One of my dearest and longest standing repeat guests contacted me last summer saying he wanted to bring his group of friends on a Panama fishing vacation to target yellowfin tuna.  There certainly are no shortage of great fishing lodges in Panama to choose from, but without hesitation the first thing that jumped into my head was our air conditioned, 70′ Panama mothership.  As I wrote about last year, the week my dad and I spent on the mothership last June was one of the best fishing trips I’ve ever been on.  We caught 21 species and over 50 fish in just five days, saw an incredible amount of marine life, and got to experience one of Central America’s most beautiful and remote destinations that very few tourists visit – Coiba Island. Here is my Panama Fishing Report – The Mothership Part II that recounts our week on the floating fishing lodge.

My loyal repeat guest, Scott, thought the idea a private mothership for his group of eight would be a great fit for their next adventure together.  Scott has been fishing with me for almost a decade now and while a very experienced angler, many of his trips have been to the famous Los Suenos Resort or fishing from Quepos, Costa Rica so I knew this was going to be an entirely new experience for them.  The mothership is extremely comfortable with four air conditioned rooms, two bathrooms with hot water, and some of the best food you’ll find at any hotel in Panama, but regardless the idea of staying on a floating hotel fifty miles out to sea isn’t for everyone.  However this group of four well-traveled couples isn’t new to challengers or exotic experiences, collectively they’ve served as CEOs of large companies for decades, fished all over the US from Hawaii to Louisiana and Central America from Costa Rica to Belize, hunted big game in Africa, dove hunted in South America, and one couple even ran Alaska’s Department of Fish & Game for 30 years and became world renowned experts on walrus.  Years ago I had an instant adoration for Kathy, who in her late 60’s continues to impress me and may be one of the toughest and most interesting women I’ve ever met.  In addition to running Alaska’s fish & game for three decades, she is an 8-time dog sledding National Champion, she once served as the only woman on an all-male Russian fishing boat for months to inspect the stomach contents of walrus, and she’s got more stories than there are hours in a week.  Best of all they are all incredibly nice and humble people, I think I was looking forward to this week as much as they were.

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