Tarpon Bite On; Pacific Slower than Normal

The weather was ideal and the tarpon bite on again early this week at Barra Colorado, on the northern Caribbean coast, where Dutch visitor Jac Valstar on Sunday boated 80- and 130- pounders working the ocean just outside the river mouth from the Río Colorado Lodge. Lodge owner Dan Wise reported Monday that he had several boats out and all hooked fish in the morning.

Another angler, fishing light tackle up the river, took a small snook, some mojarra, a guapote bass and a 12-pound tripletail Monday morning,Wise said.

On the other side of the country, according to reports up and down the Pacific coast, action has been slower than normal for this time of year.

In the south, Roy Ventura at Roy’s Zancudo Lodge in Golfito reports quite a few marlin for this time of year, some running 200-300 pounds. He adds that big tuna are also hitting, and the dorado bite is just beginning to turn on.

There’s little action out of Quepos on the central coast, where J.P. Sportfishing reports only one sailfish caught on their boats in the past couple of weeks.

I was unable to raise any of my normal contacts on the northern coast, but son Rick Ruhlow reports from Playa Carrillo that he has not heard of anything special, with relatively few fish coming. This comes as a surprise, as this is normally high season up there.

I received an e-mail from Ronald Storm, an old friend who was the first to introduce me to inland and Pacific-coast fishing when I moved to Costa Rica in 1983. Ron moved back to the United States some years ago, but still reads The Tico Times and was down recently for a short visit. He said he was disappointed to find the roads in the Flamingo area in worse condition than his last visit two years ago and the Flamingo marina still closed, asking if any progress is being made.

To the best of my knowledge, there has been no action on rebuilding or reopening the marina, which is a real tragedy for the region (TT, July 6). Boats still fish out of the area, but have to moor to buoys offshore, a great inconvenience to boat operators and to fishing clients. Some boats that previously based at the marina are now working from buoys off the beach in Tamarindo.

With new resorts and golf courses springing up like dandelions in the region, I am amazed that no inroads have been made on the marina.