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The 4th expedition for this year tagging black marlin at Tropic Star Lodge was from June 26 – July 2.
The lodge has been busy for the entire “inshore season” as billfish have been consistently available since the end of last year. Anglers have been catching their first roosterfish in the morning then running offshore and catching their first blue marlin in the same day. How cool is that!
The blue marlin in particular have been abundant, as well as sailfish. But our target species is the less common black marlin. Our first 2 days, I was accompanied by angler, master diver and tagging assistant Pete Foster-Smith from Cayman. Also the TSL’s professional videographer Keishmer Hermoso, who documents all our expeditions for an upcoming full length documentary.
We fished the first 2 days on the “Miss Florida” with captain Lorenzo and mate Weymar, catching a few hesitant sailfish and also had a blue marlin hit a lure but failed to engage. That is fishing.
In the evening I gave talks about art and marine conservation to the guests. In addition I worked for several hours on a 40” X 48” canvas of a blue marlin harassing a big bonito school bunched up.
For the rest of the week we were very fortunate to have captain Candelo on the “Miss Australia”. Candelo has been at TSL for 37 years and has probably seen more black marlin and Pacific blue marlin caught and released than any other human on the planet. Keishmer was making a documentary about his life at TSL. Candelo is in high demand from clients, so I cherished every minute with him. Andi Marcher from Cayman joined also us.
Our first day out with Candelo was memorable. Around 10.30 we were pulling lures 14 miles out in a scattered trash line with some big logs. Candelo, called me up the bridge, pointing at large splashes not far away. I was really excited and said to Pete and Andi Marcher, get the gear ready we are going in the water! This was a very large school of Pacific jack crevalle (Caranx caninus), perhaps thousands of them.
A massive school of Pacific jack crevalle (Caranx caninus) spotted during Guy Harvey’s 2025 Panama expedition—part of an extraordinary predator-prey event. They were silver with yellow fins, some with thin dark stripes, but all with that serious expression that jacks have as a permanent mask. Candelo put us close to a log with the water foaming next to it… armed with Go-Pros, we watched in amazement as the jacks mopped up all the small fish sheltering beneath the log, many jumping on top to escape the rushing jaws. This was crazy predator – prey feeding and defensive behavior.
With most of bait consumed in seconds, the hungry jacks moved on quickly. As they left so the remaining triggerfish, filefish, small green jacks, chubs, runners and scads flipped back in the water and hid under the log. They knew the drill.
What amazed me was the sheer numbers of jacks all swimming in the same direction at speed toward another unseen log knowing the plunder was about to renew. We jumped back in the boat and Candelo moved 400 yards to a bigger log with white water frothing all around. Eagerly we jumped back in, swimming into the foamy melee I could see a large Galapagos shark gorging on the densely packed baitfish. Below were several very fat blacktip sharks also taking shots at the packed fish, some circled back to come for a fly by, many had their own entourage of green jacks, pilot fish or jack crevalle with them. This a scene I have long wanted to experience and to paint. I could visualize the log, foam, movement drama, sharks, jacks, rainbow runners, a line of rushing jaws and hapless baitfish all in a large 20 foot long painting.
I continued filming and waited for the jacks and sharks to move on. As the foam dissipated and the water cleared I moved to the log to film the fortunate survivors. Cortez chub, blue striped chub, runners, scads and triggerfish, some of the unlikely survivors of an “oceanic drive by”…life and death in the open ocean.
Later that afternoon, still looking for the target species, Candelo went to the Pinas Reef. His patience paid off as Pete hooked into his first black marlin at 3.20pm. It was flat calm and in the afternoon light the 400# fish unzipped the ocean. It went from left to right in a dazzling display of jumps that only a black marlin can do. Both Keishmer and I were able to get awesome shots. 20 minutes into the fight with the marlin deep below us the hook pulled. Next time Pete.
June 30 was my late Mum’s 96th birthday. She had been to TSL several times with us and loved the gardens, forested mountains, streams and most of all the birds. She brought us luck as before 8 am, Pete caught and released a 300# blue marlin in which a mini-PAT was deployed and videos taken (PAT is pop up archival tag). Two hours later we were working a school of bonito and Andi hooked a smaller blue marlin on a dead bonito. It jumped and jumped all over the place, going to the right almost in another boat close by us. At the boat it was still jumping and we waited for it slow down before deploying a second mini-PAT. The healthy fish went rapidly into the blue.
A blue marlin fitted with a mini-PAT tag during Guy Harvey’s 2025 Panama expedition—part of ongoing efforts to study billfish migration and behavior.We rely on other boats in the TSL fleet to contact us if they hook a black marlin. If so we would run over, transfer the fish and tag it. There are fewer black marlin available this time of year compared to the fall and winter months, but there are enough to target. Unfortunately no transfers were made though several boats released black marlin that week.
The last two days were spent fending off doubles of sailfish, raised two more blue marlin, one of which pulled the hook after several minutes. Then a black marlin that came up on a lure with haste… but then faded off after a brief sighting without a bite.
At the Guy Harvey Foundation we work with Dr. Barbara Block and Chloe Mikels of Stanford University on billfish tagging, with GHRI/NSU on sharks and rays, with Texas A&M’s Harte Research Institute and with the Dolphin Research Project. Thanks to the TSL staff and leadership for hosting us and for their amazing generosity over so many years supporting the research on billfish, sharks, mahi, roosterfish and other species. It would not be possible without this collaboration.
Please visit TropicStar.com if you want to fish in the world’s best big game fishing destination.
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