Billfish biting from Quepos north; tarpon move offshore on Caribbean

The flat seas couldn’t last forever on the Caribbean side; it finally kicked up a bit but is still very fishable. The tarpon moved a little offshore but are still biting well near the water-color change outside the mouth of the river at Barra del Colorado.

Eddie Brown reports that those willing to venture a few more miles off the beach will find wahoo at the drop-off in front of the canyon between Tortuguero and Barra. He had seven bites last trip out, but only landed two because of the fish’s razor-sharp teeth cutting his monofilament leader. The ones he managed to get to the boat ran close to 50 pounds apiece.

On the Pacific coast, most of the billfish action has been between Quepos and northern Guanacaste. Richard Chellemi on the Gamefisher II has been raising between six and 10 sails a trip. He said the inshore bite hasn’t been bad with a mix of small tuna, dorado and skipjack. John Edmonson and Wesley Pye caught five of 11 sails and stopped on the way in to take enough grouper for a fresh fish dinner.

Down south, the billfish have been eluding the few boats going out, but there are still enough tuna around to keep angler’s rods bent. The size of the tuna has dropped, with most weighing in at 10 to 20 pounds.

Inshore is where the action has been off the Osa Peninsula. Roosterfish have been really cooperative along the beaches, and deep jiggers have been taking amberjack, a few small grouper and silky snapper. Anglers fishing the cuts from the beach where freshwater runs between Matapalo and Carate have been having some great snook action. Geovanny Leal and a group of friends caught 26 snook between eight and 12 pounds, casting jigs off the beach.

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 ticotimes.net/Weekend/Fishing/Fishing-Forum.