Costa Rica Fishing - News, Reviews, & Reports

Costa Rica’s 2009 Sailfish Numbers Continue to Impress

By now most people know that Costa Rica is a tourism mecca and home to some of the best sport fishing in this half of the world.  Many fishermen know that fishing in Costa Rica is typically best between December through April when the dry season weather coincides with the peak fishing season.  For those who were brave enough, and fortunate enough, to take fishing vacation to Costa Rica this year have been rewarded with some of the best numbers in recent memory.  Fishing reports have been coming in with some astonishing numbers, with many captains saying it is the best they have seen in the past decade.

The legendary Todd Staley at Crocodile Bay reported that in the last week of January they had an eight day stretch as good as any other he as seen in their ten year history.  His top boat raised 32 sailfish, successfully releasing 11 of them, in just one day!  While that boat blew away the competition, he says their entire fleet has been averaging 10-15 sailfish.  He also reported releasing a few marlin in the 200 - 300 lb range as well as a prize 150 lb yellowfin tuna.  The in-shore fishing is still streaky, but there are still some roosters and jacks to be had.

A little farther north in Quepos the fishing reports were just as good if not better.  Shawn from Atlanta came down for a week and went out for four days of fishing.  On his first day he went off-shore for a full day and released three sailfish, one dorado, and one nice barracuda.  His next day he did a half day of in-shore fishing and got to fight one of Costa Rica’s famous roosterfish and a decent sized mackeral.  In his final two days of off-shore fishing he reeled in seven more sailfish and two more dorados.  His four day total was 10 sailfish, 3 dorados, a barracuda, one mackeral, and one rooster that got away.

No one is entirely sure why the sport fishing in Costa Rica has been so good this year - it could be just a fortunate cycle or perhaps the new, stricter commercial fishing laws are already having a positive effect on the fishing population.  For better or worse there seem to be less people traveling this year due to world wide recession woes, so that means those who can’t come are sadly missing out on one of the best years in recent memory.  On the positive side, those that were able to make it down are enjoying less crowds and more fish - now who wouldn’t like that?!