Pacific Hit-and-Miss; Tuna Great on Caribbean

NORTHERNPacific-coast fishinghas been sort ofhit-and-miss. As ofnoon on Monday ofthis week, about sixboats out of Tamarindoand Flamingohad caught sometuna, dorado andamberjack, and theWetass II had onesailfish.Capullo skipper Steve Curtis saidwater conditions vary a lot, with bluewater one day and green the next, andboats have been raising about six sails aday along with the occasional marlin.Gamefisher II skipper RichardChellemi found a nice bite a few days agoabout 20 miles offshore and got 20 sailsfor the day. However, you could go to thesame spot the next day and get nothing,Curtis added. The best spot in the areaseems to be off Junquillal.Joan Vernon reported that the recentbillfish tournament at Playa Carrillo, previouslyreported here, was a big success,raising $1,000 for the sportfishing association’sconservation work, $4,000 for TheBillfish Foundation and $500 for the Epicgroup to assist in distribution of ecologicalbooklets to Costa Rican schoolchildren.She plans to bring the tournamentback to Guanamar in late April 2006.For more information, contact Joan atpezvelajv@aol.com.ACCORDING to reports from CostaRica Dreams, which fishes farther south,the bite out of Los Sueños Marina, on thecentral Pacific coast, appears to have beensporadic late May into the first week ofJune, with one to six sails, an occasionaldorado and a couple of flurries on smalltuna for boats fishing there.Lots of rain off Quepos, and no currentreports from that area other than thattwo boats riding the buoys sank duringheavy rains Sunday night. One was the ill fatedFlyfisher, which had two anglersdrown a few weeks ago (TT, May 13).The other boat was a small outboard.As of last week, Quepos boats weregetting an occasional flurry on sailfishand a few dorado working off PlayaEspadilla.ON the southern Pacific coast, Roy’sVentura Lodge reported the rains haveeased up, and while billfish aren’t hitting,inshore fishing for tuna has beenexceptional. Most run in the 12-poundrange, but a 60-pounder was reportedlycaught out of Crocodile Bay.THE northern Caribbean coast sawsome drizzling rain at Barra Coloradoover last weekend, but the fishing is stillsensational – about the best I can everrecall for this time of year – with theaction outside the river mouth, as therivers and lagoons in the area are too highand murky for good fishing right now.According to Dan Wise at RíoColorado Lodge, William Babcock fromBradford, Illinois, caught and released sixtarpon in three hours Sunday afternoon.Local anglers can get a bargain at thelodge June 15 to Aug. 15, with Wiseoffering a discount of $100 per day onfishing during this period. Call Wise onhis cellular at 816-2882, the lodge at 710-6879 or the office in San José at 232-4063for more information.My first trip to Costa Rica was in lateJuly 1983 with a group of writers fromvarious U.S. newspapers and magazines.The action was incredible, and I wenthome just long enough to sell my houseand move down here and try to get in acouple of days in July every year.For more info on fishing or assistancein planning a trip to Costa Rica, contactJerry at jruhlow@costaricaoutdoors.comor visit 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.