“IT seems baseballHall of FamerWade Boggs startedthe streak off in January,and the oceanhas been one bigballpark ever since,”reported Todd Staleyfrom Crocodile Bay,at Puerto Jiménez,on the southern coastof the Osa Peninsula.Todd said Boggstangled with lots of fish during the week,but his last day here almost launched himinto the fishing hall of fame as well. Hethrew a big pink fly at a sail estimated at 140pounds, and the fish gulped. Boggs played itperfectly and finally had it a few feet fromthe boat.“He muscled it for a quick release, thetippet popped, and it was then he realized hehad caught the fish on 16-pound tippet, andit well exceeded the world record for that flyfishing tippet class.”Todd added that in January CrocodileBay anglers saw 1,755 sails, and the pacefor February will well surpass that.“Marlin have never left the area, andone day the first week of February our boatshad 32 marlin up… dorado are still aroundand the porpoise and tuna show has kept thebar in sushi,” he said.“YOU have done it again!” wroteFlorida angler Larry Owens, who just gothome from another Costa Rica trip wearranged at the Ojalá Hotel in Drake Bay, onthe other side of the Osa Peninsula.“I told you my friend Roger didn’t liketo fish, but we now have a major convert,”Larry said. “We fished two days with FredMaschmeier, and raised about 20 sails.Roger’s first fish was a bonito, which wasthe largest fish he’d ever caught, and hecouldn’t believe it when we used it for bait.“He proceeded to catch nine yellowfintuna, and hooked and landed four LARGEsails. I couldn’t believe he boated every fishhe hooked, as he was an absolute rookie. Iboated five more sails… What a great time.Thanks again for one more fantastic trip…”FURTHER north, in Quepos and LosSueños area, Costa Rica Dreams reportedMonday that from Feb. 1-14, the fleet ofabout 20 boats they booked out of the marinahad a total of 691 sailfish and three marlinreleases, along with 14 dorado, 37 tuna(to 180 pounds) five wahoo and 104 dorado.J.P. Sportfishing fishes five boats inQuepos, and reports similar daily averages.Off Carrillo, on the north Pacific coast,boats report seeing a lot of free-jumpingsails and marlin, but pickings have been alittle slim, with the Kitty Kat on Sundaygoing two for three on sails, some doradoand one marlin hooked that jumped free.The previous week in that same area, theWhite Magic reported that Phil and SylQuatrale, from Natick, Massachusetts, werehappy campers with a grand slam, scoring asailfish, blue marlin and striped marlin thesame day. Winds kicked up late last week,and skipper Forrest Zielke said the blowmade fishing difficult.ON the Caribbean coast, Coloradoangler Billy Lowe took a tarpon on a fly rodfishing up the Colorado River on Saturday,but apparently there was heavy flooding thatnight further up on the San Juan orSarapiquí, and a heavy offshore wind keptboats from going outside the river mouth.As a result, Billy and his partnerRaymond Clayton fished from the beach atAgua Dulce, and he nailed an 11-poundsnook while Raymond broke off another,estimated to have been even larger, on 12-pound test line, according to Dan Wise atRío Colorado Lodge.Water was back to normal by Monday,when Donna Carlson, from Jupiter, Florida,flew into the lodge in the morning, jumpedinto a boat after breakfast and was back bynoon reporting a tarpon release at BananaLagoon, fishing with guide Tito Brown.Dan said one of the guides from thelodge also reported seeing a family of fivemanatees up the river last week, once afamiliar occurrence in the region but veryrare in recent years.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.
