There are a lot of happy fishermen all over the country. The bite is on, whether you wet a line in the Pacific or the Caribbean.
Old reliables Dan Wise and Eddie Brown both report a great tarpon bite between Tortuguero and Barra del Colorado on the Caribbean side. Phil Hoover, 82, made his 70th trip to Rio Colorado Lodge. Hoover was fishing there 20 years ago when I worked there. He always had a knack for catching tarpon, and entering his eighth decade hasn’t slowed him down a bit. He fished his usual seven-day trip and hooked 71 tarpon, landing 27. A few snook have been biting in Barra, and Brown has been slipping out after dark and enjoying some very good snook fishing. He also reports he is catching a fair share of king mackerel just off the beach.
Over on the Pacific side, the fishing has come to life from the Gulf of Nicoya south. Rolando Chaves says boats out of Los Sueños have been seeing a good share of sailfish.
The sailfish bite continues up north in Guanacaste, where reports say the ocean has been good and most boats out are staying busy.
Quepos has seen some fantastic inshore fishing lately, with lots of roosterfish keeping anglers happy. Boats have reported days of a dozen fish or more, with most running 15 to 20 pounds, but several in the 40-pound-plus range have been taken.
Down south, the sailfish action has been fair at best, but a good run of tuna has anglers making a lot of noise. The fish are running between 40 and 200 pounds, with top fish this week weighing 180 pounds. Inshore has been spotty; the best action has been deep-jigging snapper.
Skippers, operators and anglers are invited to email fishing reports by Wednesday of each week to todd@crocodilebay.com. To post reports and photos on The Tico Times’ online fishing forum, go to wordpress-257819-2837440.cloudwaysapps.com/Weekend/Fishing/Fishing-Forum.