Category Archives: Coiba Fishing Stories
Fishing Guide Tom Yust
Personal Statement
All my life, I have been captivated by fish and wildlife. Nothing has been more important to me than exploring the outdoors and seeking out wild creatures in their natural habitats.
Over thirty years ago, I settled in Panama without hesitation or regret after discovering the Coiba region. This area, with its remote islands, has been protected from exploitation due to its challenging accessibility. Once a prison colony for eighty years and devoid of indigenous people for over 400 years, it has now been under government protection for thirty years. The Coiba region is recognized as a World Heritage Site, celebrated for its unique biodiversity, ancient forests, and abundant wildlife.
The diversity and sheer number of fish and animals found here are unparalleled in Central America. This is why I have chosen to remain in this extraordinary place. The Coiba Island region offers a lifetime of adventurous exploration, and my fishing charters allow me to immerse myself in my “happy place.”
The remote islands create a variety of habitats that support countless species of fish, both small and large. Here, Cubera Snapper, Roosterfish, and Black Marlin thrive like nowhere else I have ever seen or heard of. During my time here, I have rarely encountered other boats, making this a true paradise for fishermen.
How did I got here and managed to stay so long
Introduction
I’m Captain Tom, originally from Missouri. My folks encouraged me to make a living doing what I enjoy best, and fortunately, I found that through fishing. I worked on yachts and lodges, earning money while doing what I love. Fishing takes me to places I want to go.
A Fortunate Encounter
Fate put me on the deck of a 65’ Choy Lee motor yacht in southern Costa Rica in 1991. Paul and Judy Sanderson built their own private marina as a home for their yacht and took me in. I admired everything about Paul and Judy and their work in Golfito. Paul had fished Club Pacifico on Coiba Island years before it closed in 1987 and looked forward to doing it again. I became the captain of their yacht, “Phoenix.”
A Life’s Mission
The first morning I woke up in Panama, anchored at Isla Rancharia and surrounded by smaller islands in front of Isla Coiba, I told myself this remote paradise would be my life’s mission. Nowhere could compare. I’ve earned a living guiding fishermen here ever since.
Guiding in Alaska
For a few years, I continued guiding at Alaskan lodges in the summers. I fly-fished for salmon and steelhead on the Kodiak Karluk River and targeted trophy rainbows near Lake Iliamna with jet boats and float planes. I also fished for king salmon and halibut in the ocean aboard lodge boats in southeast Alaska. Each fall, I returned to fish Costa Rica and Panama in the winters. The yacht Phoenix soon became the mothership to a 30’ Ryborunner and a 22’ Aquasport, offering seven-day charters from Golfito to Hannibal Bank and into the Coiba Islands.
A Setback
In 1994, the mothership “Phoenix” caught fire at the dock in Golfito and burned down. The owners had a 70’ steel construction barge that Paul had built to construct his marina. I rebuilt the “Sanbar” into a houseboat, calling it “Coiba Explorer.” After receiving permission from the police and prison, I kept the 70′ barge houseboat and two sport boats at Coiba. I flew my guests in by charter plane, just like Club Pacifico had done years before, landing in the then-active prison colony.
New Opportunities
After a couple of years, Marlin Magazine featured us in an article, putting Coiba back on the map since Club Pacifico Fishing Lodge had shut down years before. I had partners in the Coiba Explorer business, but after gaining fame in the sportfishing world, we disagreed on how to run the operation. They wanted to expand, while I preferred to stay small. I chose to leave my dreamboat, taking my cook Tyra with me to start anew. My partners went ahead without me, purchasing a 120’ dive boat I disagreed with. They named it “Coiba Explorer II” and added a fleet of new pursuits before going out of business after two years due to logistical failures.
A New Chapter
During that time, Tyra and I returned to my favorite southeast Alaskan lodge for the summer to fish. In the fall, we drove a ’73 Land Cruiser to Panama to work as a captain with Tropic Star Lodge in the Darien. I ran the supply boat, delivering fuel to Tropic Star Lodge weekly from Panama City. The lodge owners, Mike and Terry, introduced us to the owners of the JOKER, a diesel-powered ’31 Bertram with a tower in Colon on the Atlantic side of the canal. The owners of the JOKER made it possible for us to purchase it. Now, we just needed a place to keep it and get back to fishing Coiba exclusively. One beautiful thing about Coiba is that there was nowhere to stay without a mothership.
Finding a New Home
While in Panama City, I walked the docks looking for a large motor yacht with an owner agreeable to chartering with me. I came across an old friend named Oris, who introduced me to Lorenzo, the new caretaker of Isla Rancheria. This was the only island in Coiba National Park not government-owned. The owner, Manny, had recently passed away, leaving a house, airstrip, and hangar on Isla Rancheria. Manny’s sisters in California hired a friend in Panama to care for the island, and Lorenzo rented it to Tyra and me. I was back in business on my own, calling it Coiba Adventure.
A New Era
After a year of chartering from Isla Rancharia and flying my guests into the nearby prison camp on Coiba, the government opened the newly refurbished Club Pacifico cabins to visitors. I moved my operation across the water to become the first visitor to continually rent cabins there. Few visitors, besides my fishing guests, came to Coiba in those days. The logistics of safely getting there and back, along with the several active prison camps on the island, kept others away. For twenty years, I used the old Club Pacifico on Isla Coiba.
A Sudden Change
In December 2020, just a month before my first guests of the new season were to arrive, the government shut down the cabins without warning. I found myself without a place to stay, despite having a whole season of charters booked.
New Beginnings
Fortunately, within a few weeks, my daughter Jessica and I chartered a 90’ steel mothership, the Mama Nido. It had recently served as the mothership for the 50’ Merritt, “Pica Flor.” The Mama Nido was ready to go, and we continued our charter obligations.
Finding a New Home
Soon after, lodging opened up on an island in Bahia Honda, just three miles outside of Coiba National Park. The ideal situation, a fixed base, as close as can be. Jessica and I rented a four-bedroom lodge on the water, complete with a dock and a two-bedroom house behind it. We moved in and have been lodging and fishing from here for five years now. This is the best and closest location to fish the Coiba Islands and Hannibal Bank. Bahia Honda is magnificent, a very peaceful place surrounded in natural beauty.
Ballyhoo Make the Difference
I recommend to my customers to bring a case of “Select” Ballyhoo (frozen) from “Baitmasters” when they come for a sportfishing charter to fish Isla de Coiba and Hannibal Bank in Panama.
At only $120 per case for Select, Unrigged Ballyhoo it is definitely worth it.
You’ll have many more surprise shots at fish you’d otherwise never had seen. Read the article below on catching a black marlin on a spinning rod – he used Select Ballyhoo.
Gamefish here, can’t resist Ballyhoo for some reason.
One mile from where Don released his marlin (see post on Black Marlin on a spinning rod), his new wife Georgene herself, teased, then hooked this decent sized Roosterfish!
Black Marlin On Spinning Rod – Isla de Coiba, Panama
On this day, there was no apparent action anywhere to be seen around the island of Isla Coiba. Flat calm, no birds, no bait on the surface and not much to see on the sounder. We fished an area one mile off Isla de Coiba on the East side, close to the airstrip for a half hour, it’s a favorite spot of mine.
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