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The weather throughout Costa Rica has been average for this time of year with a few rainy days here and there, but for the most part every day is partly sunny with a light breeze and a chance of evening showers.
The Northern Pacific has had the hot sailfish bite, the Central Pacific has had the hot roosterfish bite and the Southern Pacific has seen a mixed bag of tuna, marlin and mahimahi. The Caribbean and Arenal regions have had more rain than everyone else, but the fish are still around, while the northern region near the Nicaragua border is gearing up for its big fishing tournament in September.
Northern Pacific
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Holy Mackerel! Young Brady Barger Jr. on the Disco Pirate with his largest fish ever. |
Photo courtesy of Brady Barger Sr.
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Capt. Lee Keidel of Kingpin Sportfishing reports w ater temperatures in the mid 80s F, as well as scattered showers and thunderstorms with relatively calm seas. O ffshore water color has been excellent. Keidel has been raising five or six sailfish per day and has been catching good numbers of tuna in the 40-pound range.
Petra Schoep of Tamarindo Sportfishing says there is lots of great action in the area, with sailfish, wahoo, tuna, mahimahi and grouper being caught on the Talking Fish, Salsa and OutCast. Joe Bergeron, on the Talking Fish with his sons and friends, recently caught some sailfish, grouper and tuna.
Capt. Richard Chellemi on the Gamefisher II reports decent weather and a good sailfish bite in the Flamingo area. He's been raising anywhere from five to 13 sailfish per day offshore and picking up a few mahimahi and grouper for the dinner table.
Ralph Solano of Costa Rica Wild Fishing in Potrero reports lot of baitfish in the bay, including blue runner, ladyfish and mullet. This abundance of bait has brought in good numbers of snapper, corvina, snook, barracuda and small shark. Solano has been surf fishing in the morning and kayak fishing in the afternoon.
Capt. Warren Sellers of Warren Sellers Sportfishing reports that boats out of the Flamingo and Tamarindo area have been raising six to 10 sailfish per day.
To the south, Capt. Rick Ruhlow on the Kingfisher in Carrillo released a few sailfish on a recent half-day trip. He adds that a private boat called the Silverado raised three marlin and eight sailfish in the area.
Central Pacific
Capt. Dana Thomas on the Hoo's Your Daddy took the Lee family from Florida out for a half-day inshore trip for roosterfish. They got rained on a little but they caught five nice roosters. A few days earlier, Thomas took out a group from the School of the World in Jacó, and they caught six wahoo and a few small tuna.
On the Fish Whistle, Capt. Brandon Keene caught a 60-pound broomtail grouper, a couple of 10-pound painted grouper and 70-pound amberjacks, a 30-pound roosterfish and half a dozen red snapper on a recent day of bottom fishing less than 15 miles from Los Sueños Marina.
Capt. RJ Lillie on the Disco Pirate did some inshore fishing with a few guys from the U.S. state of Missouri. They caught four nice roosterfish in the 30- to 40-pound range on a half-day inshore. A few days earlier, little Brady Barger Jr. caught a nice mackerel while trolling on the Disco Pirate.
Bill McMenemy of Straight Up Sportfishing says his crew has been doing well on roosterfish in the Negritas area, about 45 minutes from Los Sueños Marina. A client from Puerto Rico recently caught three roosterfish in the 40- to 60-pound range.
Jamie Walker of Frenzy Sportfishing reports some good roosterfish action in the Quepos area. He's had some friends and clients in recently, and everyone has been catching and releasing some nice roosterfish in the 25- to 45-pound range.
Southern Pacific
Todd Staley of Crocodile Bay confirms some good news for the future of sportfishing in the Golfo Dulce. The shrimping industry and the Costa Rican Tourist Fishing Federation came to an agreement recently to discontinue shrimping inside the Golfo Dulce. This was made possible by local sportfishermen dealing directly with the shrimping industry, accomplishing something outside conservation groups could not. Shrimp trawling is one of the most destructive methods of fishing; for every pound of shrimp caught for market, 10 pounds of juvenile fish are killed.
Capt. Bob Baker of Golfito Sportfishing says the marlin and tuna bite has been good, but well outside. He also says, “Bring a raincoat.” The mahimahi and tripletail bite has been good near debris lines, logs and current breaks. The fat snook fishing has been slowed by the rain, but the action is still pretty good at night with small white jigs fished in tandem. The snapper, corvina and amberjack have been biting well around Pavones, on live sardines and butterfly jigs.
Northern Region
Philippe Tisseaux of San Carlos Sport Fishing wants to remind everyone of the annual San Carlos Fishing Tournament to be held Sept. 13 to 14 in Nicaragua. The contest covers guapote fishing in the Solentiname Islands, and tarpon, snook, machaca and drum in the Río San Juan. For more information, contact Tisseaux in Costa Rica at 8842-7673.
Capt. Ron Saunders reports high water levels and lower water temperatures up at Lake Arenal, but they've still been catching guapote and machaca in the four- to six-pound range. With the lower water temperatures, the topwater bite slows while the trolling bite remains steady, Saunders adds.
Caribbean
Diann Sánchez of Río Colorado Lodge reports that the weather has been a roller coaster on the Caribbean side, with good days and bad days. The tarpon have been rolling in the river, and the ocean has calmed down recently. A couple fishing last week preferred to fish in the rivers, where the tarpon were seen but not hooked.
Capt. Eddie Brown on the Bullshark in Tortuguero reports up-and-down weather patterns on the Caribbean. He says they've been catching a few tarpon outside the river mouth, weather permitting, and some snook in the 10- to 15-pound range on the inside of the river mouths.
I recently took a week off and went to Colombia's Isla de Providencia, or Old Providence, in the Caribbean. I did the Decameron package deal and can't say enough good things about my vacation. I fished every day, snorkeled, ate a bunch of great seafood, played dominos with some locals, read a couple of good books, took a few naps in the hammock and went to an all-island, carnival-like party. I stayed at a great little hotel on the beach called El Recreo, where the owner and staff were very friendly and the food was great. I fished with some guys from the Hotel El Pirata Morgan in Fresh Water Bay and had a great time. We caught tuna, barracuda, snapper, oldwife, butterfish, jack, yellowtail and grunts.
If you're looking for a quick vacation out of Costa Rica, Old Providence is a great option. Contact me for more details.
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