For the most part, the weather has been about normal for “green season” in Costa Rica. The days are mostly sunny with light winds, and about every other night we have some late-afternoon and evening showers.
The northern Pacific coast had a great blue marlin bite in July. Anglers on the central and southern Pacific coasts did about average on tuna, sailfish, mahimahi and black marlin. The inshore fishing has been steady up and down the Pacific, while the Caribbean side is getting ready for its best tarpon months.
Northern Pacific
Capt. Skeet Warren on the Bushwacker in Flamingo says the inshore bite for cubera snapper and jack has been good and the offshore bite for blue marlin has been great. He fished five hours recently and went two for four on blue marlin.
Petra Schoep of Tamarindo Sportfishing reports a good blue marlin bite mixed in with some sailfish, wahoo, mahimahi and the occasional tuna.
Capt. Steve Curtis on the Capullo in Tamarindo also reports a good marlin bite. The Ball family recently caught a couple of blue marlin in the 250-pound range, as well as a wahoo for the dinner table. The Hayman group went inshore for a half-day and caught a 60-pound cubera snapper.
Captains Peter Heidenreich and Chris Watkins with Go Fish Costa Rica in Tamarindo report lots of blue marlin in the area.
The Terk family went two for two on blue marlin in the 250-pound range, while the Smith family released one 300-pound blue marlin and missed another.
Central Pacific
The Spanish Fly fished with the Woodson family from the U.S. state of Florida recently and released a couple of sailfish. They also caught a 50-pound mahimahi and a 60-pound yellowfin for some good eating. Capt. RJ Lillie on the Disco Pirate out of Los Sueños fished a local hot spot called the 26 Rock and caught four nice wahoo, a couple of big jack, an amberjack, some tuna mackerel and a handful of small yellowfin tuna. A few days earlier, he caught a couple of nice roosterfish and big jack on a half-day trip.
Also out of Los Sueños, Capt. James Smith and the crew of the Dragin Fly took a single angler out for a day offshore and went two for three on black marlin, one 300 pounds and the other 500. Tony Palmer and Michael Thomas fished with the guys on the Good Day II and caught eight sailfish and eight nice yellowfin tuna in two days.
Capt. Dana Thomas on the Hoo’s Your Daddy took a single angler inshore-fishing for roosterfish at a local hot spot called Negritas. They ended the day with two 50-pound-plus roosterfish and a 30-pound cubera snapper.
In Quepos, the Blue Water III caught three sailfish and a nice yellowfin tuna on a recent half-day trip, while the CaribSea released two sailfish, had a nice marlin on for a while and kept a couple of 30-pound yellowfin tuna in a full day offshore.
Capt. Alex Holdin on the La Manta in Quepos had a great day at the 26 Rock recently, catching cubera, yellowfin tuna, amberjack, wahoo and more.
Southern Pacific
Capt. Bob Baker with Golfito Sportfishing reports a good yellowfin bite and a spotty sailfish bite, while the black marlin bite seems to be picking up. Baker says August is one of the best months for black marlin in the area. The inshore fishing has been steady for cubera and corvina from 10 to 40 pounds.
Caribbean
The tarpon lodges on the Caribbean side are getting ready for their best weather and fishing months. The seas are usually flat and large numbers of tarpon can be found in and around the river mouths. Don’t miss out on the best tarpon fishing of the year, especially if you have never experienced it in Costa Rica before.n
Please send fishing reports, photos and comments to Jerry “Bubba” Hallstrom at fish reportCR@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.
