Southern Pacific Clears Up; No Letup at Barra

SONNY Kocsisfished his boat, theWetass II, last Saturdayon the northernPacific coast, fromFlamingo to Guanamar,where he justbought a new houseand plans to set uphousekeeping. Enroute, he picked upa marlin and eightsails for the day.He reports beautiful blue waterthroughout the area, but a tremendousamount of baitfish fishing, which is perhapswhy the game fish are not as hungryas they usually are this time of year.Similar reports from Rob Gordon, whofishes the Kitty Cat in that region, describeone to three sails most days, lots of tuna to35 pounds and small dorado. His best daylast week was three sails, five tuna and acouple of dorado.There are marlin in the area, as evidencedby the Pescador, one of the bigboats fishing out of Los Sueños, on thecentral Pacific coast, which came all theway north to the Guanamar area over theweekend and went one for three on marlinfor the day, Kocsis added.FISHING out of Flamingo last Fridayand Saturday, Pam Evans, her son Dylanand Mitchell Allen fished two days withChepe Vásquez on his Permit III andreleased three sailfish, battled but lost amarlin and caught some sails and tuna.This is the same group reported lastweek as having had an awesome couple ofdays fishing tarpon; they then headed toArenal for a day of fishing on the lake, andfrom there to the west coast.On Arenal they had a great day, fishingwith guide Tersio Hidalgo and going abouta dozen rainbow bass.ON the southern Pacific coast, a reportfrom Bob Baker at Golfito Sportfishinglast Monday said the weather finallycleared after a month of heavy rain. Hereports a lot of tuna around Pavones andMatapalo and fair numbers of sails chasingthe bait, but not enough boats out to get anaccurate reading on marlin. As usual, plentyof roosterfish and snapper can be foundinshore, and corvine are spawning, with 11caught last week, the largest a 30-pounder.Roy’s Zancudo Lodge in the same areareported a 252-pound blue marlin the lastweek in June, along with lots of small tuna,snapper, jacks and roosterfish to 45pounds.STILL no letup on the tarpon andsnook fishing at Barra Colorado, on thenorthern Caribbean coast. James Fetter,who had an incredible one-day trip for tarpon,as reported here last week, returnedon Tuesday but caught a windy day andcouldn’t get outside the river mouth for tarpon.So, he opted to do some surf fishingfor snook at Agua Dulce, and nailed six intwo days, three more than 15 pounds andthe smallest a seven-pounder, according toDan Wise at Río Colorado Lodge.Wise also reported the tragic drowningof a five-year-old boy, whose family areillegal immigrants from Nicaragua, squattingin the Barra del Colorado WildlifeRefuge upriver from the lodge. Accordingto Wise, the dugout canoe the child wasriding in overturned; he had been tied intothe seat of the boat and did not have a lifejacket.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.