Panama Sportfishing
Why is the Hannibal Bank Still Relatively Unknown?
History: For years, the surrounding islands were used by the Panamanian Government as penal colonies. The area was not open to tourism or recreation as the government kept some of their worst prisoners isolated upon the islands. Today this has changed. The prisoners have been removed and the area is now designated a national park and a world heritage site. For years, these prisoners kept anglers away from world class fishing grounds. These untouched fishing grounds are now available to you. Join Lost Coast Excursions as we tour through these waters catching the next grand slam.
Location: The Hannibal bank is located over 50 miles from the Panamanian mainland. A boat ride here takes a minimum of three hours from most locations. The best way to access these areas is to cut out the commute and stay on our live aboard, the Lost Coast Explorer. The Hannibal Bank goes from a depth of over 3,000 feet to 120 feet within 3 miles. This drastic drop off results in a huge upwelling of cool water, which provides the nourishment for baitfish. The baitfish congregate on the shelves drawing in the big Black Marlin that feed in these shallow waters. Giant schools of Yellow Fin Tuna chase baitfish on the surface and sailfish drive bonita into a frenzy.
The Hannibal Bank makes up a large portion of the edge of this famous shelf but is actually a small part of the overall edge that we fish. This 3,000 foot shelf runs from the Ladrones Islands to on outer island off of Coiba called Montosa. Jicoron is another outer island that we spend many days fishing off the edge. The shelf continues on to the outside of the Azuero 50 miles away creating a bank that extends over 200 miles. We patrol this edge during fishing excursions tracking the big pelagic species that abound here.
Due to the location of Panama the seas are generally calm with minimal winds. Because of these calm seas we are able to outfit boats to cover ground quickly. Our boats cruise at 34 knots and carry 200 gallons of fuel. We can cover some serious ground quickly! The 24 foot sport boats are designed for the avid angler that wants to hook and fight their own fish, stand up! You set the hook. You run the spread, You get 100% of the fight. Our crew is there to assist, but we encourage you to join in the action from rigging to hand line. The 24' boats are designed with an open cockpit, casting platform and center fighting platform. Why this design? So our guests can fight fish 360 degrees. They can cast plugs from three locations on the boat allowing multiple guests casting at once.