We visited Medellin on our way. The history of the city is closely connected with the wealthiest criminal in history, Pablo Escobar, and the cocaine trade in general.

We expected to see some kind of poor areas of Rio de Janeiro, but a taxi-driver brought us to a nice part of the city which was quite busy. It was late at night, but most bars, restaurants, cafes, and nightclubs were open. The atmosphere was relaxed and the young people were friendly and dressed very well.

We spent the night at an excellent hotel and in the morning went by a small plane to Bahia Solana with our local guide Alejandro. Bahia Solano is a small coastal settlement in Colombia. There are practically no tourists and fishermen here. And the number of locals is quite small. Here you can find untouched nature, hundreds of kilometers of wild beaches, and abundance of various fish species in the coastal area. Actually, that was the reason that brought us here.

At 6 a.m. next morning we boarded a boat and went to the ocean. We were aimed not at marlins or sailfish, as we had caught enough in Costa Rica during our previous fishing, but at amberjacks, groupers, snooks, and other trophies which can be caught on poppers in the rocks and stones near the shore.

The first casts of large poppers brought us trophies of Pacific jacks and amberjacks.

Ivan was fishing with a powerful sea fishing spinning rod with the 20 000 Shimano Stella Spinning Reel, while I decided to tempt fate and made a few casts with a light spinning rod with the test of 50 g and 5000 reel. My walker was dancing beautifully on the water surface till it disappeared in the mouth of a large amberjack.

Fighting against such a rival with the help of light tackle can be compared to fly fishing for marlins. I was lucky. The predator could not reach the rocks and began to give up. 20 minutes of fighting brought us a significant trophy.

We had only 3 days of fishing. Every day we changed fishing spots and tried to get various trophies. In the open ocean we saw a lot of sailfish sleeping on the surface, flocks of tuna, dolphins, and even ramp fish.

We could appreciate the favorable state of the ichthyofauna and the absence of other anglers.

The list of our trophies was replenished with tuna and snooks.

Every day we chose one fish, the most valuable from the gastronomical point of view, and gave it to a small restaurant near the hotel. And every day they cooked fish in different ways, but it was always delicious.

We knew the half of the locals by the second day, and on the third day we knew practically everyone in the settlement. The life here is simple and unpretentious, and all the talks are connected with fishing.

April – May is the time of global migration of sardines, and following them, tuna, sailfish, amberjacks, and other predators come into the bay which is right opposite the hotel we stayed at.

When you are fishing, you don’t notice how quickly time passes. So, it was time to come back to civilization and know Medellin better. We found an excellent meat restaurant there, visited Pablo Escobar’s grave, and Fernando Botero’s sculpture exhibition in the open air.

Colombia made a great impression on us, and together with the efficient fishing we appreciated hospitable and friendly locals as well.

We organize fishing in most countries of Latin America!