We’ve now been to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge three times, and on each visit we’ve briefly stopped over in Panama City. During those brief interludes we’ve been pleased with the safety and scenery of the big city, as well as the natural wonders of the Gulf of Gulf of Chiriquí, but we know there’s much more to do and experience.

We’re headed back to Alaska this August, my 4th trip there and Hanna’s 2nd. If you’re a lover of the outdoors, an American, or a citizen of the world and you’ve yet to go – shame on you! Regardless of your budget, your interests or the size of your group, there’s a way to get it done. In the meantime, we’d love it if you’d join us.

We’d still fish Panama if it required difficult travel logistics, but another feather in the destination’s cap is that it’s so easy to get there. With direct flights from many US and Canadian cities, you’re unlikely to have to take more than two flights to get into the country. Indeed, if you’re in or near a major hub you can likely get there on a three- to four-hour flight just about any day of the week.

Local foods are a big part of enjoying travel, but if you get sick on vacation the results can be painful or catastrophic. Here’s how to be safe without missing out on the fun.

Some bad news from Sunwing for travelers trying to get from Saskatchewan to El Salto or Picachos. Regina and Saskatoon flights canceled.

I’ve frequently argued that a trip to Alaska is the most exotic fishing vacation most Americans can take without exercising their passport. Part of that is because it’s fairly remote – to drive to Anchorage from Seattle, per Google Maps, would take 42 hours. However, Anchorage is served by multiple airlines with direct flights from at least 13 cities in the Lower 48.

Lake Picachos is Mexico’s newest destination bass fishery, and while it’s often considered a “numbers” lake it has produced quite a few trophies and personal bests. It sits in Sinaloa, less than an hour from the airport and about two hours from famous Lake El Salto.

Based on my social media feed, many people think that I’m constantly gone, but the truth is that I’m in my desk chair far more days than I’m away. In the interest of transparency (and to inspire some of you to be equally creative), here’s how 2022 played out in terms of using my allotted vacation time.

Lake El Salto and Lake Picachos in Mexico are our most frequent international destinations – we’ve been approximately 20 times, usually two or three times annually. Unfortunately, the flight options to Mazatlán, especially the direct ones, remain limited. That refers not just to the number of cities from which you can fly, but also to the number of flights per day.

Another solid travel year for the Half Past First Cast team. Judging by our social media feeds you’d think we were gone all the time, but to me it felt like we were home more than usual. Here are a few stats, notes and tidbits to tidy up the end of year accounting.

I’ve been a cheerleader for CLEAR and it continues to impress me with its expanding set of services. But this week I read an article that didn’t necessarily change my mind, but caused me to reassess the service slightly. David Zipper raised several criticisms in, “Annoyed With Clear, the Company That Fast-Tracks Its Customers Through Airports?”

In 2022, I’ve been to Lake El Salto (twice), Guatemala, the Keys, Lake of the Woods, Table Rock and Panama, and I’ve had some memorable battles at each of them, but the single fish that stands out the most was my last fish in the Gulf of Chiriquí – which happened to be my first Cubera Snapper.

Hanna and I have long advocated for CLEAR, a way of bypassing the longer security lines in many airports. TSA PreCheck used to accomplish this same goal, but as more and more travelers participate in that option, it’s often no longer a time-saver. Slowly the CLEAR options are increasing. Our own experience proves that.

While some friends have been wowed by our tales and pictures of our initial trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, others who I know would love it have been oddly resistant. Here are their primary excuses and my responses. The long and the short of it — you need to go!

On our third trip to Sport Fish Panama Island Lodge, we had our “welcome dinner” in Casco Viejo — at a lovely and tasty Peruvian restaurant called Nazca 21.

This November we must’ve brought the crap weather with us to Panama because it rained for much of our four and a half days on the water. That didn’t necessarily affect the fishing, which was still superlative – and in some respects better than either of our prior trips – but it did for us to think about what to chase on which days.

While we fly into and out of Mazatlán several times a year, we prefer to spend our time in Mexico at Lake El Salto or Lake Picachos rather than lounging on the beach. Still, it behooves us to know what’s going on in and around the region. Here are some nuggets of semi-relevant info we’ve encountered lately.

Sometimes — even in remote locations — the best bet is to fish in a crowd. Here’s how to make the most of that sometimes-disconcerting situation.

No matter how many questions you ask before going to a new place, there’s a simple fact -- you don’t know what you don’t know. I did some homework prior to our recent first visit to Ballard’s Black Island Lodge on Lake of the Woods. The trip was terrific but Here are a few things I will do differently next time so there are not hitches and you won’t get a stitch in your britches.

After lodge owner Gary Moeller had a really great trip to Anglers Inn last April, he invited us up to fish the waters of Ontario’s Lake of the Woods, at Ballard’s Black Island Lodge. Finally, Half Past First Cast was going NORTH of the border. Our goal was to catch a new Grand Slam – walleye, musky, smallmouth and northern pike in a single day.