Ot fishing in Costa Rica?

kl8ton

Looking to do a quick trip this winter.  I desire big game fish.  Sailfish and Marlin sound fun.  Any experiences? I can fly direct from my local airport. 

bubbajack

Sails will be your best bet.

Sea2Ski

Went to CR twice. One day was set aside on each trip to fish.  Since I fish so much locally, it is not the primary purpose of a trip and do not book multiple days. 

One day was cancelled for wind. Another trip we kept getting hammered by tuna. I wanted a striped marlin.  Caught tuna to my arms fell off but I never got their pointy nosed friend. 

My advise is book as many days as you can for weather reasons. Also, see if they have connections flwith smaller boats for other inshore species worth catching like rooster fish if offshore is nasty. 

@pescadorzih. Any input? 

Tight lines!! 

kl8ton

Do you fish Caribbean sea/Gulf side or Pacific?   

Hook_emHornsfan_74

Have you thought about Cabo?  Fishing there was pretty amazing. Caught a huge marlin when we went. 

nolaegghead

Some friends yesterday

Lowcountrygamecock

I’ve never been to CR but want to one day. I’ve had hit and miss luck with booking trips out of town. I researched the crap out of guides in the keys last year and the one we settled on was a huge bust. Supposed to fish two days with him and we stopped at half a day the first day and didn’t even fish the second day. He didn’t have a plan B when plan A didn’t work out.  I don’t know how you avoid a bum guided. Weather ruining a trip is understandable but we had perfect conditions and he had no other options for us like he promised. 

I also had a really good one on a last minute trip booked in New Orleans so I guess win some lose some. 

GlennM

nolaegghead said:

Some friends yesterday

Wow, I’m in Naples and have tried to catch a pompano for weeks. Where did these get caught?  I just checked the water temp in New Orleans and it seem like it should be too cold for them right now?

Sorry for the hijack, I just couldn’t help myself

fishlessman

booked a trip there once, travel agent sent me to cabo....wth.   still a good trip with marlin.  what i learned is that if you dont pay the money and book with a good captain its kinda hit or miss.  struck out twice then decided to skip a day, find a place to drink and eat where you can watch the boats return. those that catch advertise with marlin flags. book one of those boats. the first boat were were on we returned in the captains seat, the captain was steering the outboards manually by hugging and turning them as the steering linkages failed.    back o that travel agent (the old days )  booked two trips back to back, a cheap trip to grand bahama to get my eyes used to fishing the flats (takes me about 3 days to see anything) then a trip to abaco for some serious fishing, 5 guides back to back days).  travel agent books tickets to miami, to grand bahama, back to miami,  back to boston, back to miami, then to abaco . its a package deal, thats the way it has to go. i hopped islands in the end after getting her to cancel 3 trips. a year later she booked someone that knows one of my cousins, not me, a trip to cancun in my name, tickets just showed up at my house. looking for a travel agent, her name is bunny. if you are there a few days, try watching the boats return, anyone down there can captain a boat

Foghorn

I can't speak for the Caribbean side, but there are definitely big fish on the Pacific side.  We went out of Guanacaste (NW corner) with some guy we booked off the beach of our resort.  We didn't have a specific agenda in terms of what fish we wanted to catch but we caught several and ate one of them.  I got a sailfish about 10 feet from the boat before he jumped off the line - so they are there.  But I don't have a specific recommendation about where exactly to go or who to book with.

fishlessman

if you do catch a marlin, if you want to catch and release.....dont. offer it to the captain, then the crew.  they will try harder to get you on more. absolutely amazing how quickly they can dress one of these and get it on ice.

GrateEggspectations

Chartered a boat with my family in Costa Rica a few years back. Eight of us on the boat for a full day. Had only one fish on the line all day, but we reeled it in, carved it up and had a great, fresh meal on the boat. Mahi-mahi. Was a great time, but we were a little disappointed not to see more action on the water. 

fishlessman

Sea2Ski said:

Went to CR twice. One day was set aside on each trip to fish.  Since I fish so much locally, it is not the primary purpose of a trip and do not book multiple days. 

One day was cancelled for wind. Another trip we kept getting hammered by tuna. I wanted a striped marlin.  Caught tuna to my arms fell off but I never got their pointy nosed friend. 

My advise is book as many days as you can for weather reasons. Also, see if they have connections flwith smaller boats for other inshore species worth catching like rooster fish if offshore is nasty. 

@pescadorzih. Any input? 

Tight lines!! 

if i were to go now, it would be for those roosters on the fly

lkapigian

Hook_emHornsfan_74 said:

Have you thought about Cabo?  Fishing there was pretty amazing. Caught a huge marlin when we went. 

Fishing has been great in Cabo since Covid and the slow down in tourism 

nolaegghead

GlennM said:

nolaegghead said:

Some friends yesterday

Wow, I’m in Naples and have tried to catch a pompano for weeks. Where did these get caught?  I just checked the water temp in New Orleans and it seem like it should be too cold for them right now?

Sorry for the hijack, I just couldn’t help myself

There is a spot near an offshore rig out of Empire LA where pompano show up in numbers.   My friends make pompano rigs and, if they are around, the pompano tear them up.  Pompano are the easiest fish to clean and/or filet and stay together on the grill like a steak.  Also delicious.

nolaegghead

My stuntman buddy grabbed my truck and boat at 4:20 AM this morning (saw him on my camera) and headed out for pompano.  Different guy from the ones that caught the 90 (some Vietnamese friends) in the pic, but they also fish together.  He spent $60 on pompano jigs earlier in the week.  It can be hit or miss, but usually miss is good for a few meals.  When it's on, you max out and switch to another species.

GrateEggspectations

nolaegghead said:

My stuntman buddy grabbed my truck and boat at 4:20 AM this morning (saw him on my camera) and headed out for pompano.  Different guy from the ones that caught the 90 (some Vietnamese friends) in the pic, but they also fish together.  He spent $60 on pompano jigs earlier in the week.  It can be hit or miss, but usually miss is good for a few meals.  When it's on, you max out and switch to another species.

Stuntman? Wow. Tell us more. And what’s his workout routine like? Is he the friend who features most regularly in your photos? Are you able to share some of his credits?

nolaegghead

GrateEggspectations said:

nolaegghead said:

My stuntman buddy grabbed my truck and boat at 4:20 AM this morning (saw him on my camera) and headed out for pompano.  Different guy from the ones that caught the 90 (some Vietnamese friends) in the pic, but they also fish together.  He spent $60 on pompano jigs earlier in the week.  It can be hit or miss, but usually miss is good for a few meals.  When it's on, you max out and switch to another species.

Stuntman? Wow. Tell us more. And what’s his workout routine like? Is he the friend who features most regularly in your photos? Are you able to share some of his credits?

yeah, he's in my photos pretty regularly...good friend and lives on the next block.  He is very holistic with everything...eats mostly fish and healthy food, doesn't drink, hates drugs.  Spiritual guy, into meditation and really a good person, would do anything to help others in need. Works out at one of the local gyms.  He is mostly behind the camera and on the computer over in front.

This cracks me up

GrateEggspectations

nolaegghead said:

GrateEggspectations said:

nolaegghead said:

My stuntman buddy grabbed my truck and boat at 4:20 AM this morning (saw him on my camera) and headed out for pompano.  Different guy from the ones that caught the 90 (some Vietnamese friends) in the pic, but they also fish together.  He spent $60 on pompano jigs earlier in the week.  It can be hit or miss, but usually miss is good for a few meals.  When it's on, you max out and switch to another species.

Stuntman? Wow. Tell us more. And what’s his workout routine like? Is he the friend who features most regularly in your photos? Are you able to share some of his credits?

yeah, he's in my photos pretty regularly...good friend and lives on the next block.  He is very holistic with everything...eats mostly fish and healthy food, doesn't drink, hates drugs.  Spiritual guy, into meditation and really a good person, would do anything to help others in need. Works out at one of the local gyms.  He is mostly behind the camera and on the computer over in front.

This cracks me up

Actually, I reckon he saw a net gain of 97lbs. All on his arm. 

nolaegghead

So my buddy got back.  Just went out by himself, turns out.  

alaskanassasin

Hydroxycut was the real deal 

JohnInCarolina

alaskanassasin said:

Hydroxycut was the real deal 

Right?!?!? Exogenous ketones have nothing on Hydroxycut.

alaskanassasin

I took that stuff and lost like 20 lbs in a few weeks. if I ate a bit too much of anything I had the screaming shvts.