FISHING THE PACIFIC 



The sailfishing on these grounds is the finest I have ever 

 experienced and anglers constantly are taking excellent fish. 

 There is also fine big-eye tuna fishing. Several varieties of 

 bonitos and dolphin as well as roosterfish, Sierra mackerel and 

 various members of the jack and snapper family abound. The 

 corbina, most popular fish in Panama, is also taken. 



The most productive fishing grounds border the Perlas 

 Islands but unfortunately they are situated forty miles from 

 Balboa. The two main islands of the Perlas group are San Jose 

 and Pedro Gonzales. Off the latter a can buoy marks Niagara 

 Rock. When I fished Panama in 1939 I never missed getting 

 a strike of some kind when we trolled near this obstruction. 

 Most favored of the Perlas group is Pedro Gonzales. The 

 guides know all the hot spots for sailfish and black marlin 

 within a short distance away. Most sportsmen come out for 

 the week end and live aboard their boats since there are no 

 quarters for visitors ashore on any of the Perlas Islands. 



There is a new ho: spot at Pinas, about a hundred-mile run 

 from the Canal Zone, and during tournaments they supply 

 a sort of houseboat to accommodate guests. You need a big 

 boat to fish properly here and she must have accommodations 

 for Hving aboard. 



The air over Panama Bay is alive with booby birds, cor- 

 morants, gannets and other waterfowl— affording a rare 

 spectacle. 



You will see as many porpoises here as in any place I know 

 —legions of them leaping, froUcking and playing tirelessly in 

 the iridescent waters. There are plenty off Ecuador but I 

 beheve there are more on these grounds. Many little ones 

 swim around guarded by their mothers and it is amusing to 



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