Hurricanes Hanna and Ike brought an unusual amount of wind and rain to the Pacific coast recently, but the weather cleared up last week and the offshore and inshore bite improved up and down the coast.
Boats on the northern Pacific coast have been catching some reef fish and seeing some marlin and mahimahi just offshore.
The central Pacific coast has seen good inshore and bottom bite with a fair offshore bite. Solid marlin fishing continues to be the focus of boats on the southern Pacific, while the Caribbean side continues to have flat seas and good fishing. And the fish are still biting at LakeArenal in the northern region.
Northern Pacific
Capt. Lee Keidel of Kingpin Sportfishing in Tamarindo reports heavy winds and rains the first week of the month, but once the weather cleared they fished the reef and caught good numbers of snapper, grouper and roosterfish. Keidel also reports a good mahimahi and marlin bite less than five miles offshore.
Petra Schoep of Tamarindo Sportfishing reports that the high winds and heavy rains slowed charters the first week of the month, but now that the weather has cleared they are fishing more and having luck reef fishing for grouper and fishing offshore for mahimahi.
Congratulations to Capt. Adam Hermsen for accepting a job fishing in the Galapagos Islands. I am so jealous. Good luck, Adam.
Central Pacific
I went fishing last week with some friends on the Fish Whistle with Capt. Brandon Keene. We caught 20 grouper and 10 snapper, all in the 10- to 30-pound range. The weather and water were perfect, the beers were cold, and the fishing was incredible. My arms were a little sore the next day from all that reeling. I guess I m getting old, because I used to laugh at the thought of an electric reel not any more.
Capt. Bill Kieldsen on the Sailfish took a group of friends offshore. The group wanted to catch something they could eat and ended the day with four nice mahimahi from 20 to 50 pounds. Even after sharing their fillets with the crew, they had enough fish for several fish fries.
Capt. RJ Lillie on the Predator did some fishing from shore recently on a day off. The river mouth looked good, and Lillie used his ultralight rod with a small Crappie jig and caught four fish, including a four-pound jack and a 10-pound snook.
Capt. Jeremy Trujillo on the R&J took a bachelor party out the first week of September and fished all over. They fished hard and at the end of the day were rewarded with a 250-pound blue marlin.
Capt. Dana Thomas on the Hoo s Up has been doing some inshore and bottom fishing and reports a solid bite. A Florida couple caught four big roosterfish and 20 jack on a half-day trip. One of the clients hooked a 15-pound jack and had it up to the boat when an 80-pound cubera snapper came up from below and bit the jack in half.
Capt. Dave Mothershead on the Miss Behavin confirms the beginning of the month was tough fishing offshore, as the rain and the chop made for some slow days. They have been focusing more on the inshore bite, catching good numbers of roosterfish and jack on live bait and poppers.
Capt. Bill Mcmenemy on the Straight Up reports a good roosterfish bite northwest of Los Sueños. U.S. anglers Dave Muenzer of Florida and Joe Campano of Delaware caught a handful of nice fish, including several nice roosterfish.
Felipe Fernández on the Good Day Too fished out of Los Sueños and raised a marlin and a sailfish and caught five nice mahimahi in the 40-pound range. Fernández says they fished about 30 miles offshore.
The Agwe out of Los Sueños Marina, captained by Tom Carlton, had a good week offshore, catching three blue marlin and 15 sailfish in five days of fishing.
Raúl Cabezas on the Reel Deal in Jacó had some clients go offshore for a half-day last week and caught three nice mahimahi.
The customers were happy to catch something they could eat.
Capt. Chris Bernstel on the Kinembe II reports a decent offshore and inshore bite for mahimahi, roosterfish and a few sailfish. He says some nice snook have been caught in the river mouths.
Southern Pacific
Todd Staley of CrocodileBay says they are winding down the season on a high note with a good marlin bite. John Gregore and Todd Jones had five chances at marlin on their last day of fishing. They broke a big one off and landed a 250-pound blue marlin. Jesse Ketz from the U.S. state of Minnesota caught all the fish he dreamed of, including a 300-pound blue marlin.
Capt. Bob Baker of Golfito Sportfishing in Zancudo reports a lot of black marlin on the outside, good numbers of yellowfin tuna, a few sails and some nice mahimahi.
The inshore bite for roosters and snapper continues to improve. They have also had a good run of black snook and calba snook in area rivers.
Northern Region
Capt. Ron Saunders of Arenal Fishing reports sunny days with some late afternoon showers at beautiful LakeArenal. Italian father-and-son team Alfredo and Renato Ricci from Rome fished two consecutive days. The highlight of the trip was father Ricci s beautiful six-pound guapote.
Caribbean Region
Capt. Eddie Brown reports a steady bite and flat seas in Tortuguero. He and his clients have been seeing 10 to 15 tarpon per day and releasing three to six per day. They have also been catching some snook in the five- to 10-pound range.
Diann Sánchez of Río Colorado Lodge reports calm seas and great fishing on the northern Caribbean coast. The Bond family from the U.S. city of Chicago jumped 39 tarpon and boated 10. Sánchez adds that snook in the 10- to 20-pound range are being taken from the beach.
On the southern Caribbean coast, Jim DiBerardinis of Manzanillo Tarpon Expeditions had a big group of regulars from South Africa in for some fly-fishing for tarpon. The first day of their trip, they jumped 18 tarpon and boated 10 of them, all averaging 100 pounds.n
Please send fishing reports, photos and comments to Jerry Bubba Hallstrom at fishreportCR@yahoo.com, or call 2778-7217 in Costa Rica or 1-800-9SAILFISH from the United States. To post reports and photos on The Tico Times online fishing forum, go to wordpress-257819-2837440.cloudwaysapps.com/fishingforum.
