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Article - 2009 Costa Rica Fishing Report
(Capt. George Harris) |
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As many of you already know…We at Super Fly
Charters have been recently blessed with an
extended fishing trip that took us down the
Pacific coast of Costa Rica fishing for the
legendary Sailfish, Roosterfish and Snook that
inhabit these storied waters…As one might
expect…this trip did not disappoint!!! As a
small boat charter captain off the coast of
Maine, My goal was to only fish with small boat
“Panga captains”…as that is basically what I
consider myself.
Our first three days of fishing brought us to
the small fishing village of Playa Herrudura and
the “World Class” Los Suenos Resort & Marina. We
did two days of offshore fishing for Sails and
although the “bite was slow” we raised raised
many sails into our spread of teasers and baits,
boating several nice Sailfish over the course of
two days.
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The third day was spent chasing the mystical
Roosterfish that prowl the surfline of the rocky
coast & reefs. We pursued the roosters using a
variety of techniques that included fly-fishing,
tossing huge poppers with spinning rods and the
local standard…pitching livebaits. All methods
proved to be successful and extremely
exciting!!!
Day four had us out with a
kayak fishing guide fishing a little to the
north out of Punta Leona…this was an amazing way
to view the incredible beauty of Costa Rica’s
jagged and mountainous coastline…While the
fishing was not as productive, we were able to
view massive Roosterfish as they prowled the
reefs below us!!! Check out
Kayak Jaco
for more info
Moving our base to the South, we landed in the
legendary sportfishing port of Quepos. Our goal
here was to sample some of the amazing inshore
fishing that takes place around the numerous
river mouths that empty into the Pacific. After
connecting with our fishing guide, Panga Capt.
Jeffery Zappata, courtesy of the bartender of
Los Pescadores…(the local watering hole) We
arranged to meet early the next morning at a
spot a stones throw from our hotel room.
Admittedly we were a little skeptical about this
trip and our skepticism grew after seeing our
Captain and mate show up in a rickety pink panga
powered by an obviously antique Johnson
outboard. Our skepticism quickly evaporated as
our mate made one throw of the castnet to secure
a healthy supply of sardines…as we were culling
out the baits the water all around us erupted
with large fish that were gulping our wounded
baitfish… |
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We looked to our captain for instructions on how
to catch these monster fish that were crashing
baits all around us…he simply fired up the
outboard and headed north…at that moment we knew
we were in for a treat if we were leaving the
carnage unfolding behind us. A 20 min ride
brought us to the Boca Rio Parritta (mouth of
the parritta river). The very first cast here
yielded explosive strikes from a pair of 30+
inch snook that grudgingly came to the boat…Next
came a completely different yet familiar strike
and line that just melted off the spool as the
large Rooster headed for the horizon at warp
speed…eventually we gained the line back and
brought the rooster to hand for a quick
photo…Next came another Rooster that made
several drag smoking runs before coming into the
boat for the first time, upon seeing the boat,
the Rooster dove for the bottom with another
scorching run….POW….the four piece Lamiglas rod
explodes into shards of splintered
graphite…amazingly we stay connected and bring
the brute to the boat after several more line
peeling runs…and so it would go for the rest of
this amazing day trip. Roosters & Snook all day
long!!! |
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Now
back to Sailfish….Meeting our Captain at the
Municipal fishing pier at the gentlemanly hour
of 7:00 am we hopped aboard the 28′ panga and
headed offshore to where a hot sail bite had
been the day before…Within 5 minutes of setting
the spread…the right rigger gets hit and it’s
game on as I feed the big Sailfish and drive
home the circle hook as the Sail streaks away
with an impressive tailwaking aerial display…15
minutes later the mate leaders the fish and we
haul it up on the rail for a grab & grin photo
op…we raised numerous more sails into our spread
boating one more…the highlight of the day was
seeing an enormous Black Marlin crash repeatedly
into our baits…although we did not hook this
behemoth (thankfully) it was just amazing
to see!!!While we were in Costa Rica we got to
test out Some TUFF STUFF Crystal Line
Flourocarbon leader material…While Tuff Stuff is
not at all new to the world of Sportfishing, it
was new to us at Super Fly Charters and we were
very excited to test this product. We were able
to test 40, 30 and 20 pound class leader. The
first thing that I noticed was it’s
suppleness…which is very important when cinching
knots down tight and allowing for a free
swimming lure, fly or live bait. Now to the real
world test…Fishing for Sailfish requires an
incredibly strong and abrasion resistant
leader….we pushed this envelope by starting out
with 30# test flouro leader… |
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The first bite came very quickly and we had a
Sail engulf a naked ballyhoo that was rigged
with a circle hook after a quick drop back we
hung the sailfish and it was game on….a 30
minute battle ensued complete with many head
shaking jumps that we were sure would chafe the
through the leader…boy were we wrong!!! the sail
came to the mates hand with very little leader
abrasion….ok, this is cool we think….next we
bump up to 40# leaders and wait for the next
bite, which was slow in coming…bang, game on
again!!! We’re hooked up tight to another BIG
Sail that makes a 200 yard line blistering run
and then settles down for the slugfest…right
away we can tell that this fight is different
and the mate suspects that the fish is tail
wrapped….ok, goodbye sailfish we think…wrong
again…We get the big Sail close and the mats
suspicions are confirmed…tailwrap indeed!!! Ok
the leader comes into the rod tip and the mate
gently leaders the fish, unwraps its tail and
swings it around to grab the bill to pop the
hook out…after reviving the fish we inspect the
leader only to find minimal abrasion damage. I
certainly would not recommend that you fish for
sails with such light leader, however I was VERY
impressed on how well TUFF STUFF held up to the
abuse…Inshore tests proved to be very similliar
when fishing around rocks and surf for
Roosterfish & Snook…We’d catch several raspy
jawed Snook before even thinking about
retying….To me this is the only kind of testing
that will convince me of a products durability
and quality. I’m happy to Report that TUFF STUFF
easily passed the test!!! |
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In
addition to the 8 amazing days of charter
fishing we did while in Costa Rica…we were also
able to travel around and sample some of the
amazing local food and culture…meeting many
interesting and hard working people…We also made
a side trip to the Caribbean side for a
whitewater rafting trip on the amazingly
beautiful Pacuare river, one of the top five
rivers in the world for whitewater rafting…
visit
Exploradores Outdoors
for more info.
Please feel free to contact me for any info on
all the local Panga Captains/Guides that we
fished with.
Reservations continue to come in for this season
and we hope to fish with you all again this
year…please contact us to reserve your date!!!
Maine Flats
Fishing Striper Guide
Capt. George Harris
207-691-0745
www.superfly-charters.com
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