Our first guests this month were Peter and Manfred  from Austria. They spent the whole of there time targeting Marlin, there efforts were rewarded by managing to raise 6  with a very nice 450lb Black brought to the boat. Not our usual Marlin action for this time of year - currents and water where different-but guests still managed to raised their fair share.
 
A note from Peter:
Hello Capt Lee,
we thank you for all you organised for us, it was a really nice trip for us. Especially thanks for your fabulous cooking…back home i had 5 more pounds…but i don`t worry about.. We surely will recommend your resort.
Peter Koenig
 
Next up were Brian and John-Michel  from France- they are very keen fresh water fly fisherman, who wanted to try some salt water fishing on the fly - they were suitably impressed with the strength and ferocious take of the fish here in Panama. They also tried fishing with live baited sardines in the mangrove areas close to us -and experienced plenty of Snapper action- finally they spent a couple of days off shore and live baited with Bonito tuna for Marlin-catching a nice 350lb+ Black-along with a good mixed bag.
 
We caught the spin off of the storm that was moving up the west coast-north of us- and the last two days of the month where really tough weather conditions-very strange for here this time of year.
 
A note from Brian:
My very good friend Mr C. invited me to Panama when he bought the Club in May but I couldn't squeeze the time until September when I arrived with my fishing pal Jean-Michel.
A very impressive arrangement – you've done a great job Lee and Mr. C.
We fished all over and eased ourselves in with some hectic inshore action with Red and Yellow Snapper and a Sting Ray. Terrific fun on freelined or paternostered livebait and there were plenty of good fish, action all day and I was nearly spooled by something massive that we couldn't stop and so tightened to break. Lee says probably a Bull Shark.
We motored out for two days to Montoussa Island (48 miles out) and caught Red Mullet Snapper, Dorado Tuna, Rock Snapper, Jack and a 350 lb Black Marlin. Naturally the Marlin is the icing on the cake. It took just 10 minutes to land due to the superb skills of Antonio on the boat and Narciso on the fish. Those two are the best team I have ever seen and give me the fighting station over the chair any day.
The Marlin did not overshadow the other fish greatly because we caught many others and they all pull really hard.
Our last two days were spoiled, but not wrecked, by the tail end of the Mexican hurricane so we had to stay in sheltered water. We still caught fish.
The bar is a great place to be with views of the ocean on two aspects and forest and Howler Monkeys and Capt. Lee's cuisine skills should be tasted to be believed. The accommodation made us as comfortable as could be.
I just can't wait to go back in the Summer months! Thank you to all my new friends and to Mr. C.
Jean-Michel says:
I am an avid fly fisherman and never use lures or bait but could not miss this opportunity of a lifetime. I had tremendous fun with all the great staff at the PBGFC and enjoyed the fishing all round. Those fish are all tough – every one of them. I feel I was robbed of a Marlin by the weather but will be back. Thank you Lee and Mr. C and all at PBGFC.

On the construction front the new Captain's house is complete, as are the 4 cabanas plus the Clubhouse- I think our guests will be amazed at what the new owner has done here, for example the budget for each cabana was $30,000 each and he spent over $100,000 per Cabana on upgrades and fit out, (each Cabana now has the following equipment 46"LED Smart TV's, blue ray DVD Players, Fully stereo system with IPOD Dock, large fridge filled with FREE beer, Skype video phones, two Safes, Electronic Coffee machine with coffee beans from Panama and fully equipped luxury bathroom), the TV's are connected to a video server with 1000's of films and TV series plus loads of fishing programs (including all the ones filmed at the club) and client video's, ALL FREE. The large infinity pool just needs the middle logo to be tiled and to finish off the swim up bar and we will be finished. The new train is nearly ready to be installed maybe another 2-3 weeks.

Work has started on the new dock extension adding a further 60 ft with power and water, so we can handle a private boat or two. The first of two new boats has arrived, the new 28 ft Carolina now looks great tied up at the dock- we are just installing new tuna tubes along with the new fighting chair, we have installed brand new engines in the Bertram and the Albermarle, both now cruise at 25knots.  Work is nearly finished on the new generator house, this will have a 60KW generator to run the full resort (we have power from the mainland which is very reliable but has been known to go down every once in a while), with a 2 car garage next to it, plus a room for a work area. We are in the process of adding some kind of an off road vehicle to run around the Island and a 3 bedroom apartment is to be built on the first floor for me.....Hooray, I am very happy about that.
 
We have purchased two brand new vehicles the first is a 12 seater Hyundai Van for guest transfers and the second is a brand new twin cab for day excursions and site seeing for the guests.

The business center is finished, guests will now enjoy free use of the latest state of the art computer equipment (Both Apple and PC) along with colour printers, fax and photocopier, plus be able to communicate with Skype video phones from anywhere in the resort. We have Internet connection via two different ISP providers to ensure connectivity in the event of one ISP going down, and guests can enjoy free Wi-Fi Internet throughout the resort.
 
Also adding another boat and will close on that in a week or two-have 4 or 5 picked out.
 
Bookings for this season have been surprisingly strong, considering the current world financial situation but we still have a few slots left, so if you are considering fishing at the club this season, I would strongly recommend that you book sooner rather than later, to avoid disappointment.
 
So all in all moving along nicely.
 
Thanks Capt Lee