We had two groups of anglers visit the Rio Negro Sport Fishing Lodge is January 2005, all of whom were on their first visit to Panama. Our first guests for 2005 were Bob Blevins from Solana Beach, CA. and uncle Bob Rugo from Prescott, AZ, arriving on 12 Jan. The bite for them was generally good early in the morning and late in the afternoon but very slow late in the morning and early afternoon.. Baits were easy to catch but were not very productive except on the Amberjacks. Jigging, popping and trolling seem to produce most strikes. They caught 20 species of fish during their three day visit. Immediately following Bob & Bobs departure, Dan Stidham, Mike Yon, Rick Little and George Collier all from Arkansas arrived and fished for two days. The bite was slow both days but they did catch several nice fish to include Roosterfish, Wahoo, Cubera Snapper and Amberjack. They also experienced a short fight with a large Pacific Sailfish that hooked up while trolling for Wahoo. The line parted before the fish could be photographed and released. Our final guests for January were Jim Tryone from California, Billy Quiros from Balboa and Tommy from Alaska, later joined by Kenny Aydt from Key West. Again baits were easy but not very effective except on the Amberjacks. They also caught lots of small snappers, several large Corbinas and Wahoo.
