It's pretty easy to lose count of the fish landed here," Fidel Reyes said as he reared back on another peacock bass. He was right about the difficulty of keeping track of these aggressive peacock bass or "sargentos," as locals call them, from Panama's Lake Gatun. The fish that the Gamboa Rainforest Resort's General Manager had just pulled in did resemble many we had already caught and released. Our guide Jose "Puma" Rodriquez was kept mighty busy grabbing new bait from our boat's livewell. We had already landed over 50 peacocks during our 3-hour trip on this scenic lake, part of the Panama Canal. The word "Panama" means abundance of fish and that's certainly true on Gatun. Peacock bass were seemingly everywhere and always hungry. On almost every cast with a live "sardine" minnow, a peacock would slam the bait. Reyes seemed glad to have taken a few hours off from running the resort on the Chagres River just off the Canal. We had both caught several doubles, and every fish was aerobatic. We explored several nice areas around Barro Colorado Island and every spot held numerous fish. Only the size and corresponding strength of their fight varied. Artificials worked as well; they often catch larger fish, but can be slightly less productive than the small minnows. Topwater, minnowbaits and even small spinnerbaits are effective here.

Rodriquez, who has been guiding on the lake for 27 years, the last six out of this resort, couldn't even keep track of our tally. He did note that we exceeded the average catch of 25 fish per angler in a six-hour trip. "Some anglers boat 80 peacocks in a day, and many are in the 3- to 5-pound range," he says. "The largest peacock ever taken from our marina was 12 pounds and the big fish in last spring's tournament was a 9-pounder."

It's usually easier to catch bigger fish in the rainy season when water in the lake is higher and cooler. The season's high point usually happens at the end of October, when waters reach the base of shoreline trees. During dry season, peacocks move out deeper to hang out in cooler water.

The water level of Gatun, the third largest manmade impoundment in the world, is maintained by the Canal authority and when it approaches four feet, they open the locks and drain some if rain appears imminent. As a result, the Chagres River, the main tributary entering the lake, is known as the only river in the world that flows into two oceans. There is a 26-foot difference between the lake and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans on each end of the Canal.