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Playa Muerto, Panama: A Break from the Rat Race

September 23, 2021 By InTheBite Digital Editor

 

playa muerto panama

A sweeping scape of Playa Muerto. Photo courtesy Jessica Haydahl

By Monte Richardson

The Pan-American Highway is something road-traveling adventurers discuss over a few cold beers. The fallacy of its execution lies in one small 60-mile chunk of Panamanian jungle aptly named the Darien Gap.

Save for this small sliver of rainforest, one could theoretically journey on the roadway clear from Deadhorse, Alaska on the banks of Prudhoe Bay all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina, some 30,000 miles of white line fever for the aspiring motorist. This gap in the road, a falling house of cards for someone’s magic bus, is home to Playa Muerto and a keystone civilization of indigenous natives named the Emberá.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Stories, Places Tagged With: central america sportfishing, fishing destinations, Panama, panama offshore fishing, playa muerto

Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge Reopening in November

September 8, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News, Press Releases Tagged With: coronavirus, covid19, Panama, reopening, Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge

The Marlin Bar– the Latest from Tropic Star

April 6, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

IMAGE OF THE MARLIN BAR AT TROPIC STAR LODEGE IN PANAMA

A sportfishing institution now has its latest landmark: The Marlin Bar at Tropic Star Lodge. Tropic Star Lodge is one of sportfishing’s most historic operations—and it has the photographs to prove it. From fishing pictures with John Wayne to all manner of giant yellowfin and huge black marlin, Tropic Star has it. Tropic Star recently unveiled its Marlin Bar. New and updated, it’s the perfect place to enjoy a cold beer and swap fishing stories. After all, you’re sure to make a few stories of your own while fishing at Tropic Star…

For a reminder of how great the fishing is at the lodge, check out this story we published last year.

The Bertram Bar, called Babe, allows you to drink your favorite rum drink at the helm of a 31’ Bertram all while overlooking the bay and Tropic Star’s fleet. You can certainly add this to the list of places we’re headed as soon as things get back to normal. In the meantime, here is a back stage pass from your friends at InTheBite….

seating the Tropic Star Lodge
seating the Tropic Star Lodge
seating the Tropic Star Lodge

seating the Tropic Star Lodge
seating the Tropic Star Lodge
seating the Tropic Star Lodge

black and white pictures hanging against wood wall
seating the Tropic Star Lodge

For more information on Tropic Star Lodge, please e-mail info@inthebite.com or fill out the form below and our InTheBite concierge service will be happy to assist you.

 

Filed Under: Central America, Featured Stories, News Tagged With: marlin bar, Panama, pinas bay, tropic star lodge

The First Place I’m Headed…. A Virus-Free Web Series

April 1, 2020 By InTheBite Editor

a guy in a boat holding up a tuna on the side gunnel of the boat

The First Place I’m Headed” is a virus-free web series published exclusively on InTheBite.com. It profiles the first places that we’re headed to fish as soon as normalcy once again returns to this world of ours…

By Elliott Stark

Every year in the middle of May, no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I get the itch to go to Panama. The yellowfin tuna and black marlin fishing surrounding the Coiba region of Panama that time of year is wonderful. The sight of big tuna stacking up bait on a floating tree, mashing as many blue runners as they can binge as fast as possible ranks among the most amazing thing you can see on the water.

I first became aware of the great fishing around Coiba Island in Panama while I was working at The Billfish Foundation. Of course, the great fishing here has been known to others for much longer than this, but things have a way of becoming important to you once you hear about them for yourself… My good buddies Captain Wade Richardson and his father John would take their operation—the Hooker, a 42’ Merritt the Picaflor and mothership to Coiba in April and May. That must have been 2010. Their stories– and pictures of the big ass blacks they turned loose– made quite an impression.

three boats side by side at anchor

The Richardsons’ fleet– the Hooker, the Mama Nido and the Picaflor.

In March 2012 I left The Billfish Foundation to take a job running a mothership operation in Panama. It was a pretty big leap that came with a giant learning curve, but the next thing you know, Alex (we’re married now, but were engaged at the time) and I were living and working on a 164’ ship with four sportfishers and a panga in tow. While our base of operations was in the Pearl Islands for most of the year, we’d take the boats to Coiba to fish April and May. Once there, we’d anchor in a cove on the island that was about eight miles removed from the Hannibal Bank.

We’d take out mostly Canadian and American charter guests, who on the whole generally had little to moderate offshore fishing experience—even less if you excluded salmon fishing in British Columbia. We’d introduce clients to tropical ocean fishing by tying them into big tuna and if they were lucky, a marlin or two. Most of them would leave with the same feeling about Coiba that I had.

Big yellowfin tuna from Coiba Islands, Panama

A nice yellowfin, with Coiba Island in the background. It’s easy to see why people like coming to this part of the world.

The first year the bosses brought down a film crew from Canada to document a trip fishing here. In three days’ fishing—a trip that spanned May 14, 15, and 16– we caught two blacks in the neighborhood of 600, a 500 or so pound blue, and pulled up to more than a couple frothing masses of tuna frenzying on the surface. Our other lodge boats caught a bunch of other fish too. Carlo Wein and his crew from Alterna Films had a front-row seat to just how incredible the place can be.

Our second year fishing in Coiba, Dale Wills came down with the 2012 Captain of the Year Rob Moore and Frank Rodriguez—owner of the Fa-La-Me. They had a captain of the year party on the boat and caught some really quality fish too. It was highlighted by Frank’s 700 or so pound black marlin.

During our second go-around in Coiba, I had the privilege of meeting Captain Shane Jarvis. We had a maintenance issue with one of the boats and Shane was nice enough to fill in and take a pair of clients fishing for us. It was a father and his son. The son was probably around 20 or so.

Captain Shane Jarvis with big tuna

Captain Shane Jarvis has a handle on the big tuna fishing in this part of the world.

How well did Captain Shane produce? Upon returning to the ship for the evening after their first day of fishing, the father was quite mad at me. He claimed that because Shane had put them on so many big tuna, that he thought his son had torn his biceps.  His son didn’t actually injure himself and by the end of their time the father was no longer mad (and the son had a bit better form fighting tuna).

And so it has been since returning to the states, Shane and I have remained friends. We see each other once or twice each year usually at ICAST or somewhere. Sometimes he comes to the house for dinner while in town for a boat show. We frequently talk about fishing and have been planning a trip for some time.

Shane and his father own a private island from which they have built their lodge from the ground up (www.fishpanamatoday.com). They host charter clients for most of the year. In January they took delivery of their third 33’ World Cat. A while back we published an article about the lodge and the story of its growth. Shane shared his story and about how the lodge came about.

He also told us about his favorite day fishing… Try this one for size, “There have been a lot over the years,” he says, “but if I had to pick one, I’d say the day we got a 50-pound dorado, a 50-pound cubera snapper, caught a bunch of tunas up to 100-pounds or so and released two black marlin.” Yes, that was all in the same day.

Shane put a trip together last year with our good buddy, and former contributor, Charlie Levine. Charlie went down in the middle of May. Shane put Charlie and his buddies on the meat—they mugged the tuna… mashed ‘em. Looking at Charlie’s nightly pictures from the trip made me a little sick that I wasn’t there (the guys invited me down, but I couldn’t make the dates work).

guys holding a two tuna and a mahi

Charlie Levine right) and his buddies fished with Shane. Try to tell me hes not having a good time.

2020 was going to be different. Shane called me up and said he was putting together a trip in May… the 19th to the 23rd. The plan was to fly into Panama City, spend the night—enough time to grab a giant super colita (20 ounce tri-tip steak) and a half pitcher of Sangria from Gaucho’s Steakhouse—before heading to Shane’s island for a few days of tuna slaying.

Goucho's Steak House neon sign

I’m not exactly sure of the timing at this point, but there you have it. What’s the first thing I’m going to do once things open up? I’m going to kill some tuna… a bunch of them with Captain Shane Jarvis. We’ll spend a few days racing around between Jicaron, Montuosa, Ladrones and the many other small and fishy islands that dot this very special, uniquely wonderful part of the world. It’ll be a few days of fishing with a good buddy or two, telling stories of trips past and those to come, eating as much sashimi and yellowfin sushi as Shane’s chefs can make, and trying to remember which type of Panamanian domestic beer I like best.

black marlin boat side

Did I mention that I cant wait to head to Panama as soon as this deal clears up?

Where’s the first place you’re headed? Send us a note you might see it on InTheBite.com. For more information on Shane’s Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, please e-mail info@inthebite.com or fill out the form below and our InTheBite concierge service will be happy to assist you.

World Cat boats

Shanes fleet of World Cats. Fast, maneuverable and walkaround.

Beachfront dining on Isla Parides, Panama at the Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge.

Filed Under: Adventures, Featured Stories, Fishing, News Tagged With: Coiba, Panama, Shane Jarvis, Sportfish Panama, Yellowfin tuna panama

Capt. Shane Jarvis: Building a Remote Private Island Lodge

December 27, 2019 By InTheBite Editor

Captain Shane Jarvis’ story is one of the meeting of opportunity, passion and hard work. Jarvis and his father have transformed a remote island in Panama into a first-class fishing operation – from the ground up. Here is his story.

Think running a charter boat in Miami or the Outer Banks is a tough way to make a buck on the water? Try operating a completely self-sufficient fishing lodge on a private island 12 miles off the coast of Panama. Were the need for self-sufficiency not enough, now consider that the island was bare when you bought it. Captain Shane Jarvis and his father may have undertaken the fishing equivalent of “Field of Dreams” – if you build it, they will come.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Central America, Crew, People, Places Tagged With: Charter Fishing, fishing lodge, Offshore Fishing, Panama

Tackle Tip Showcase: Captain Asael, Miss Spain, Tropic Star Lodge – Piñas Bay, Panama

November 21, 2019 By InTheBite Editor

Check out the 50w beer holder.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fishing, Tackle, Techniques Tagged With: live bait fishing, Marlin Fishing, Panama, Tackle Tips

InTheBite Dock Talk: Tropic Star Lodge in Pinas Bay, Panama

March 19, 2019 By InTheBite Editor

Panama’s Tropic Star Lodge has been a staple of the sportfishing landscape since 1963. The present is a very interesting time at Tropic Star.

This all access pass provides a look at one of the most unique and historic fishing operations in the world:

Read Tradition and Trajectory at Tropic Star in our latest issue of InTheBite

 

March 2019 Issue – Volume 18, Edition 2

 

Filed Under: Dock Talk, Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: Bertram, billfish, Black Marlin, Blue Marlin, boats, custom boats, Dock Talk, dolphin, dorado, fishing destinations, InTheBite, lifestyle, magazine, march issue, Panama, pinas bay, sportfish, sportfishing, tradition, trajectory at tropic star, travel, tropic star lodge, tropical, Video, yachts

March Issue 2019: Hitting the Docks Now!

March 13, 2019 By InTheBite Editor

Ready for a Spring Break? Check out the March issue of InTheBite, hitting the docks now!

March Issue 2019 – Volume 18, Edition 2

CLICK HERE to see all SUBSCRIPTIONS

 

 

Filed Under: Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: 2019, boats, Captains, Charter Captains, crews, digital, edition 2, hitting the docks now, InTheBite, magazine, march issue, Mates, old salts rule, Panama, print, splash reports, sportfish, sportfishing, spring break, subscribe, subscription, the professionals' sportfishing magazine, tournaments, tropic star, volume 18, young guns

InTheBite Super Fresh: Dolphin Edition

January 31, 2019 By InTheBite Editor

“Super Fresh” brings you InTheBite’s culinary adventures. This was fishing with Captain Asael and first mate Harol on the “Miss Spain” out of Tropic Star Lodge in Piñas Bay, Panama. How would you prepare this mahi mahi?

Filed Under: Featured Stories, General News, News Tagged With: adventures, blackened, ceviche, cooking, culinary, dolphin, dolphinfish, dorado, filleting, fish, fish filet, InTheBite, lifestyle, magazine, mahi mahi, Panama, sportfish, sportfishing, super fresh, tropic star lodge

A Mothership In Panama

November 25, 2014 By InTheBite Editor

Originally a servicing vessel for offshore oil platforms, the 89 foot 1966 Halter Marine boat, the Mama Nido is now a Mothership in Panama. Photo Jessica Haydal

Originally a servicing vessel for offshore oil platforms, the 89-foot 1966 Halter Marine boat, the Mama Nido, is now a Mothership in Panama. Photo Jessica Haydal

 

Making Mama Nido: A Mothership in Panama
by Monte Richardson

In 1515, Captain Antonio Tello De Guzman pointed his ship’s launches shoreward in an effort to bring home the bacon to Mother Spain. What he found was an indigenous village, which he interpreted to be named “Abundance of Fishes.” The locals called it Panama.

These days, Panamanian textbooks label the word to mean, “the abundance of fish, trees and butterflies.” In the native Kuna Indian dialect there is “bannaba,” interpreted to mean far away or distant. Even lost in translation, the Central American nation of Panama encompasses all those meanings and more.

Despite its slivery appearance on a map, it is a vast land: vast in all kinds of nature, where the sun will burn you quick and the rain rivals steelheading on the Olympic Peninsula. It has strange animals, some of which will only eat rotten mangoes and will only defecate in fresh water. It has trees as large around as a pickup truck and canopies of foliage that block the sun as if it were midnight. And it has those creatures that make our hair stand up straight on the back of our necks—the ones that swim—and in abundance.

For all that Panama has, its beauty can also be seen in what it [Read more…]

Filed Under: General News Tagged With: Mama Nido, Mothership, Panama, Picaflor

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