If you want a sure bet on catching a tarpon in Costa Rica, now is the time to head over to the Caribbean side. September and October have always been my favorite months. I was on that side of the country last week, and although I didn’t get a chance to fish, the Caribbean breeze and the September flat seas reminded me of the five years I spent in Barra del Colorado.
Diann Sánchez from Río Colorado Lodge checked in this week to tell me how great the fishing has been of late. She reported that Robert Stewart, Jared Aurlett, James Stewart and Bruce Wortham from Andrews, Texas, fished three days and released a total of 82 tarpon, ranging in size from 80 to 200 pounds. “The guys said they had a fantastic time and will be back with more friends soon. … The ocean has been flat, with sunshine all day long, just beautiful!” she wrote.
Eddie Brown, a little ways south of Barra in Tortuguero, said the same thing. Tarpon are everywhere, biting from Barra del Colorado all the way to Parismina. He is still finding a few snook, but nothing like the 38-pound whopper he caught a week or so ago.
On the Pacific side, Guanacaste in the north is still the hot spot, which is normal for this time of year. Out of Quepos on the central Pacific coast, Jerry Glover reported his boats are getting a few sails and a couple of dorado up to 25 pounds. He also said the snapper fishing inshore has been good.
Down south, most anglers are opting for inshore where the bite has been better. Some dinner-plate snapper and some nice roosterfish are cooperating, with the added bonus of seeing the humpback whales in the Golfo Dulce.
Todd Staley is the fishing manager at Crocodile Bay Resort in Puerto Jiménez, on southwestern Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. 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.
