of Montijo and had good luck with some small corvina and mangrove snapper. The following day we decided to fish inshore with live bait and had good luck with cubera snapper, broadtail grouper and your typical rooster fish. Before leaving our lodge, Juaquin reserved our last available slot in May 2020 to come back and pop for tuna. 

All in all the month of January 2020 was a success. A very consistant Cubera snapper bite near Cebaco Island during the entire month. Along with inshore rooster fish, broom tail grouper and corvina. Offshore we found the porpoise and along with them the yellowfin tuna. Although the large tuna have not yet arrived we still had a blast catching the smaller ones on topwater poppers.