Tarpon Hot; Possible Record Snook

Tarpon fishing continues to be nothing short of spectacular off the northern Caribbean coast, where Dan Wise of the Río Colorado Lodge said Joe Tedesco, from New Jersey, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday jumped 41 tarpon, bringing seven to the boat for release, three of those running more than 150 pounds.

Things have turned around on the northern Pacific coast in the past week, where Capullo skipper Steve Curtis reported Monday that the blue water is back, with a handful of sailfish and a few marlin around, along with some immense roosterfish and lots of dorado, working in 60-100 feet of water just off Tamarindo.

We also had an early call Monday morning from Rob Gordon, who was fishing just five miles off Garza out of his home base at Playa Carrillo and reported a lot of small dorado and tuna, a 45-pound wahoo and a jumping marlin. He jumped a sailfish, but it got off.

Farther south, boats are reporting some great inshore fishing off Quepos, where a new world-record snook might have been overlooked last week when Texas fisherwoman Vicki Kay Garventon-Hunt nailed a 52-pound Pacific snook on 20-pound line while fishing aboard Costa Mar Sportfishing’s 28-foot On the Fly off the mouth of the Savegre River (see photo).

Not much blue-water action along that central coastal area last week, but according to Costa Mar’s Raúl Miranda the inshore fishing has been sensational, with fish taking sardines and blue runners.

If submitted to the International Game Fish Association and approved, Garventon-Hunt’s big snook will be recorded as the largest ever taken by a woman on 20-poundtest line and the fifth to be caught on our Pacific coast to make the record book, including the all-tackle record 57-pound, 12-ounce fish taken by George Beck in 1991 at the mouth of the Río Naranjo.

Five of the current world-record Atlantic snook have also been caught on the northern Caribbean coast, including a 53-pound, 10-ounce, goliath all-tackle record taken in 1978. For more information, see Costa Mar’s Web site at www.costamarsportfishing.com.

Skippers, lodge operators and anglers are invited to contact Jerry with fishing reports by noon Monday of each week; call 282-6743 or e-mail jruhlow@racsa.co.cr.