TICO Timessubscriber BrianSmith, who lives inHeredia, fished theFlounder I with hisbrother out ofQuepos last weekand reports theycaught and releasedfour sails to 110pounds, two doradothat weighed in ataround 45 and 60 pounds and saw a lotmore, with flat seas and bluebird weather.The following day, they fished theBluefin I, with a heavy chop and overcastskies, but had to be satisfied with anotherbig dorado and no billfish. Brian says hecan usually get away to go fishing onweekends; if anybody needs another bodyto share the charter cost, they can contacthim by e-mail at briansmith88@yahoo.com.Most of the boats fish up to four people,some more, and the price is the samewhether one or more are aboard, whichmakes it a bit pricey for one or two peoplesince most boats charter at around $850 aday. If others are looking to split costs on atrip, send me your e-mail address or telephonenumber and I will publish them inthis column.ALSO heard from Jim Butterworth,recently returned home to 12-degreeweather in Connecticut from a five-daytrip to Roy’s Zancudo Lodge in the Golfitoregion, his seventh trip to the lodge (whichsays a lot for Roy Ventura’s operation).“Weather was a little unusual forJanuary, with some pretty heavy downpoursand more cloud cover than I haveseen in past years, but the fishing was goodand was getting better,” Jim said.He reports that although they had a lotof sails in the air, they weren’t very hungry,but they did catch and release a blueand black marlin and nailed a lot of dorado.No tuna caught, but Jim said he had abig one on for 20 minutes before it pulledthe hook. He had no complaints after battlinga behemoth for two hours last yearbefore it got away.“Everything at Roy’s was top shelf asusual,” he added, “and keep up the reports(as) it’s fun to read them and they take mymind off the frigid New England winter.”GOT a report from Judy Kieldsen atLos Sueños that 33 boats in a January tournamentthere released 490 sailfish and 26marlin for a total of 516 fish, but assume itwas a private tournament as we had noadvance notice and still don’t know howmany days they fished or the dates of thetournament.THE heavy rains on the southernCaribbean coast didn’t slow fishing a lot atBarra Colorado, where attorney CharlesSchoemaker, from Glendale, California,went three tarpon releases for four hookedlast weekend at the Río Colorado Lodge.Lodge operator Dan Wise reportedMonday that skies were blue and the waterlevel in the river was back to normal, withtarpon moving inside as is normal for thistime of year. He added there are still plentyof calba in the rivers and backwaters aswell.Don’t have any idea how other lodgesat the Barra or up the Tortuguero Canal atParismina are doing as we never getreports from any of them.For more info on fishing or assistance inplanning a trip to Costa Rica, contact Jerryat jruhlow@costaricaoutdoors.com orvisit www.costaricaoutdoors.com. You canalso call our Costa Rica office toll free at1-800-308-3394 from the U.S. and Canada.Skippers, operators and anglers areinvited to contact Jerry with fishing reportsby Sunday of each week. Call or fax 282-6743 within Costa Rica or write to the emailaddress above.
Today in Costa Rica
