The Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man”. I am not one for philosophy, but I have always really enjoyed this quote and its relevance to the evolution over the course of one’s lifetime.

Popping and jigging are two techniques I have been interested in for several years now. In my opinion some of the meanest species across the globe are caught with these methods and because they utilize artificial lures and involve large fish they attract my interest.

I just returned from a five-day fishing adventure with Panafishing, located in Pedasi, Panama. I made the decision back in 2019 to pursue my first popping and jigging trip to Panama, as it is relatively close and is home to a handful of species I am keen to fight. I had originally booked the trip to take place in June of 2020, but decided to cancel due to the state of the world at that time. Canceling the trip left me feeling uncertain that I would actually get a chance to reschedule this adventure. My buddy that made the original reservation with me ended up not being able to make the 2021 dates work, at which point I was put in touch with a Canadian who ultimately could not go due to travel restrictions. I was starting to think the 2021 reschedule was just not meant to be, but then Pierre from Panafishing put me in touch with Ray Orosco. Ray and I set up a phone call to discuss our fishing preferences, target species, and dedication to cast all day and it seemed like our ideologies aligned so we booked the trip. I was stoked to put this trip back on the calendar.

Ray and I met at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport early one morning en route to Panama City, Panama where we would stay the night. Come 9AM the next morning we were in a van making our way to the Panafishing lodge some 4-5 hours away. Upon arrival we met Pierre and his crew, got the lowdown, and immediately started prepping our gear. Later that evening we met Bob, Larry, and Curtis, three other Americans that had just returned from a day of fishing. Everyone got acquainted by telling exotic fishing tales of treks to Argentina, Oman, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Maldives, Spain, and beyond. I felt a little bit out of place as my dedicated fishing trips had been limited to North America, and as a consequence I did not have much to add to the conversation other than inquiries. I went to bed that night nervous for the next day to come and everything new I would experience. I wish I could say I slept well.

Day 1:

Our first day of fishing started off with a beach launch in a panga to taxi to the center console boats awaiting us just off the beach. We met Captain Eduardo, or as others called him “The Dictator”. Eduardo spoke little English, so Ray had to translate the things he would say so that I could understand him better. I think I still owe Ray a few hundred dollars in translation fees. We began the day going offshore and speed jigging different waypoints up to 170 meters in depth. We started catching fish immediately. We even watched a sailfish going crazy jumping fully out of the water multiple times, seemingly for no reason.

Captain Eduardo seemed very strict and I don’t think either of us saw him smile the first day. He told us exactly which bait to use, where to cast/drop, how to animate it, and everything else required for the task at hand. His nickname “The Dictator” definitely seemed fitting to his approach as a boat captain. This was my first time fishing big spinning reels and I felt like a fish out of water. I spent that evening reflecting on the mistakes I had made in order to avoid them during the next several days.

Day 2:

Inshore fishing was heavy on our minds as both Ray and I really wanted to catch the mighty cubera snapper more than anything. We threw big poppers and stick baits up to 150 grams almost all day in hopes for an opportunity for this elusive predator. On this day I caught my first ever saltwater popper fish, a jack crevalle.

As the day progressed we found our boat going further and further offshore. Captain Eduardo told us he wanted Ray to drop a jig and for me to start throwing a small popper, as he had seen many fish on the graph. Before long the fish were brought to the surface by the commotion our baits were creating and the first attacks would soon begin. Making long casts with small poppers and working them rapidly, small yellowfin tuna were blowing up on our baits almost every cast. It was mini tuna mayhem and Captain Eduardo, “The Dictator”, was laughing and shouting as these tuna were jumping out of the water as they attacked our poppers. It was awesome to see him break his serious character. A few tuna were kept for dinner and everything else was released to hopefully grow into giant specimens. The school of tuna were left as we headed inshore for further pursuit of the cubera. Ray was able to catch a nice sierra mackerel on a walk-the-dog stick bait and I caught another jack on the popper.

I ended the day feeling more confident in the new techniques I was learning and the spinning gear I was using.

Day 3:

Topwater fishing can be very exciting as you often get an opportunity to get amazing visuals of fish approaching and attacking lures. Within probably the first 15 minutes of the day I saw a large brownish/reddish shape approach quickly towards the 125 gram popper I was throwing. I kept popping away and the fish made its move breaking the surface of the water and completely catapulting its body out of its liquid environment. As it took place so close to the boat I was able to identify the fish as a mullet snapper. Unfortunately we didn’t connect and the fish took off back down to the bottom of the sea, but at least it was an exciting experience and a memorable visual. A few casts later I had a large brown profile following my popper and immediately I shouted “cubera!”, as there was nothing else it could be. The captain spat out something in Spanish and I instinctually interpreted it as him commanding me to pause the bait, so I did. The fish hovered below my bait just staring upward. I then heard the captain bark “pop!” so I started my cadence again, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to convince the cubera to receive a face full of 5X trebles and it headed downward as Eduardo mumbled “shit”. That was now the second heart-thumping experience of the day and I had no fish in the boat to show for it. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed out.

We both managed a few jacks on the popper that day and even chased a school of tuna and dolphin around, but both seemed quite shy. Every time we would position the boat in front of the dolphins they would dive down and unpredictably pop up a few hundred meters in the complete opposite direction. We were lucky to catch a few yellowfin tuna on poppers, but it was nothing like the suicide-switch event that took place the day prior. It was a tough day of fishing.

Day 4:

The first fish of the day ate a stick bait that Ray had been throwing. The fish instantly started pulling heavy drag on his Stella 14K and I was thinking that maybe this was Ray’s shot at his cubera snapper. We were in relatively shallow water so Ray had to keep the fish away from the rocks to avoid breaking the fish off. Once the fish got within viewing distance he realized the fish was a solid rooster fish! It completely swallowed the stick bait.

The popper fishing became tough, so Eduardo headed further from shore so we could give a go at jigging. Ray is a jigging monster and was constantly pulling up all kinds of cool fish from rainbow runners to blue runners to bonito. I did not have as much success, but did manage to catch a small broomtail grouper. As we were jigging shoulder to shoulder on the port side of the stern I noticed something out of my left-hand peripheral vision that gave me that “ahhhh” kind of reaction, similar to that of being surprised by a huge spider crawling up your leg. A large mass was within inches of the surface and was heading directly into our lines that were vertically oriented. I quickly recognized the pattern on the beast’s skin…it was a whale shark!

It was so close to the boat that Ray and I had to reach with our rods over the back of this thing to avoid the shark colliding with our lines. The monster cruised around the boat looping back multiple times and never going more than a few feet below the surface of the water. Ray even hooked a bonito that swam right into the shark’s back, but the creature didn’t seem to notice or care. What an experience!

A local panga filled with fisherman was nearby and came over to us to share the experience. Everyone had their phones out and recorded the curious being. We all thought it was amazing. Ray commented on how he wished he had brought a diving mask so he could have swam with it, and I wished I had reached out to touch it as it was close enough to do so.

The fourth day was wrapped up with popper fishing inshore again. Captain Eduardo would occasionally grab one of Ray’s setups and make a few casts from the stern of the boat. I do not remember the specific chronological order of the next event, but either Ray’s stick bait or Eduardo’s popper got bit first and then the other. Ray and Eduardo were now fighting some GT wannabes we call jacks, so I made a cast near the location of their assaults and within a few pops I had jacks cartwheeling over each other on the surface trying to compete for a shot at a face full of hooks. All three of us were hooked up with strong-fighting jacks and we were laughing at the realization of what had just occurred. Jack mayhem!

Day 5:

I woke up on our final day of fishing feeling like something special was going to happen. I knew that I was going to either catch a rooster fish or a cubera, or maybe both. I also had a good feeling that Ray would get a shot at something special. There was a small island a few miles off of the mainland that has crystal clear waters and we started there. The water was flat calm and the air was hot and humid. I watched a turtle come up for a breath of air and then submerge back into the sea.

I made a long cast with my obnoxiously-colored popper toward the beach Eduardo instructed me to cast at and within a few pops I realized my bait was being hunted. I increased the rate at which I popped the bait across the surface and then with a splash my rod loaded up. I set the hook and shortly after observed the comb of a rooster’s dorsal rise above the surface of the ocean. The fish jumped and I became nervous that it may get away and as I fought it closer and closer to the boat it jumped more and more. Finally Captain Eduardo grabbed the fish and pulled it over the gunnel. At last I had my first rooster fish!

The three of us made our way around the island where Eduardo recommended using a smaller popper and I hooked up with my first bigeye jack of the trip.

Eduardo piloted the boat back to the inshore hunting grounds off the coast of the mainland and we continued our search for the ever so evasive cubera. I was throwing a large 150 gram wooden popper when I watched a fish blow up on my bait as Eduardo shouted “attack attack!”. I reeled down to eliminate slack in my line and saw that the fish had pulled my popper several meters below the surface already. When I came tight with my line there was no weight of a fish. It was a cubera that had managed to avoid the treble hooks of my popper somehow, while at the same time making me wonder if I would ever catch a cubera.

Captain Eduardo made the decision that we would spend the rest of the afternoon in the area where we had experienced snapper interactions a few days prior. Eduardo was throwing a large popper and had a big blowup, at which point he offered the rod to Ray to duke it out with the fish he had hooked. Ray refused, and a few seconds later was attacked by something big. The hooks didn’t stick and then a few moments later he was assaulted once more, and this time he was attached to whatever just ate his stick bait. Ray’s rod bent over so quickly as drag was pulled and I remember looking over at his rod and thinking “that bend looks weird” as the fish was ripping max drag off of his Stella 14K. We were in 25-30 meters of water and the cubera he had hooked did not stop pulling drag until it reached the rocks at the bottom and destroyed Ray’s line. It was a devastating experience to have finally hooked a huge cubera and only to have it zing-pow him. The captain estimated the fish was well over 70 pounds, which added insult to the injury.

In the end, neither Ray or I got the highly-prized cubera we traveled to Panama for. We both had a shot, but it just was not meant to be, and that’s fishing sometimes. It just means we have to go back until we fulfill our goals. During the trip I figured out Captain Eduardo was the way he was because he so greatly wanted us to have a successful trip, and he really started to grow on me more and more each day, despite the language barrier.

This trip was highly educational for me as this was my first experience with popping and jigging, something I wanted to get a foot in the door for, and to meet new friends willing to travel on future exotic trips. I view fishing trips as not only fun, but also as stepping stones to more technical and aggressive fisheries and species. Ultimately, each trip improves my skills and helps me develop into a more diverse angler. Changing from baitcasting reels to saltwater spinning gear was initially uncomfortable and also frustrating for me, as I dealt with a few wind knots, until coaching from Ray alleviated my mistakes. By the end of the trip I felt proficient with the gear and was really putting the heat on the fish I was fighting. This was a necessary trip and experience for me to gain confidence in the gear and techniques that I will need to meet my next goals and so for that I am grateful for stepping into a different “river” and becoming a different “man”.

We all have a choice each day, we can choose to stay comfortable and risk stagnation, or we can step into the unknown, hunt down our desires like a bounty hunter, and experience growth and change. I traveled to Panama having never met any of the other guests and left with new friends, new skills, new confidence, and new stories. I am not the same man because of this, I am a better version of myself.

This is Jeff Rodgers,

OVER & OUT