Major bite on the PacificCoast has moved north in the past week, just in time for the 10th Anniversary Billfish Foundation Presidential Challenge of Costa Rica Tournament, April 21, 22 and 23, based at the Guanamar Hotel in Playa Carrillo.
Until this past week, peak fishing had been south of there, out of Quepos and even further south in the Golfito region, but have not been able to get a report from the latter two locations in time for this report.
Kitty Cat skipper Rob Gordon at Carrillo said boats fishing just south of there are getting from 15 to over 20 shots at sailfish and one to three marlin every day.
Early this week, he raised a 300-pound marlin that swallowed the teaser and then broke off.
Norman Zerkus sends an e-mail from Macon, Georgia, reporting that he and sons Chris and Jimmy Zerkus of Atlanta, and Mitch Dugger of New Orleans, fished with Richard Chellemi on the Gamefisher II on April 7 and 8 out of Carrillo and raised over 30 sailfish in the two days with 19 to the boat.
The Presidential Challenge will be trailed by the infamous Michigan Boy´s Tournament, an annual event, which gained notoriety of a sort including page-one coverage in La Nación and a lot of ink and TV time in Detroit last year when an undercover TV crew from Detroit produced film suggesting that sailfish and marlin were not all the tourney entrants were fishing for in Costa Rica.
At Barra Colorado on the Caribbean Coast, Río Colorado Lodge reports tarpon fishing has continued steady for the past two weeks, with action in the river mouth and along the rip line, with a monster 170-pounder caught Monday by Rod Douglas, from Kenai, Alaska, the largest we have heard of in a long time.
The lodge said Scott Puchtel brought 22 anglers on a company trip and the group scored over 100 hookups and 27 nice tarpon to the boat in three days fishing this past week.
Big jack crevalle have been running with the tarpon, and Easter Sunday one boat scored seven jacks over 40 pounds. More than 15 tarpon were jumped Easter afternoon in three hours, taking flies and conventional baits, but none of those could be brought to the boat for release.
Seas were flat and calm. The lodge is offering a $100 per day discount on fishing packages from June 15 to Aug. 15, said owner Dan Wise.
