Panama by John Featherstone

Brandon Wahlers - STOMPING Cubera Snapper

WIKIPEDIA

by Michael Takach

anama, officially the Republic of Panama, is the Southern most country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the Northwest, Colombia to the Southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the North and the Pacific Ocean to the South. The capital is Panama City. Explored and settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, Panama broke with Spain in 1821 and joined a union of Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela - named the Republic of Gran Colombia. When the latter dissolved in 1830, Panama remained part of Colombia. With US backing, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903. The Panama Canal was built by the US Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. In 1977, an agreement was signed for the complete transfer of the Canal from the US to Panama by the end of the century. Revenue from Canal tolls represent today a significant portion of Panamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s GDP. Panama has the third or fourth largest economy in Central America. It is also the fastest growing economy and the largest per capita consumer in Central America. Panama has the largest rainforest in the Western Hemisphere outside the Amazon Basin and its jungle is home to an abundance of tropical plants, animals and birds - some of them to be found nowhere else in the world.

Another cold winter was steadily approaching, being a commercial diver in Sydney this didn’t thrill me in the slightest, it’s the time of year that you can watch the morale levels steadily drop amongst the ranks, I was already yearning for Summer again and it wasn’t even over yet… Only one thought came to mind: ESCAPE! My girlfriend Jess has wanted to travel around Latin America since we’d met, her bank account had reached its target and she was ready when I was. Nothing had made more sense to me in my life. I wasn’t doing nearly enough spearfishing as I would have liked in Sydney, it always consisted of weekend trips up the coast that were often never enough to quench my thirst and scratch that itch on my trigger finger. I’d worked myself into a frenzy thinking about all the new fish I could spear, Cubera snapper (Pargo), Roosterfish, BIG Amberjacks, African pompano,

White sea bass, Corvina, Broomtail grouper and of course most spearo’s dream the mighty Yellowfin tuna, a fish that has haunted my dreams ever since I picked up a hand spear. After working with my company for the past 5 years it was a hard topic to bring up with the boss, I had mentioned the idea in passing but I think he chose to ignore the fact that I would ever leave. “Michael what did you get up to on the weekend?” “Ummm not much, just booked my ticket…” “Ticket to where?” “Central America” “Oh yeah? 1st I’ve heard of it, how long you going for?” An awkward silence filled the room….”I dunno, six to twelve months…” The look on his face was priceless, even with 3 months notice you could tell he was not impressed. With that hurdle over and done with, it wasn’t long before Jess and I were on the plane to LAX. The whole thing was a bit surreal after being in a routine

for so long, this was a feeling that I was soon to experience a lot more in the coming weeks…

CALIFORNIA

Target Species (In order of importance):White Sea bass, Sheephead, Halibut & Calico bass. In between Hollywood, Universal Studio’s and the myriad of other tourist traps that LA had to offer I managed to get some diving in with some great local divers. Word had spread that we were in town and were looking for people to dive with, the response from everyone in California was overwhelming, true spearo hospitality. Unfortunately Jess had picked up a nasty chest infection which stopped her diving this leg of the trip, I was gonna to have to go solo. I was lucky enough to score a spot on Richard Balta’s boat to stay overnight at Catalina Island, the plan was to hunt the elusive White Sea Bass, the rest

would just be a bonus. Jumping into 13c (55f) in a 3mm was a bit of a shock to the system, especially seeing as I came here to escape the cold! The excitement of diving in totally new surrounds soon warmed me up. Giant kelp stalks rose all the way to the surface, sometimes forcing you to keep swimming until you found a clearing to breathe. I was told that it was in these dark “kelp rooms” that I’d find my Sea bass. The trick was to dive down as quietly as possible and creep your way through the stalks hoping to ambush an unsuspecting WSB. White sea bass are similar to our Mulloway back at home, they are a part of the “croaker family” and this makes them just as frustrating to hunt in California as they are in Australia! It seemed like most kelp beds we visited, we’d hear some degree of croaking, this meant holding back on the good Sheephead & Calico I was seeing as not to spook any nearby WSB. As the sun went down my core temp kept dropping, thank goodness for Ritchie’s hot water system, which spent most of its time, stuck down my wetsuit! That night we cooked dinner on the boat and swapped war stories, I showed the boys some of the videos I’d made back home, “Dude you’re an asshole!” They were shocked with the variety of fish that is available in Australia. It seemed that there was only five species of fish that were really worth targeting in California, the two most popular, being WSB & Yellowtail (Kingfish). The reason for the giant cannons they used for everyday hunting was to maximise the chance of landing one of the prize fish in any opportunity it presented as they were few and far between, like I was soon to realise. The name of the game was time in the water, put in the hours and you would eventually be rewarded. The next day consisted of much of the same only with the hot water system working a bit harder than usual! At the end of the two days, I hadn’t even shot my gun. The opportunities I had on other fish were passed up for the ultimate WSB prize, no different to hunting Jewies back home. The other boys picked up some nice Calico bass for the table and we called it a day. It had been a great experience even though I hadn’t crossed anything off my list. It just goes to show that you don’t always need to catch fish to have an awesome dive. On one other occasion Brandon Wahlers took me to one of his local haunts, this time the water was even colder but I was lucky enough to borrow one of his 7mm suits. After a couple of hours of hearing only the odd croak, I decided it was time to cross some other species off the list. On my way back in, I picked off a small Sheephead for dinner, pretty cool looking fish, similar to some of our smaller wrasse species only they grow to a spear bending 16kg! Two weeks had passed in California, we had really enjoyed our time there and were sad to have to leave but we couldn’t afford to extend our flights

again! It was time for Panama…

PANAMA

Target Species: Yellowfin tuna, Cubera snapper (Pargo), Roosterfish, Almaco jack, Snook, Corvina, Wahoo. Upon landing in Panama, the first thing that hit me was the heat; 30c+(86f) May is also the beginning of the wet season so the humidity levels were off the charts. The plan was to see the sights of Panama City for a few days and wait for Brandon’s arrival at which point we would meet two more of his friends, rent a car & make our way up the coast. Jess and I met up with Brandon and his friends Eileen & Alex, we loaded up the brand new Toyota Hilux, a car that Alex would soon get to know very well… We drove through the evening and arrived at

our destination around midnight, as usual I had left all my rigging until the last minute and spent most of my valuable sleeping time tinkering with my gear. A few short hours later our pangero (Boat Driver) was waiting for us outside, seemed a bit pointless getting us up so early as we had to wait for the petrol stations to open anyway. After helping push the 26ft panga (Large fibreglass, tiller steered skiff)down the beach, we piled back into our car to meet the boat further down the coast to save fuel. Looking at the state of the ocean, we definitely had chose the better option. Our first dive spot was a high spot that came up to 18m(59ft), upon entering the water I was pleasantly surprised when my watch read 30c(86f), a slight increase from California! Like before, it was great diving in a new location,

everything was new, all the baitfish were distant cousins of what we have back at home. It wasn’t long before I started noticing some familiar faces as a couple of small Wahoo made their appearance. This type of spearing was all new to Jess, and I was keen to teach her some of the tricks of the trade. Trying to tell someone to completely ignore a Wahoo when they have never seen one is definitely easier said than done. It took me back to when I was trying to shake the Wahoo monkey off my back, trying to contain your excitement, as one of these ocean speedsters would just materialise out of nowhere, only to swim hard towards it, gun extended and eyes popping out of your mask, coming up twenty seconds later kicking yourself and wondering why it swam away. It was great watching her go through the same learning curve each time improving on her floating log impression. She wanted one BAD and the fish knew it. Apart from the occasional Wahoo appearance the spot was starting to quieten down so we decided to move a little closer inshore where the others had had success on earlier trips. Straight away upon entering the water the spot felt right, clearer water and a healthy current screamed potential. A nice school of Bluefin trevally swam through the thick schools of bait, cloaked in bubbles from the whitewash. On my initial drift, I didn’t come across much except some smaller schools of Cubera snapper (Pargo), Brandon on the other hand had found the deep cave where he had seen the Pargo on his previous trip. Sinking down to the bottom, with Alex filming from behind, Brandon crept up to the edge of the cave catching a nice Pargo swimming back into it’s lair, a quick shot from Brando stung the Pargo just behind the head. All hell broke loose as the Pargo tried to bury itself in the cave. Brandon, who was using his Riffe 130 Euro and reel, put the breaks on instantly and skull dragged the fish to the surface. It was a tough dive but the 15kg Pargo was in the boat. I tried unsuccessfully on a few more drifts to convince similar Pargo that my 130 Euro was made for good & not evil. The depth and the current soon took what little energy we had, away, and we headed back in. We had fresh Pargo for lunch and were all content on driving back to our Hotel and getting some much needed sleep, what a distant dream that turned out to be… One quick check of the surf and we were to be on our way, the first river crossing was a piece of cake, the second however, didn’t go as planned… It turned out that the middle of the river was a bit deeper than we had anticipated and before we knew it we were bailing out of the windows and salvaging as much gear as possible before the car was completely underwater. That surreal feeling crept in again as I watched the half submerged Hilux go through only what can be described as a cars death moan. The horn was fading in and out like a wounded animal, the indicators were still flashing as if the car was telling us which way it wanted to go (Out), in a final attempt at self preservation the dear Hilux wiped away its tears

by putting on the windscreen wipers before the horn played its last tune. The next six hours attempting to get the car out of the river turned into a community experience, half the town had come to see the spectacle, lets just say it was a case of too many cooks spoil the broth! With the car now out of action it was to be a few days before Jess, Brandon & I found ourselves back on the water as Alex & Eileen headed back to Panama City to deal with the “hire car incident” – a saga in itself, but that’s another story! Our Pangero took us to a few high spots in search of some big Pargo and Almaco Jacks to no avail, strong currents and dirty water made it hard to hit the marks and we decided to try our luck for Wahoo at another spot. As soon as we jumped in things were looking good, good amounts of life, clearer water and a healthy current. As I dived down to get a better look around, I noticed a wall of small Yellowfin tuna arching around me, I didn’t know at the time but Brandon was filming the school & Jess was also trying to close the gap for a shot on her own. I waited patiently for a fish to come closer but missed, misjudging the distance in the clear water, Jess also succumbed to the blue water curse… I’d never seen so many Yellowfin in one spot before, and the excitement of being able to finally land one of these fish was high. On our next drift the three of us were hanging around the flasher when three nice Wahoo swam straight up to us, Jess was the closest and we gave her right of way, she made all of half a duck dive and fired, the Wahoo did some sort of Kung Fu evasion technique and dodged the spear. The sound of Brandon’s reel gun goes off as he sinks a solid shot behind the head of a nice fish, the Hoo takes off like a bat out of hell, if it wasn’t for the fact that we were underwater, I’m sure smoke would have been coming out of his reel! Finally, I line up on the Kung Fu warrior that Jess just missed, cocky that he could pull the same trick on me he swims within two metres from the end of my gun, I raised my gun and shot the fish between the Anal & Dorsal fins a popular shot with our Spanish mackerel back home as there is a lot of sinew in this area and shots almost never tear out from there. The fish takes off so fast it leaves a bubble trail behind it! I look up and see my 2ATM float screaming across the surface. Then nothing, the float stops in its tracks, the fish was gone, leaving me a bent spear as a memento. At the same time, Brandon swims up to me holding the end of his mono that had snapped, probably due to an unseen nick after the Pargo Battle a few days earlier. All of this happened in a matter of seconds, it was sad to have lost the fish, it was just a reminder of how strong Wahoo are and how little room for error there is. This spot was going off! Back to the boat to re-rig our guns, I was left with a 7mm slip-tip spear setup for the reel. Not ideal for hunting Wahoo but it was going to have to do! Before we knew it we were drifting in the blue again trying to settle the score on the Wahoo. After a bit of burley thrown in to the mix, things started to heat

Brandon Wahlers - solid Wahoo

Mates and Fish! Does it get any better....yes, having your Gal along as well to shoot some nice fish! Brandon and Michael with some prize Wahoo

up again, I turned my head to notice a nice Wahoo swimming underneath me, I was getting ready to line it up when I noticed Brandon already down on the fish’s level, I gave him right of way and cursed myself for not bringing the camera on that drift! Brandon let the spear fly turning the Wahoo into a paralysed log. I was kinda hoping to see a scorching reel gun battle between the two but it was cool seeing all that potential energy frozen in an instant. As Brandon brought the quivering log into his arms we realised it was a big fish, later pulling the scales to 25kg(55lb) Things were starting to go our way. After a few photos, we found ourselves back up-current trying to get Jess & I one to call our own. Brandon decided to bring the camera and try to capture some of the action on film. It wasn’t long before he had the viewfinder focused on me lining up a nice Hoo that came in underneath us. As I drifted down on the fish, I extended my gun and sent the spear soaring, I could already hear the reel screaming as the line got ripped off the spool…Instead, there was nothing, for a second I thought I’d missed until I realised the fish was still there quivering. “Stoned another one baby!” Brandon yelled. Another potential

explosion averted! It was another nice fish weighing in at 20kg (44lb) We tried to get Jess a fish in the consecutive drifts to no avail, it was time to call it a day, it was just what we needed after all of the stress that came with the Hilux “Product testing”… We managed to squeeze a couple more dives in between dealing with the hire car and managed to pick up a couple more fish. On one occasion, while drifting with the camera, I filmed Brandon smash a nice Wahoo, the shot was just off the spine but it still put on a good show as it stripped line off his reel. The Hoo came in fully lit up as Brando brought it into his arms, they are truly a majestic fish when all lit up. A nice specimen weighing in at 18kg (40lb) The plan was for everyone to go back to Panama City to put an end to the Hilux fiasco leaving Jess & I to go it alone, no hablo Españiol. We decided to make the most of it and head out for one last dive while we were still in town. It was interesting trying to communicate without pangero, which mostly consisted of one-word questions and a lot of arm movements. On one particular dive, Jess and I were drifting in a blue desert, the current was down to a

slow trickle and the only thing that broke up working the flasher was yawning, lying there looking at my gun for something to do I noticed a flash in the corner of my eye, it was a monster Roosterfish swimming back down to the depths after it had came all the way up to check out the flasher, Jess & I couldn’t believe what we had just let past security. I got in the boat with a new found excitement trying to tell our pangero what we just saw. Arm movements described the size but I had no way of telling him the size of what, I strained my brain trying to remember the few Spanish words I had come to learn…”Grande Senior Pollo! Grande Senior Pollo!” I yelled as I wiggled my fingers above my head like a Rooster. The pangero looked at me with a bemused smile “Pez Gallo” he replied. I guess Big Mr Chicken wasn’t gonna cut it on that ship! We decided to change tactics and try a drift closer to the high spot, it seemed to work as we soon found ourselves drifting amongst thick clouds of baitfish acting nervously. I made a dive down to inspect the scene, a nice school of Wahoo about 10 strong cruised in, I pointed to Jess to intercept them but she didn’t see them in the milky blue haze. As I was swimming up, a wall of Yellowfin tuna surrounded

me, it was an awesome sight even if they were only football size, I made sure that I got really close this time and let the shaft fly. Aiming for the head, I hit the tail, not realising how fast they were actually moving. Although it was only a small fish, it could really move, my reel was humming! After a short fight I had my very first Yellowfin in my hands, although only 6kg I was left with a content smile knowing that I was on the right track. As a bonus, I managed to capture the whole sequence on video as well. Jess snapped away with her camera, immortalising my first Yellowfin, It’s always hard taking photos when you know fish are around but nothing beats a picture when the fish still has all its colour. I dived down while Jess stayed on the surface snapping away and as I was looking up at her, I noticed two dark shapes approaching from behind, as they got closer I realised they were Wahoo, good ones too around 18kg(40lb). I was pointing like crazy as the fish almost ran into the back of Jess’ head, she scrambled for her gun but it was too late, the Hoo obviously liked the back of her head much better than the front and made a hasty retreat into the blue… After a couple more drifts and a few more distant Hoo sightings, we decided to call it a day. A few days later, we found ourselves back at Alex’s place in Panama City eating fresh Yellowfin & having a laugh at the crazy week we just had. Although we didn’t get to our final destination, it was still a week that none of us will forget, especially since I caught the majority of it on film! It had only been three weeks into our year long adventure, the next three turned out to be even better but that’s for another issue!

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