Destination: Gamboa Rainforest Resort

By Jan S. Maizler
Article & Travel Editor

Gamboa Rainforest Resort stands at the juncture of the historic Chagres River and the vast Panama Canal. This places it in the midst of a lush jungle habitat with an enticing array of gamefish. Though the area is home to huge numbers of peacock bass-locally called sargento-, our first mission was the pursuit of the saltwater species that traverse these waters just like the big ships that pass through the rainforest on their way from one ocean to another. The marine gamesters we pursued were the nobility of inshore fighters: snook (robalo), tarpon (sabalo), and cubera snapper (pargo). Mission number 2 was to enjoy the abundant sargentos.

Planning

My habit was to make sure I'd be bringing sufficient fishing tackle and plenty of lures. Though I'd learned that the Resort had ample gear and artificials for these marine gamesters, I always worked under the assumption I'd be more effective using my own equipment.

Since I needed some guidance in my tackle planning, the resort management kindly put me in touch with local fishing legend Horacio "Chicho" Clare. He advised me that anglers fishing this vast area obtained the best results by trolling- this enabled them to cover the most water per hour of fishing. The most effective and comfortable vessels were eighteen to twenty-five foot center console boats with quiet four-stroke engines.

Chicho quickly understood that while my choice of fifteen-pound spinning outfit(s) was a good one, I needed tutoring and help in choosing terminal tackle as well as the locally "hot" lures. He told me to obtain three six-inch and three four-inch swimming plugs that would "run" at four feet while trolling. He also instructed me to bring fifty feet of eighty-pound fluorocarbon leader and six eighty-pound ball bearing snap swivels that would attach to the lures to prevent line twist.

Chicho imparted some final advice and said, " be sure to choose red and white colors for your plugs. This will be the ticket for getting you a nice snook, tarpon, or snapper, my friend." Indeed, I was to learn that Chicho used this very method to release a twenty-pound snook and a seventy-pound tarpon the week before my arrival.

Gamboa Resort

My wife Shermin and I had done considerable research into Gamboa Rainforest Resort and looked forward to its' central placement in the pristine hills, lakes, and forests of Soberania National Park. We were also anxious to experience the resort's architecture, grounds, accommodations, dining, services as well as it's many featured attractions.

Our nonstop flight from Miami to Tocumen International Airport took less than three hours. We quickly identified the resort driver for our transfer drive by the well-marked sign he carried and his crisp attire. He quickly loaded our luggage and my rod tube into the Gamboa van and we were off!

I was delighted that our one-hour ride from the airport to the resort took us through Panama City. Both Shermin and I were impressed by the modern skyscrapers, tree-lined streets, and rows of cafes that passed by through the windows of our van- some particularly upscale streets and section of the city reminded me of Paris.

As we arrived at the resort, two staff members stood at the lobby doors and greeted us with hot hand towels and cool tropical fruit punches to freshen us from our transfer and welcome us to Gamboa Rainforest Resort.

After a quick check-in, we were escorted to our room, which was well appointed and decorated with the vibrant colors and textures of the local Hispanic and native Embera cultures. But the most striking feature of our room was the view from the balcony, which afforded a striking vista of the pools, fountains, and manicured gardens that abutted the banks of the Chagres River and was topped off by a rising horizon of misty-topped and deeply forested hills.

We took advantage of our free afternoon to explore the pools, multi-tiered lobby, spa and fitness center, meeting rooms, tennis courts, and grand ballroom. We topped off the day with an excellent bird's eye tour of the jungle aboard the resort's Rainforest Aerial Tram.

As dusk descended on the region, we choose the Chagres Riverview Restaurant amongst the three eateries for our first dinner. We lingered over a gourmet-quality meal of sautéed scallops, fresh shrimp, spinach and goat cheese salad, and filet mignon. As the meal concluded, we retired early, since we had to meet Captain Benjy Serrano in the resort lobby at 6:45 a.m.

A Time To Fish

Dawn came in seemingly no time at all. We hurried to the lobby, and greeted Benjy, who spoke very fine English. It took only ten minutes to get downhill to the marina, load up our vessel and get underway. On the way to our first spot- about a fifteen-minute ride- our captain oriented us to the odds of our quest. Since he'd have one and one-half days to fish with us, he felt that any snook or tarpon caught during that time would be a victory. He explained that trolling these vast waters with plugs presented a far greater challenge than cherry picking the big schools of inlet snook with live bait in my home waters of south Florida: as I gazed across these seemingly endless jungle habitat, I heartily agreed.

Our "cruising for a bruising" with a linesider or silver king began with testing the tracking of each swimming plug alongside the boat. When we saw each lure dance the rumba that seemed to pulse throughout this friendly country, we'd let the lures back about one hundred feet behind us.

The fishing on day one was a bright stoic affair that resulted in three hard jolting strikes, but no hookups. Benjy opined that the strikes were not the suction-cup engulfing hits that a cloudier day with less cautious fish would afford. We agreed to begin the next day an hour earlier, as so Benjy could be at our first spot in the lowest light conditions possible.

Day number two began as the misty morning he was looking for. Within the first ten minutes, I had a massive strike and jumped a tarpon over eighty pounds. After trolling one hundred more yards down the jungle shore, Benjy turned the boat around. As my lure completed its arc and resumed a straight track on the troll, I hard a solid strike and struck hard. Since the drag whizzed out with no accompanying jump, we quickly assumed we hooked a snook. Within two more minutes, our hunch was confirmed as a nice nine-pound fish was swung aboard and released. Ten minutes later, I had another strike, which yielded a slightly larger snook. As the rising sun broke through the mists, Shermin jumped a tarpon of about fifty pounds. The action slowed as the day heated up, but Benjy's broad smile only confirmed we'd achieved our goal not once-but twice- in a new exotic destination that we were sure we'd be seeing again.

Sargento Time

Now, we were ready to have a go at all those prolific sargento. Benjy ran his vessel for about an hour into a vast side bay loaded with trees. He proceed to navigate carefully through their midst until he found a relatively open area. After letting out the anchor, he took out ultralight spinners rigged with either small hooks and split shot or small bucktails.

When the smoke cleared in two hours, we had released over 40 plump sargento!

About Panama

• While Panama is one of the most developed central/south American counties, it also features some of the finest pristine jungle and coastal habitat in the western hemisphere. In addition, this country's politics are stable and its' peoples are extremely friendly.
• Spanish is Panama's official language, although English is widely spoken.
• Panama's year-round temperatures range from 75 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The dry season runs from late November to April. The wet or Green Season runs from May to early November.
• While Panama's official national currency is the Balboa (which is equivalent to the U.S. dollar), the de facto currency in circulation IS the U.S. dollar and there is no need for change of currencies.
• Air transportation to Panama is simple. There are more than 10 daily flights from hubs in the U.S. and daily flights to almost every Latin American city.

Contact Data:

Gamboa Rainforest Resort
U.S.A. Toll Free: 1-877-800-1690
Web Site: www.gamboaresort.com