No Letup on the Pacific, Barra Slow

FISHING hasn’tslowed a bit on thePacific coast sinceour report last week.Ron Cavalier, aTico Times subscriber,e-mailed usto say he and his sonBob fished threedays last week atBanana Bay Marinain the Golfito area,on the southernPacific coast, where they caught andreleased over 40 sailfish up to 110 poundsand two marlin in the 350-pound range.“We passed up numerous other sailfishin our search for marlin and caught 10dorado up to 50 pounds and 15 tuna up to30 pounds,” Ron said. “It was by far ourbest fishing trip in Costa Rica to date, andneedless to say, we will be back next yearduring the same time period.”He added that last year they fishedthere in March and released only eight sailfishin three days.Capt. Michael Packard, at nearby MarHuron Sportfishing in Puerto Jiménez,reported Freddy Hernández and his fishingbuddies were there last week on theirfourth trip, and in two days released 10sailfish, six dorado in the 30-50 poundrange, four yellowfin tuna, a 20-poundrainbow runner and a 150-pound blue marlin,the latter on 15-pound line and a spinningrod.No letup on the central Pacific coast,with boats from Quepos and Los Sueñoscontinuing to get a steady bite. Our biggestproblem has been finding available boatsand hotel rooms for anglers who want tocome down in the next few weeks.As of noon, Monday, we had called 15hotels in Quepos trying to find rooms forFrancisco Azcárraga, a television executivefrom Tampico, Mexico, who wants toarrive in mid-February to do some fishing,and so far no success finding lodgingfor his party of seven. But we’re stillsearching.Still a heavy wind blowing off and onout of the north, but boats out ofTamarindo and Flamingo, on the northernPacific coast, are finding fish in moreplacid waters to the south, off Carrillo.Capullo skipper Steve Curtis said itblows hard in the mornings and lets up inthe afternoons, but that this is typical andmost often lays down by April. Steve saidhe fished off Carrillo last week, getting fouror five sails a day and a marlin bite or two.Rob Gordon, who operates the KittyKat out of Carrillo, said they have hadwind off and on, but late last week wenttwo sails, a pair of dorado in the 40-poundrange and two wahoo, and jumped a marlin.He was fishing with Costa Rican residentsJim Deyo, Jim Holley, Mike Perryand Tony Welzenbach.“We are seeing lots of marlin, some bigdorado and wahoo at Carrillo,” Rob added.Things have slowed on the Caribbean,with the Río Colorado Lodge reporting onSunday that tarpon action had been at astandstill for the previous several days, butweather had been good.For more info on fishing or assistance inplanning a trip to Costa Rica, contact Jerryat jruhlow@costaricaoutdoors.com orvisit www.costaricaoutdoors.com.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.