**** A Day to Remember ****

At about 7 am on Saturday, February 19, 2011, Francisco (Pancho) Arias, his son Felipe (15 years), Felipe’s friend Rafael (Rafa) Alemán (also 15) and Luis (Luigi) Vallarino started out towards Hannibal Bank on Crazy Popper with Captain Macho and his son Jeffrey, who about one month before started following his father’s food steps.

The night before, Pancho, a regular at PSFL, was received by John De la Cruz, owner of the lodge, with a nightcap (or two).  In the conversation, John had commented that fishing during a full moon was somewhat harder but when something was caught it would certainly be big.  Well, as we will see, John was on target.

With bonitos on the line, no strikes on the Crazy Popper at the bank. Crazy Cristina, with Captain Chichi, Captain Rafaelito and a couple from North Carolina, had two missed marlin strikes, but the other five boats in the area had no action either.

Since Pancho and Luigi had a preference for tuna, Macho headed towards Montuosa, where no marlin action had been reported that day but where tuna was very active the week before.  About three miles from Montuosa, the crew saw some splashes South and Macho said, there’s the tuna, get ready guys.  He chose to stop at the closer action.

He positioned the boat and gave the go for the bonito to go in the water.  Not one minute had elapsed when the first strike came.  A miss.  In a few seconds, however, another strike.  This time, it was definitely not a miss.  Everybody scrambled and within seconds and a quick run, it was hooked.  Macho said: “It’s a big one”.

With the commotion nobody noticed that 15 year old Rafa had gone forward with a Tuna Sniper with a Stella 20000 and was with difficulty hanging on to the rail.  When the boat settled and everybody was helping Luigi get into his fighting gear, Rafael, by no means a stranger to fishing, cast a popper and right after the splash he yelled “Tengo otra y está grande”  (“I have another and it’s big”).  All attention then turned forward.  Pancho quickly ran forward to help Rafa, who was about to be dragged into the water.

In the meantime, Luigi started screaming: “I am running out line”.  Macho said that the one on the bonito was too big and that it would be difficult to get both, so after confirming that Rafa had enough line he decided if one would be lost it would be the one on popper.  He told Rafa to try to maintain the line tight and turned the boat towards the tuna on the bonito to help Luigi get some line back on the reel.  It was just the beginning.

For the next hour, the two fishermen broke sweat, big time.  As usual, both fish headed to the deep with incredible determination.  Lines got crossed, at one time even under the boat. Everybody thought they would loose one.  Quick action and coordination saved both.

When Rafa’s fish was visible about 50 feet deep, Macho told Luigi to keep the line tight and everybody turned forward.  Macho instructed Pancho and Jeffrey to grab a gaff each.  Once the leader was on Macho’s hand, he slowly worked his magic and within a few minutes the fish was on board.  Macho congratulated the teen indicating that the fish was approximately 150 pounds.

After a quick celebration, everybody turned to Luigi, a fisherman all his life and proud owner of a 1976 Bertram 31 that he repowered and refurbished about 14 months ago, during which time many fish have been caught, including five marlin released on the Gulf of Panama.  But this is PSFL’s Coiba, where fish are fought standing, something that is rarely done on his boat, which is equipped with a fighting chair.

By this time, Luigi’s back was hurting, big time.  He turned to the rest of the fishermen and with Rafa exhausted from his own session and Pancho purposely distracted after seeing the suffering imposed upon Luigi by the fish, Felipe took a step forward.

Felipe is no stranger to fishing either.  In fact, last time he was at PSFL, he caught a tuna that weighted (aprox.) 250 pounds (that fish was probably the reason that PSFL acquired a scale that goes up to 500 pounds).

After the tuna made Felipe break his own sweat and the fish was already in sight, Macho again worked his magic.  Within a few minutes, the fish was gaffed and three people (two with gaffs and macho grabbing it by the gills) with great difficulty got it on board.

When the fish hit the deck, Rafa’s tuna looked like a bonito.  Macho cautiously indicated that this fish must be over 250 pounds.  Felipe said: “Well, it seems bigger than mine”.

During the fight, Macho had alerted the rest of the fishermen, who within a few minutes ran from the bank to the feeding frenzy. Macho told everyone that his crew was done for the day and that we would head in.  Later we learned that Chichi’s boat caught two more, roughly 180 pounds and a 240 pounds

When Crazy Popper arrived at Boca Chica, the newly acquired scale was brought and with the help of four people it was confirmed that Macho was right: it was over 250.  To be precise, it was 348 pounds!  Macho’s best to date had been 310 pounds

Pancho Arias

www.panamasportfishinglodge.com