Kids land bass in Tourney; bites in Guanacaste

On July 15, More than 100 children put down their PlayStations, unplugged the computer, picked up some fishing gear and headed for Sabana Park for the Annual National Fishing Club kid’s Tournament. The club has been sponsoring this tournament for more than a decade, and according to club President Otto Dyes, the event is designed to promote sport fishing as a family activity.

  Over the years, the club has been stocking the lake in the park with tilapia, largemouth bass, and some rainbow bass. Walking around the edge of the lake, I saw lots of small largemouth bass being landed, so my guess is there is a healthy population of larger fish. The top angler caught 16 in the four-hour tournament. Everyone fished from the shore, and the club has been active more than 50 years in promoting land-based fishing. From what I saw walking around the park that morning, everyone was a winner.

Fishing report

Not a whole lot to toot the horn about this week, as fishing was slow in most parts of the country except Guanacaste. When the wind is not blowing, lots of marlin, sails and a few nice dorado are hitting along with the occasional tuna. Inside, wahoo, snapper and amberjack are still biting.

Los Sueños has been really quiet, and further south down in Quepos, they are only managing to scrap up a couple of billfish per outing. A few tuna up to 50 pounds have hit the sushi bar, and the inshore reefs are saving the day with a good amberjack bite.

Down south is seeing pretty much the same. Slow billfish action and a good inshore bite with roosterfish grabbing most of the attention. There was a good tuna bite until a purse seiner took the last one, after working the school of spinner dolphins many days in a row. We’ll talk about that next week.

The Caribbean is lacking anglers, and the fish have only been active at the river mouth. A tarpon here and there and a few snook.