Tarpon fishing at Barra Colorado on the northern Caribbean coast is about as good as anyone could hope for, as evidenced by the fish counts and size of the fish.
Tennessee angler Kemmons Wilson boated three tarpon while flyfishing at the Río Colorado Lodge on Friday of last week, and in the process busted his 12-weight rod. He returned to the lodge and borrowed a fly rod from lodge operator Dan Wise, went back out and hung another big one that managed to break Wise’s rod as well.
A group of six anglers from the “Come Fish with Me” television show in Seattle fished the lodge on Friday and Saturday, catching and releasing 18 of the silver rockets.
Dan said one of the tarpon was estimated at 250 pounds; if so, it would be among the largest I have ever heard of in the area.
I’m hoping to have a photo of the monster for next week’s edition.
Guide Luis Pérez, who has fished the area all his life, said it was the largest he had ever seen, and he had to crank up the motor to keep it from towing them out to sea.
All the action has been on the ocean, outside the river mouth. Wise said the other lodges also have a lot of anglers on the water, but I’ve received no reports from them. The Amateur Fishing Club had a tournament at Barra over the weekend; I hope to hear how they did for next week as well.
The six fishermen headed from the Caribbean to the southern Pacific coast to fish at Roy’s Zancudo Lodge in the Golfito area. I didn’t receive a report in time for this week’s column, but according to the lodge there, they should do well.
Roy Ventura of the lodge said they are raising marlin most every day, sailfish and tuna are hitting and the dorado bite is just beginning to turn on.
In the same area, CrocodileBay had a similar report, with yellowfin tuna hanging in the area, where eight anglers from the Miami Billfish Tournament were down and connected with tuna from 30 pounds to more than 200 pounds, and had a bonus of a 500-pound blue marlin.
Action farther north on the Pacific is reportedly on the slow side. Talking Fish operator Randy Wilson, who operates out of Tamarindo on the northern Pacific coast, said they are getting an occasional sail and dorado. Wilson reports some rain in the afternoon, but seas have been flat.
No reports from anyone south of there out of Carrillo or Quepos, and no news is usually bad news when it comes to fishing.
