Adventure on the Rio Chagres
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On The Fly Freshwater
December 2024
By Elena McDow
Photos by John McDow
For as long as I can remember I have been in love with fly fishing. I grew up in the Cayman Islands and my dad is a fishing guide, so I got to fish with him a lot. I had a fly rod in my hand from the time I could walk, and everywhere we went in Cayman, I was always scoping out the flats, searching for tailing fish and new spots to try out. Almost every day, my dad, my little brother, and I would fish the flats for bonefish, permit, and tarpon. The flats are basically my second home with how much time I spend on them looking for fish to catch and I love that.
In 2021 we moved from the Cayman Islands. Since then, we have been traveling all over Central America, but we spend most of our time in Panama. My parents home school us and it allows us to travel a lot. We can be flexible with when and where we do school, this makes it much easier for us to travel the world while still keeping up with school. Sometimes we get to fish or travel all day and do all our schoolwork at night. I miss fishing the flats of Cayman, but Panama has given me the opportunity to fish for a lot of new species in both saltwater and freshwater.
Approaching the village on the Rio Chagre.
In 2022, my dad’s friend Jonathan introduced us to the Emberá tribes, an indigenous people that live in villages along the banks of the Rio Chagres. Jonathan arranged for someone from one of the villages to meet us in Puerto Corotú. Two men arrived in a cayuco, which is a long dugout canoe. They were both wearing brightly colored loincloths and were covered in tribal tattoos and they carried long sticks. They were a little intimidating at first, but they seemed nice. We traveled upriver with them for hours. We stopped at a waterfall along the way where we swam and ate lunch, then we continued the journey.
The author with her new friends.
When we reached the village, we could see thatched roofs on wooden houses, and we could hear drums and flutes playing and we saw a lot of the women dancing. Girls were weaving baskets, and we saw some men were carrying fish from the river to be cooked for dinner that night. The language they speak is Emberá, but most of the younger people also speak Spanish, so we were able to communicate with them. They were all very nice and welcoming and they showed us all around the village and showed us how they cook. We got to dance with them and sit around the fire and eat and talk. I met several girls that were my age and my brother made friends with some of the boys and they were all climbing trees and playing “futbol.”
The futbol match with an apparently bored spectator in the foreground.
As we spent more time with the Emberá we learned how they fish. We saw them either using bamboo poles or handlines and they caught tilapia, catfish, small tarpon, peacock bass, and other cichlids. When we pulled out our flyrods, they were very curious and fascinated. None of them had ever seen anyone fly fish before. We waded out in the river to cast at some big peacock bass and lots of people from the village came out to watch us fish and to learn how to fly fish. I was able teach several of the boys and girls from the village how to fly fish and they loved it.
The author with a peacock bass.
We have continued visiting several different Emberá villages along the river for the past two years. We have caught a lot of peacock bass and we have also found a few small tarpon and snook that will eat a fly, but the tarpon and snook are hard to land in the river with all of the limbs and rocks. In 2025 I plan on teaching some of the girls in the villages how to tie flies so they can use their own flies to catch fish. They are good at making things with their hands, like baskets and flutes and other items from things found in the jungle, so I think they will be really good at tying flies. It always makes it so much more fun when you catch a fish on a fly that you tie, so I’m very excited to teach them and let them experience it.
John McDow introducing (l to r) Victor and Edwin to rigging a fly rod.
Meeting the Emberá has been a great experience for me and I love spending time with them. They have taught me a lot about the jungle and being resourceful. I hope that I am able to share fly fishing and fly tying with them so I can also teach them something that they will enjoy as much as I have enjoyed learning from them. I can’t wait to show them how many flies they can tie and how much fun it’ll be catching their first fish on their own flies. They are amazing people to be around, and I have and still have so much to learn from them and so much I hope to teach them.
