THE best fishingthis past week hasbeen off Playa Carrillo,on the northernPacific coast, and inshorein the Tamarindoarea, farther north.We had an emailfrom TicoTimes reader ScottBoyce, who fishedthe Kitty Cat atCarrillo last week,and in one day released seven of the 20sails they had in the air, including the firstfor his 10-year-old son.Boyce said they also fished a half-dayat Playas del Coco, catching about 30 skipjack,a pair of dorado, an amberjack, twodorado and a 50-pound roosterfish.Gamefisher II skipper Richard Chellemialso fished off Carrillo last week andaveraged five sailfish releases a day fly, butis back at home base in Tamarindo, wherethe handful of boats that have been goingout are largely fishing inshore.Randy Wilson, who skippers the TalkingFish out of Tamarindo, said he has beengetting a lot of half-day trips, with a steadybite on wahoo, tuna and dorado. Thewahoo are off and on, with a wide-openbite for a day or two, then none, he said.Frankly, I don’t know why anyonewould want to fish sails if there are wahooaround, which in my opinion are more funto catch and also great eating.“Inshore has been such easy pickingsthat nobody wants to make the longer run,although our 27-foot Salsa went outsidelast week and raised a couple of marlin andsailfish,” Randy added.The report from Capullo captain SteveCurtis out of Tamarindo was about thesame: a lot of wahoo, tuna, dorado androosters inside.At Quepos, on the central Pacific coast,Bill Gannon, who operates the Unique,confirmed our suspicions voiced in lastweek’s fishing column that the dearth ofreports from Quepos and Jacó did not bodewell for the fishing there.He said Monday that the water wasgreen and it had been raining every daysince March 25, beginning much earlierthan normal.“It has been so slow that I am embarrassedto say anything,” Gannon reportedMonday. He was out last week with veteransportfishing skipper Greg Penley andPenley’s son Gary, and only scored tworoosters, both about 45 pounds.Gannon added that some boats on thecentral coast have been getting skunked,and even the Top Gun, which Bill rates oneof the top five boats on the coast, got onlytwo sails early last week.He did have some good news, however,reporting that surveyors have been drivingstakes to mark construction of the new 300-slip marina scheduled for construction atQuepos, slated to open in about three years.A new marina is also scheduled forconstruction in Golfito, on the southernPacific coast; we will provide an updatewhen we have more information.Heavy rains on the Caribbean last weekbrought fishing there to a screeching halt.Costa Rica Outdoors client Jack Howardsaid there were six fishermen at the RíoColorado Lodge, and while he and his sonjumped four fish in their one day of fishing,none was brought to the boat for release.For more info on fishing or assistance inplanning a trip to Costa Rica, contact Jerryat jruhlow@costaricaoutdoors.com.
