Catch More Fish: Costa Rica Fishing Recap

I completed part 2 of our Costa Rica winter fishing trips this past weekend.  I had a fellow fishing buddy Joe from Massachusetts and two of his friends, Doug and John, join me in Quepos for 3 days of fishing.  2 of them had been to Costa Rica before, Joe and Doug. Joe had fished up North on the Pacific Coast and Doug had been to the Quepos area but did not fish.

Day 1 was an offshore day for us.  We headed out about 35 miles to a reef area that is similar to Stellwagen Bank off of Provincetown.  It was crowded.  The most boats I had seen on one area at one time on all of our offshore days.  The reason was our spot had been a hot bite the day before with a lot of bonito in the area.  We quickly grabbed bait and did some very slow trolling for yellowfin tuna with live bonito.  After about an hour of no luck and not seeing anyone else fighting a tuna, we moved on.

We converted to trolling ballyhoo and going for sailfish and marlin.  As we left the crowd, we started to have success.  We landed three sailfish which was the first for my three guests.  They were all smiles.  This was by far the roughest conditions of all of the offshore days.  Not rough by New England standards but rough for this area. I am not sure if that impacted the bite or not.  We received intel around Noon of a big dolphin feed and possible tuna.  So, we ran a little deeper to find a large pod of bottlenose dolphins.  We worked the area for yellowfin again and came up empty.  It was a good first day on the water for the group.

Day 2 was an inshore day.  We started bump trolling after catching some moon fish for live bait.  While we were catching bait, we had a couple of rooster fish air out and even steal our bait off our Sabiki rigs.  The day felt like it might be productive.  We trolled for about 30 minutes.  I had asked if I could cast off the front of the boat while we trolled with a Yo Zuri floating diver that I had brought down with me.  I had no expectations of catching anything but wanted to give it a shot.  After about 2 dozen casts, it gets struck in exploding fashion. The fish takes a fair amount of line in it’s first run and runs back behind the boat. The mate and I quickly get the rod back to the back of the boat where I get tangled with the two guys trolling.  We quickly get untangled and we crank up the drag and I get the fish into the boat.  It was a Spanish Mackerel.  Long and very fast. It felt like I was fighting a false albacore.  We set out trolling again and we quickly hooked into a very large rooster fish.  Joe was on the rod and he was the one that got the bite.  This fish was strong and put up a great fight.  Joe got it to the boat for a few quick pictures and then safely released.  Rooster fish are protected here.  We then started trolling again and I was casting still with my lure.  I got hit again.  Another Spanish Mackerel.  This time with the drag set properly, we landed him quickly and with far less drama!  Not a bad start, 2 Spanish Mackerel and one rooster before 10 am.

We moved in closer to shore to grab some sardines to live troll with.  After grabbing bait, we moved South of all the other boats and began trolling.  We continued for the rest of the day with 5 more rooster fish and 2 large jack crevalle fish.  All and all, a busy day with a nice variety of inshore species.

Day 3 we went offshore again.  Captain found a new spot for bait and had landed a yellowfin tuna the day before.  We said, Let’s Go!  We caught bonito again near a floating pot and then headed deeper.  We started trolling for sailfish and marlin.  We were trolling for about 40 mins with the call coming to the captain of tuna. The power of having a reliable network.  We quickly pulled our lines and raced to the spot.  As we were approaching, you could see the active pod of dolphins.  But this pod was different, these were spinner dolphins and in all my trips to Costa Rica, the tuna has always been with them.  It was great to see all the life and our excitement was through the roof. One boat was fighting as we pulled in and we put two live bonito out, both on the surface.  Boom, within 2 minutes, the rod goes time and starts screaming.  It was my turn on the rod and I quickly jumped on.  You could tell this was a heavy fish and it had some fight in her.  We began the battle.  After about 20 minutes, we got to the leader and our first color.  Having landed many tunas in my day, I was already mentally prepared for him to run again once he saw the boat. Sure enough, that was what this fish did.  He didn’t get as deep as his first run.  I was working hard as this fish didn’t want to show me his pretty little face.  I had color again, probably 25-30 feet down when the dreaded popped hook happens.  UGH!  I could see the flashes of his silver side as he swam away!  Heartbreak!  We set out trolling again for them with live bait, but no luck.  We decided to switch to ballyhoo.  We started trolling all around the dolphins and we could see little yellowfin tuna busting the surface with the dolphins.  We worked in the area for about two hours.  Multiple times the captain had us in a great spot to go tight, but nothing.  We landed 2 sailfish while we were trolling around the area, but we didn’t have any more yellowfin hook ups.

We finished the day with 4 sails and two missed marlins.  A great day on the water with tons of life and excitement.  The mates even threw on a Ronzi paddle tail that I had brought for when we were trolling for tuna.  It got hit, but the fish didn’t hit the hook.  Just the tail.  It was fun to see one of my favorite lures to use on the Cape working down in Costa Rica too.

A great three days of fishing with 3 great guys.  The captains and mates are all great and work so hard.  We left with new friends and smiles on our faces.  It leaves me wanting more and thinking about next winters trips to Costa Rica.  Can’t wait for the New England weather to let up and we can start fishing in the familiar waters of the Cape.

If you are interested in booking a date for a charter for striped bass, black sea bass, bluefish or bluefin tuna around Cape Cod, please reach out so we can lock in a date. As the weather warms, the dates will quickly be filled.