U.S. Fishing Film Crew Shoots Good Footage

THE long-overduerain on thenorthern Caribbeancoast finally gothere with avengeance Sunday,with a torrentialdownpour on thenorthern coast raisingthe level of theriver, but the oceanwas still flat on theoutside so tarponare likely still there, at least for themoment.Dan Wise reported that Carl Stinsonand Allan Stewart from Maine were backat the Río Colorado Lodge in Barra delColorado, located in the extreme northwestof Costa Rica, on their third trip in as manyyears and brought Russell Smith along,who on his first morning out jumped fourtarpon and boated two.The good news is that the higher waterbrings in the calba and those small snookare already beginning to show in goodnumbers up the river and in the lagoonsand should be in solid by Nov. 20 duringWise’s two-day calba trip planned exclusivelyfor Costa Rica residents and nationalsat a reduced price.Call the Río Colorado office in SanJosé at 232-4063 for more information.COSTA Rica Outdoors helpedarrange a trip for Doug Houston and hisfilm crew who were here last week toshoot a couple of television shows thatwill be seen by 11 million viewers in theUnited States and Canada. Houston got injust under the wire.They filmed plenty of tarpon and capturedgood film of jumping fish in twodays at the Río Colorado Lodge, then wentto Lake Arenal in north-central Costa Ricafor a day of rainbow bass fishing. Despitethe high water on the lake, they managed toget five of the frisky guapote up to twokilos, working inshore with guide TersioHidalgo.From there, they went to the north westernprovince of Guanacaste on the Pacificcoast to fish one day at Playa Carrillo, butas of press time there was no word on howthey did on billfish and other blue waterspecies.I SUSPECT they found some fish, as areport from Sanctuary Resort just north ofthere at Playa Azul said the White Magicfound blue water about 20 miles offshoreand went three sailfish releases for fiveraised (see photo), along with dorado onthe trash lines.In case you haven’t heard, veteranskipper Danny Arnold sold the WhiteMagic to the owners of the new SanctuaryResort, but still skippers the boat for themon occasion.NO reports in recent days from anyoneon the central or southern Pacific coast.For more info on fishing or assistance inplanning a trip to Costa Rica, contact Jerryat [email protected] orvisit www.costaricaoutdoors.comSkippers, operators and anglers areinvited to e-mail or call Jerry with fishingreports by Wednesday of each week. Call orfax: 282-6743 if calling from Costa Rica, orthrough the e-mail address above