Costa Rica Fishing Notes: Costa Rica Fishing Archives

Super Carrillo Fishing

By S. Curtis on March 5, 2010 9:31 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Peter Allen and Omer Riza fished with us and had their usual great fishing luck out of Carrillo, Costa Rica, releasing 4 sailfish, 4 dorado, a striped marlin, and a nice 400+ lb. blue marlin.

Seas were calm and the weather perfect. The blue water was around 20 miles offshore, with a gradual color change from the green closer to shore. Just a few days ago the blue water was over 30 miles away, so it's welcome to see it moving closer to shore. If this sounds like a complaint, remember that we're pretty spoiled here. Nothing is better than to have the blue water right up against the shoreline, and a good marlin and/or sail bite going on just 5 or 10 miles away.

The stripey came up on a short teaser, a Wide Range Senior clone made of soft silicone. We fed it a large ballyhoo and hooked it up on the tiny little Accurate BX2-500, loaded with 80 lb. Spectra and a 100 yd. topshot of 30 lb. mono. The fish was about 120 lbs. and the pectoral fins were brightly lit up on the release. Check out the photos to the left and right (by the way, just click on any of these photos to see a larger version).

The blue came up on the same purple and black teaser as the stripe, and we fed it a dorado belly bait on the Accurate ATD 30, which we've got loaded with 130 lb. spectra and a 100 yd. topshot of 80 lb. mono. The fish topped 400 lbs. and gave us quite a show. Omer got a shot of the fish on the wire with Manuel, although in the excitement the lens got slightly smeared with sunscreen. Great fish though!

Super Carrillo Fishing

By S. Curtis on March 5, 2010 9:31 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Peter Allen and Omer Riza fished with us and had their usual great fishing luck out of Carrillo, Costa Rica, releasing 4 sailfish, 4 dorado, a striped marlin, and a nice 400+ lb. blue marlin.

Seas were calm and the weather perfect. The blue water was around 20 miles offshore, with a gradual color change from the green closer to shore. Just a few days ago the blue water was over 30 miles away, so it's welcome to see it moving closer to shore. If this sounds like a complaint, remember that we're pretty spoiled here. Nothing is better than to have the blue water right up against the shoreline, and a good marlin and/or sail bite going on just 5 or 10 miles away.

The stripey came up on a short teaser, a Wide Range Senior clone made of soft silicone. We fed it a large ballyhoo and hooked it up on the tiny little Accurate BX2-500, loaded with 80 lb. Spectra and a 100 yd. topshot of 30 lb. mono. The fish was about 120 lbs. and the pectoral fins were brightly lit up on the release. Check out the photos to the left and right (by the way, just click on any of these photos to see a larger version).

The blue came up on the same purple and black teaser as the stripe, and we fed it a dorado belly bait on the Accurate ATD 30, which we've got loaded with 130 lb. spectra and a 100 yd. topshot of 80 lb. mono. The fish topped 400 lbs. and gave us quite a show. Omer got a shot of the fish on the wire with Manuel, although in the excitement the lens got slightly smeared with sunscreen. Great fish though!

November Costa Rica Fishing Still Hot

By S. Curtis on November 12, 2009 4:08 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The season is changing in Costa Rica, and the fishing has been hot, in a smorgasbord sense. After a very light rainy season, the first 10 days of November were a bit wet, and we are just now transitioning into the dry season. In October we had good sailfish bites at various times, with a lot of dorado as well.

Typically, throughout the year in Costa Rica we see fluctuations in the fishing, with different species being active on the bite at different times. Sometimes, however, everything gets active and we have good, solid fishing, which is what's been going on the last couple of weeks.

The Chris Reid group fished on Capullo, our 36' Topaz sportfisher, out of Tamarindo on Nov 11th, with captain Manuel Leal and mates Cheyenne and Luis Rosales. The group caught 8 yellowfin tuna in the 40 lb. range, 2 large dorado, 2 sailfish and a 350 lb. blue marlin. We were glad to see the good sized tuna around again, as they have been a bit scarce for the last several years. We'll see how this dry season holds up tuna-wise, and I'll post notes.

The marlin was caught on 30 lb. standup tackle, on an Accurate BX2-500. The size of this reel is very small -- so small that you wouldn't normally use it to try and catch a 350 lb. marlin. We use the reel in the shotgun position, with a bare ballyhoo on a circle hook, run in a clip with the reel set in free spool and the clicker on. The reel is loaded with 80 lb. spectra backing, with a 100 yd. top shot of 30 lb. mono.

We are normally looking for sailfish, dorado or smaller-than-300lb. marlin on the shotgun, but every once in a while a bigger fish slams the bait and, what are you going to do? Off you go. The reel handled the Reid's 350 lb. blue with breaking a sweat.

The offshore winds are now beginning to show signs of picking up here on the northwest coast of Costa Rica, and our fishing charters will soon begin running an hour or so to the south on days that are forecast to be blustery in front of Tamarindo. This seasonal change is a re-shuffling of the fishing deck, so to speak, and we will see how the fishing scene shapes up in the coming months.

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Super Carrillo Fishing

Super Carrillo Fishing

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