It is like hearing a song you really like over and over again on the Caribbean side. The fish are chewing, and those lucky enough to make it over there will really stretch some string. This bite should continue for another month or so.
Diann Sánchez from Río Colorado checked in and reported everyone is going to bed early after pulling on fish all day. The pressure is always on when you have a TV crew fishing. Johnny Hoffman filmed a show for Brazilian television with three other anglers. The group hooked 130 tarpon between 60 and 180 pounds – a dream trip for a television angler and a lodge owner as well. Other anglers had similar results; Phil Hoover from Naples, Florida, who has been fishing Río Colorado since I was there two decades ago, had already hooked 23 with four more days to fish.
Fishing buddies Bruce Johnson from Monterey, California, and Bob Abernathy from Orlando, Florida, met up in Guanacaste on the northern Pacific coast to fish with Capt. Richard Chellemi aboard the Gamefisher II. They proved there are still plenty of fish up north. Working against changing water conditions as green water moved in the area, Chellemi showed his years of experience reading local water. The two anglers had 31 shots at sails in four days, landing and releasing 22. They also hooked a couple of marlin, having a 400-pound blue shake the hook but releasing a 300-pound blue on 30-pound gear. They threw a nice dorado in the box for dinner.
Fishing has picked up a lot out of Los Sueños on the Central Pacific, according to Capt. Rolando Chaves. He has been seeing eight to 10 sails a day and the fish are cooperating. Jerry Glover, reporting from a little farther south in Quepos, reported the sail bite slowed the last day or two, but his boats are having lots of fun chasing roosterfish.
Down south, almost everyone is going through their boats getting ready for the season, but the few that have been out have been getting some tuna. Inside the Golfo Dulce, snapper and smaller amberjacks have been taking jigs.
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.
