10 Days in Panama searching for Peacock Bass, Tarpon from a drift boat, and Jack Crevalle.
When people hear Panama, one of the first things that come to mind is the Panama Canal, of course. Unless you have seen this for yourself, it’s pretty tough to comprehend just exactly what happened when this impressive feat of engineering was achieved. I’ll have more on the history of the canal in a future article. For now, I just want to recap the 10 days I spent in Panama.
Travel
I got the early flight out of Grand Junction and my first layover was in Denver. Smooth flight and even landed 15 minutes early. Some winter weather was moving into the state, and my next flight would be delayed a bit due to the plane needing to be de-iced before takeoff.
That hour long delay resulted in it being necessary for me to run through the George Bush International airport to catch my flight to Panama City. If I missed that flight, I would be unable to get to Panama until the next day. Thankfully, I was able to make the flight, and I would be in Panama as expected.
Day 1: Drift Boat Tarpon
My buddy Tyler picked me up from the airport upon arrival into Panama City. We took a quick Uber ride to the hotel, grabbed some dinner, caught up a bit and went to bed, as we had an early wake up time the next morning to head to the river.
4:45 AM alarms went off. We turned on the coffee and got ready for the day on the river. This drift boat tarpon thing, as far as I know, is unheard of. Tyler is pioneering this venture with some local fisherman, combining his knowledge of utilizing a drift boat for fishing and their knowledge of the river.
I caught my first snook and tarpon within half an hour of fishing. Nothing large to speak of but I was pretty happy. I had an opportunity at a nicer tarpon but missed the hookset. On this day, the water was pretty high making it a challenge to get our flies in front of the fish. Greg, a client of Tyler’s was able to hook into and land a nice 20 lb tarpon. Getting to witness the acrobatic jumps that I had previously only seen on YouTube videos was fun to watch!
There will certainly be more to share on this aspect of the trip, but this trip was mostly to establish a proof of concept, which I believe it accomplished. Stay tuned for more on the drift boat tarpon fishing in the future!
Day 2 - 6: Lake Gatun
My purpose for this Panama trip was to help out Tyler who needed someone to host his clients at the Gamboa Rainforest Resort. He would stay on the river, and each group of clients would spend a day with him there and fish Lake Gatun the other days. I was there to make sure everybody got checked in, had everything they needed, and give everybody the itinerary each day.
During this span, we would have up to 3 boats out with 2 anglers on board. We’d fish almost 12 hour days catching mostly Peacock Bass. Fish counts each day were pretty high and the aggressive nature of the Peacocks made each eat very rewarding. There was some opportunity for Tarpon and Jack Crevalle, but the odds would be against us there and we would never get one to hand.
The Peacock Bass, however, was more than up for the game. We caught them on top water “poppers” and “girglers,” as well as subsurface baitfish patterns. Most of the fish were around the 1-2 pound range. However, most everybody saw a fish greater than 3 pounds and some even saw some potentially breaking the 4 pound range.
This strain of Peacock Bass is the Butterfly Strain. They don’t get as large as the Amazon strain but have all the aggressiveness and territorial aspect, which makes them just as fun to catch.
Each morning would start by getting picked up from the hotel around 6 AM. From there, it was just a 3-minute ride down to the marina, where we would load up the boat and be off before the sun had fully risen.
The fishing included thousands of blind casts towards downed trees, logs, and various types of structure. Targeting structure like this would have any bass angler feel right at home. However, the trees, sea grass, and other flora were not forgiving. Most errant casts would require us troll the boat over and grab the fly out of the structure. Just the nature of the beasts really, and the guides were more than gracious about helping get our flies back!
Speaking of guides, I would be remiss if I didn’t include a little segment about them. I don’t think there’s a doubt in anybody’s mind as to who the best captains on the lake are. Hands down it’s Gerardo Duran and his crew of captains have the lake dialed in and know where to find the fish. They are also one of the very few outfitters who fly fish on the lake. You won’t be disappointed if you decide to fish with these guys.
Day 7 - 8: Rest Days
After 6 straight days of hosting and fishing with clients, it was time for a little relaxing time. Perfect timing, as this first rest day was my birthday and I spent it enjoying a leisurely day at the resort. I made sure the last of our crew was headed to the airport before I settled in on the hammock on the balcony. I would spend much of the day napping and lounging only interrupted by lunch.
The next day I would be reunited with Tyler and we would have a couple of days left to do what we wanted. We’d spend a half day at the pool, enjoying the beautiful weather and a few adult beverages. A half day of chilling would be more than enough, and we chose to fish a bit more before heading back to the states.
Day 9 - 10: Rest Days
A half day, afternoon trip was in order for our second to last day. We knew this wasn’t the best time of day to be fishing but it was better than lounging at the pool again. Plus, you never know what will happen out there. We managed to catch a few Peacock Bass and saw the canal when the winds really pick up. Little did we know that would be foreshadowing for our final day on the water.
Final day, we chose to spend it with Gerardo and try to focus on getting some tarpon or jacks. We all had our fill on the peacocks and wanted to try our hand at the notoriously difficult lake tarpon. They proved as difficult as they say, as we didn’t have any shots at them. It didn’t help that wind was really blowing. Nonetheless, we had a great day in the boat, and it was a fine way to wrap up my first trip to Panama.
Join us in Panama in 2027! Dates will be released soon!
2 Comments
Kevin Courtain · February 15, 2026 at 2:36 pm
Nick!
I enjoyed reading about your experiences in Panama! Thank you for sharing and posting pictures of the Peacock Bass. So vibrant in color!
Cheers to you and your adventures!
nlatoof · February 15, 2026 at 8:36 pm
Kevin! Thanks man! Great to hear from you. I appreciate those kind words and glad you enjoyed the blog!
Hope you are well man!