Jerry "Bubba" Hallstrom
Fishful
The weather the past few weeks has returned to our normal pattern for "green season". Most of Costa Rica has had nice days with calm water, light breezes and the occasional evening shower.
The boats up and down the pacific coast are still catching good numbers of mahi mahi with some sailfish, marlin and tuna in the mix. The fishing on the Caribbean side continues to be good for tarpon and the guapote bite at Lake Arenal has been about average for this time of year.
Northern Pacific
Petra Schoep from Tamarindo Sportfishing reports some good action with dorado, grouper, tuna and the occasional blue marlin. The Talking Fish with Capt. Randy Wilson took out Richard Krug for a half day and caught numerous grouper and dorado and a nice blue marlin estimated at 300 pounds. Captain Jose Lopez on the OutCast took Rick and Vivienne Werner for a half day and caught good numbers of dorado.
Captain Ralph Solano from Costa Rica Wild Fishing took a client from New Jersey out for some inshore kayak fishing near Flamingo Beach. They hooked up a 50 pound roosterfish on 30 pound line and it took him 35 minutes to land and safely release that fine fish.
Captain Skeet Warren on the Bushwacker fished offshore with Eddie Alexander and friends from Mississippi and caught 3 sailfish and 7 mahi mahi. A few days later they went inshore and caught 1 sailfish, 2 roosterfish, 2 wahoo, 3 jack crevalle, 2 sierra mackerel, and a lot of bonito. The seas have been calm and the weather great.
(Pic 2)
Central Pacific
I was lucky enough to go out with Captain Jeremy Trujillo on the Desperado last weekend. The Desperado is a really nice 60 ft Bertram with Direct TV. I am not sure if it gets any better than being 25 miles offshore fishing and watching college football on ESPN. The air conditioning was so cold you needed a blanket and the leather couch made for a nice spot for a nap. We ended the day with 6 nice mahi mahi and we raised 2 sailfish. My friends and I had a great time on a beautiful boat and we caught a bunch of good eating fish. Watching football and fishing offshore at the same time is like a dream come true.
Captain Dana Thomas took a Ukrainian gentleman out for a day of fishing in the Hoo's Up. The client had caught fish all over the world…he fished Jamaica, Bahamas, Mexico, Florida and more but he never caught a sailfish or marlin. He kept saying he wanted a big fish in his very broken English. Captain Dana took him out 26 miles and fished the corner hoping to get a sailfish. They caught a dozen mahi mahi but the guy wanted "big feesh"…the client told Dana if he caught him a marlin he would pay him $500. Dana laughed and said he would catch him a marlin for free if he could…the bite lately has been for mahi mahi and not many marlin have been caught. Dana heard on his radio about a boat that missed a couple marlin so he headed in that direction. About an hour later the Ukrainian guy got his wish and they hooked up a nice blue marlin. The guy battled his fish and it was safely released. The client was very happy and had no problem following through on his $500 promise.
Captain RJ Lillie went for a half day recently and caught 15 nice mahi mahi. The clients kept of few of the bigger ones and had the local restaurant near their hotel cook up their catch with all the Costa Rica side dishes.
Captain James Smith and the guys on the Dragin Fly went out last week about 25 miles and had a great day offshore. They caught 5 mahi mahi, 9 yellowfin yuna, 4 sailfish and a marlin.
Captain Dave Motherhead on the Missbehavin took a couple out from Texas. They went for a half day and caught 8 nice mahi mahi and a sailfish.
Captain Dominic Santana on the Caballo Del Mar in Herradura Bay went out recently with a couple guys from the USA and they caught 12 mahi mahi, 2 mackerel and a nice roosterfish.
Captain Chris Bernstel reports The Kinembe II has been working the tuna pretty hard out of Quepos as well as the typical piles of dorado going into the cooler. There have also been a few sailfish and marlin in the mix. Bernstel also reports a good inshore bite for snapper
Captain Dave Dobbins of Fish La Manta in Quepos reports all the dorado you can catch just a little ways offshore.
Southern Pacific
Captain Bob Baker from Golfito Sportfishing reports summer like weather conditions in the Golfito area. The
tuna and dorado are outside in good numbers. Wahoo are making a good showing off Mata Palo and down off the reefs of Punta Burica, chasing Yo-Zuri bonito , sub-surface tremblers, rapala's, and jet head plastics. There are still black marlin around the tuna and bonito schools. The sailfish bite has been spotty with boats averaging a couple sails per day.
Northern Region
Capt. Ron Saunders from Arenal Fishing reports partley sunny days and cool mornings at Lake Arenal. The lake is at near capacity. The up-side of high water – there is lots of tall, grassy shoreline to cast in. The down-side is – the shelves keep changing depths, which keep the fish moving around. Saunders has been fishing the last couple of weeks rain or shine, and is catching a few medium sized fish on half-day tours. Fish appear to be in a post-spawn funk; you'll get lots of strikes and smacks on the top-water, but it takes work to get them to actually take the hook.
Caribbean Region
Captain Eddie Brown on the Bullshark took Todd Staley out for some fishing last week in Tortuguero. They jumped 20 tarpon and released 2, they caught a couple snook in the 15 pound range and a nice snapper. The next morning the caught 3 snook one over 20 pounds.
Philippe Tisseaux from San Carlos Sportfishing reports the San Juan River is still up with all the rain in October but they are still catching tarpon over 100 pounds. There has also been a good snook bite further up the river and one lucky angler is reported to have caught a 52 pound snook near El Castillo.
Diann Sanchez from the Rio Colorado Lodge reports sunny days and a good tarpon bite in the northern Caribbean. They had several groups the past few weeks and everyone is having some luck. The groups going for tarpon have been jumping an average of 8-10 tarpon per day and releasing 2 or 3 of them. Several groups have been fishing the lagoons and have had good luck with guapote, machacha, mojarra and snook. One group went offshore and caught wahoo, kingfish and barracuda.
Please send us your fishing reports, fish photos, fish forecast and any comments or suggestions you have for the Tico Times Fishing Column to Bubba at fishreportCR@yahoo.com or give us a call locally at 2778-7217 or 1-800-9SAILFISH from the USA.