What can I say? It’s October in Costa Rica. If you were looking for a true rain forest experience this past week, you surely got it. If you were planning on fishing, though, it wasn’t nearly as nice.
Rain pounded the entire Pacific coast all week, and not many boats went out. Up north, high winds and rough water forced most of the fleet from Playas del Coco and Ocotal to move their boats into Bahía Culebra, and several smaller boats sank on the hook at Coco.
A little farther south, Capt. Richard Chellemi on the Gamefisher II managed to get David Raab and friends some nice roosterfish fishing near shore. The top fish weighed about 40 pounds with a few more in the 20- to 35-pound range.
A few dorado and tuna have been working off Quepos. Jerry Glover reported the billfish haven’t been cooperating with the rain, but the good eating fish have been keeping anglers who don’t mind a little rain busy.
The only ray of sunshine has been on the Caribbean. A huge school of tarpon showed between Barra del Colorado and Tortuguero. Capt. Eddie Brown, fishing with Earl Waters, landed three and finally left the school for a well-deserved cold drink.
Brown will be my guest this Saturday on the radio. I will interview him live through the coconut telegraph while he is fishing the National Amateur Fishing Club Tarpon Tournament on the jungle coast of Barra del Colorado. We don’t have Nextel, we have “Next Time” communications, so it is going to be interesting. “Wetline Costa Rica” is broadcast locally Saturdays at 8 a.m. on Rainforest Radio, 960 AM, or online at www.rainforestradio.com at 7 a.m. Pacific or 10 a.m. Eastern time.
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.
