Panama– Belizeans, Brazilians, and Katie’s First Black

For the West Coast Fishing Club in Panama, 2013 kicked off the way 2012 ended.  Stacks of marlin and dorado everywhere you look.   We have been fortunate enough to share the inception of the New Year with some interesting people from all over the place.

For the Past week it was Mike, Ben, Sydney, Ryan and Sean from Belize.  They divided themselves into groups, with Sean and Ryan fishing aboard the Abundancia with Donar and Mike, Ben, and Sydney fishing with Junior aboard the San Miguel.   Sydney, “Papa Sid” as the guys called him, was first to tally a stick nose.  He caught a good blue the first day offshore.  Not to be outdone, Sean and Ryan rounded out the week with a marlin a piece.  Ryan caught his first black and Sean’s blue was the largest of three, caught on the last day.  The boats also raised several other marlin and jumped another off before release.

Having a dining room full of Belizeans made for great dinner conversation, with their laid back demeanor matched by their slow Caribbean drawl.  Joining them were a couple from Bellville, Texas fishing on the Hooker.  Mills and Carolyn caught a mess of dorado and had a pretty good time of it themselves.  Mills is a coffee roaster and cattleman by trade and Carolyn is about as nice a lady as they come.  Between folks from Texas and the guys from Belize, there was a good bit of laughter and joking about the Provider.

The week previous, joining us for New Year’s was a group of Brazilians and a couple really nice groups of people from the United States.  Coming down with his folks and their good friend, it was 10 year old Miguel who stole the show.  He caught his first blue marlin and a pretty good sailfish while fishing with Captain Donar.  Bringing the New Year fishing in Panama is certainly not a bad way to bring in 2013.

This New Year’s strategy also worked out well for Ms. Katie Davis.  Katie came down with her parents Mark and Wendy and her brother Wes.  The family spent the week fishing aboard the Hooker and staying aboard the Pacific Provider.  It was a pretty good combination.  Katie caught her first black marlin with captain Wade Richardson.  She is now two fish short of her career Royal Slam—the catching of all nine species of billfish by an angler.  This is a great feat, one that is normally only very rarely attained.  The exception to this rarity is the Davis family, with Mark and Wes leading the way with multiple Royal Slams to their credit and Mrs. Wendy having tallied one herself.  Pretty work on your black Katie.