Panama Jigging and Popping Trip on Aril 22 - 30

[Kil Song]

12 fishermen from East Coast, Gulf Coast and West Coast of the US are going to fish on JIGNPOP jigging and popping festival at Panama Sportfishing Lodge in Panama from April 22 and April 30.

Yellowfin tuna popping is hot and heavy right now.

See this incredible feeding frenzy of yft on video
Tuna Feeding Frenzyyy Ted Fostey Group









It will be a great opportunity to test some rods and lures on the trip.

Tag/Release Tuna Progam

JIGNPOP promotes tuna catch/release.  There is no reason to overkill tuna after you have so much fun to fight with them. They deserve second lives.

JIGNPOP and Braids Product of Dennis Braid will give awards to those who join  the tag/release program on the trip.

A fishermen who tag the most yft on the trip will get a Black Hole Popping rod($460) of your choice and $300 gift certificate of JIGNPOP.COM

Dennis Braid donates $250 gift certificate for tag/release.
Dennis Braid has been a big promoter of tuna catch/release.
So a guy who tag/release biggest tuna will get $250 gift certificate from Braid Products.


Kil

[Kil Song]

5 days to go.


These prototype topwater lures will get lots of action.






Kil

[Mark Harris]

Great to see a Tuna operator promoting CnR policies.  That is still far too rare.

Well done Kil.

[Kil Song]

Mark,
After testing some lures/rods, I might use hookless popper to tease them. 

One day to go.

[Fabio Ward]

That footage is insane!!!!

[Kil Song]

Panama trip is finally over.
11 fishermen fished hard for 5 days ( one fisherman couldn't join the trip due to operation.
After spending one night in Panama City, we left for the lodge.





After arriving at the lodge, everyone spent long hours to prepare tackle for the next day trip.
















dinner party






Orientation of tuna tagging by John of Atlantic Tuna Project before fishing. Tagging program is a big success on the trip. Every fisherman and Capt were involved in tagging and we kept only a few tuna for dinner while tagging most of tuna for the whole trip.






Fishing started.








We had great weather for the whole trip. We concentrated on tuna popping for four days and tuna were everywhere.
Scott fighting a tuna using 8' Black Hole Cape Cod Special graphite rod.








Jennifer fighting tuna. It was her first tuna ever.


Dong Shin joined the trip for Korean TV fishing show. He participated in tagging program.




Dong shin used 10'6" prototype Black Hole Cape Cod Special for testing




Chris fighting using 8' Black Hole Cape Cod Special Nano carbon rod.




Jamie fighting tuna using 8' Black Hole Cpar Cod special 'graphite" rod.








Willie with Smith Tokara60






Jamie with Black Hole Cape Cod Special 'graphite' rod. My tuna over 200 lbs were landed with this 9'BH rod in Cape Cod last season.




The hottest lure on this trip was Heru Skipjack.



to be continued....

[George Relf]

Awesome footage on that video 

Would you know the rod specs on the 10'6" prototype Black Hole Cape Cod Special Dong Shin used and the 9' Jamie used?

Cheers

[mark kyriacou]

that footage in insane and i really like the photos with all rods and reels very awesome

[Kil Song]

Scott using 8' custom Black Hole Cape Cod Special 'graphite'











Jennifer never caught tuna before this trip, but she already fight tuna like a professional.



















Heru Skipjack was a hot lure on the trip.

[Kil Song]

10'6" prototype Black Hole Cape Cod Special surf rods in action.
This long surf rod is not for tuna popping, but we decided to experiment this 'Nano carbon' rod for tuna to test the strength of the rods because you can land any fish with this long rod from the surf if it can handle small tuna.

[Kil Song]

Two boats went for inshore popping and one boat went for marlin with live bait on the last day.
The boat went offshore landed a 400 - 450 lb marlin, 130 lb tuna and 233 lbs tuna in three hour fishing.

[Kil Song]

For four days, we were concentrating on tuna popping around Montausa and tuna were everywhere though we didn't catch big tuna on poppers. Big tuna were there, but we didn't have opportunity to get them on poppers.
On the last day, two boats opted to go inshore popping, while Dennis/Racko/John went for big ones with live bait with Capt Chi Chi.
In three hour fishing, they scored a 400 -450 lb black marlin, 233 lbs cow and 130 lbs yft with live baits in the same area we fished last four days.
If we had fished live skipjack or bonito for the trip, I have no doubt we could have land many marlin and big tuna, but guys just loved tuna popping.

In my opinion, the taqging program was a huge success. All fishermen involved as well as all three Capt did. It looks they had fun to release tuna with satisfaction instead of killing them. We killed only a few tuna for dinner for the whole trip.
Dennis group with Capt Chi chi got a trophy 233 lbs cow on bait on the last day, they decided to tag it. I don't think it is easy to release your personal best tuna, but they did it without any hesitation.
This tagging program was possible by strong involvement of all fishermen/Capt as well as presence of John of Atlantic Tuna Project who brought all necessary tagging tools.

Scott tagged 17 tuna and won a Black Hole Cape Cod Special popping rod as well as $350 gift certificate by JIGNPOP.

Dennis won $250 gift certificate by Braid Products with biggest tuna tagged.
Dennis Braid is a strong supporter of releasing tuna.

JIGNPOP decides to donate 200 JIGNPOP hats to Altantic Tuna Project for supporting tuna tagging program.