Into The Deep

For true anglers, the quest for the remotest, wildest spot—with the most abundant fish and the fewest boats—is eternal. And we may have found it off the verdant coast of Colombia.

- Jen Murphy

A sardine feeding frenzy is one of the world's ecological wonders. It's also one of the biggest turn-ons for obsessive anglers. “I’ve seen grown men tremble at the sight,” says Felipe Morales, my host and captain, as he guns our boat through a glassy expanse of the Pacific toward an eruption of frothy white water on the horizon.

Within minutes we’re on top of the chaos. Redand blue-footed boobies relentlessly dive-bomb the surface. Spotted dolphins torpedo through the water. And hordes of massive tuna leap through the air, their hungry mouths agape. Before the boat has even slowed, my guide Jairo Zuñiga rushes toward the bow, spinning rod in hand, and catapults a popper directly into the action. The neon-pink lure barely splashes the surface before a silver flash gobbles it—yanking the line taught—and the battle begins.

It’s late March and I’ve arrived in Bahía Solano, an under-the-radar fishing paradise on Colombia’s wild Pacific coast, just as the sardines have started to pour into the region’s warm waters on their annual spring migration south from Panama. When they cluster into a dense sphere, known as a bait ball, they become a feast for predators such as tuna, sailfish, jacks, and snappers. And as those predators hit the surface to feed, they in turn become enticing targets for anglers like me. This natural phenomenon is only one reason the fishing here is so spectacular.