The Gatun Lake Panama

The Gatun Lake is an artificial lake located in the middle of the Republic of Panama. It is one of the most important assets of the Panama Canal as it carries chips thru 33 km from their transits across the Isthmus. It was built from 1907 to 1913 and was the biggest man made lake ever built at the time. Gatun Lake has an area of 425 km² (164 square miles) at its normal level of 26 m (85 ft) above sea level and stores 5.2 cubic kilometers (183,000,000,000 ft³) of water, which is about as much as the Chagres River brings down in an average year.

It was convenient to build the Gatun Lake where it is as it is located in the Chagres Valley. Once this amazing lake was finished, most of the hilltops ended up as Islands. Among them we have the most famous Barro Colorado which is now home of the well know Smithsonian Tropical Institute.

The Panama Canal has a clear marked rout around the Gatun Lake’s Islands which then is followed by deeper waters in the southern end of the Gatun Locks. There is a small channel known as the Banana Cut which runs in between the Islands and Islets of the Panama Canal. This provides a shorter rout thru the Panama Canal or Gatun Lake for fishing boats, Canal Transits or simply smaller launches avoiding the merchant ship traffic.

Moreover, the Gatun Lake plays a huge role on the water reserves for operating the Canal Locks. Every time a ship goes by the locks, 202,000m3 (53 million gallons) of water is passed from the Gatun Lake into the ocean. The Panama Canal transits about 14,000 vessels per year which represents a large use of the water.

Bass Fishing in the Gatun Lake

If you are looking into a fun tour in Panama, we suggest a Gatun Lake Fishing Tour with Panama Cruise. You will not only be on a fishing trip, but also transiting the near boundaries of the Panama Canal Locks. This means, that you will see large merchant ships and Panama Canal operations while on a Panama Canal fishing trip.

When it’s about peacock bass fishing in Panama it is important to mention that the most common bait used is live minnows which will be provided on the fishing trip. We will make sure to find the largest minnows for each angler to pick from. Remember that larger fish look for larger minnows.

The way these peacock bass live is the following; once these fish are out of the egg, schools of baby peacock bass stick together as long as possible during their development. Eventually they will grow up to six to eight inches long and will move in schools searching for food. This is why our panama fishing guides will park the fishing boat and wait. It really doesn’t matter much as to where they park; a school of fish will eventually find the boat. However, these might be small and not worth the fun.

When you are on a Gatun Fishing trip, you can expect to catch about 50 – 100 small fish in 1 day. However, the interest of the angler is to search the big ones. Peacock bass are also known as “Sargentos” and they reach a mating age when they get to 2 years of age and this is when they will start dating and eventually pair off to make their own nest. These two will guard their nest until they hatch and will wait a bit longer until their kids are a bit older. The fish will go for any type of meal opportunity that passes through their area and generally will not go far away from their nest. Couples will normally lay their eggs at approximately 20 – 30 feet of depth in areas with good sources of food and cover. Now here comes the interesting part; these two will definitely be the largest peacock bass or Sargentos in the Gatun Lake.

If you end up getting one of these big ones the best thing to do would be moving on as they will be the only ones in the area. A good way to find them would be navigating into areas with trees, stumps and cover. Fish should go around the boat once you are into these areas. Big fish or fish couples will not lay their eggs near other big fish. Peacock bass fishing is best from dawn until 9 am. After this period fish will head down to deeper water looking for shade and cover. There are other animals in the Gatun Lake that eat these Sargento. This means that once they are full and done with hunting they rather hide.