Costa Rica Fishing - News, Reviews, & Reports

Los Suenos Peak Season Ends with a Bang

Conventional wisdom, and more importantly the people who know and work in the industry, say that the peak fishing season along the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica runs from November though the end of April.  For those of you who are not aware, those months also coincide with the dry season, or Costa Rican summer, when the vast majority of the country enjoys hot and sunny weather for the better part of six months.  When Phillip Arnold and his group of twelve planned their first Costa Rica fishing vacation at the end of April we crossed our fingers and hoped that the rains would not have arrived yet and that the billfish where still in the area - and boy were they ever.

The destination the group decided on was the famous Los Suenos Resort & Marina located just north of Jaco along Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast.  Located at the calm Playa Herradura, the Los Suenos Resort has quickly gained a reputation as one of the premier fishing destinations in Central America.  The group of 12 headed out on two boats for four days of fishing and as if part of a 4th of July fireworks show, the billfish provided this group one heck of a grand finale to the 2009 peak season.  The first day saw one boat haul in seven sailfish and three yellowfin tuna while the other 42′ Maverick Yacht landed 14 sailfish!  The next day was just as good as one boat successfully released nine sailfish while the other boat was able to duplicate the previous day’s efforts with seven sailfish and three more yellowfin tuna.  After two back to back days they took a day off to rest their tired muscles, then they headed out on for one more back to back session.   One boat had already landed 21 sailfish in the first two days so they tried their hand at in-shore fishing to see something new.  Thankfully a pair of Costa Rica’s finest, the roosterfish, were there to show the guys how good the in-shore fishing is in Costa Rica.   Meanwhile the other boat headed off-shore again boated another 9 sailfish, another good sized yellowfin tuna, and they got their first mahi-mahi of the trip.  Finally on the fourth and final day the anglers and gamefish alike were tired of all fighting so the action slowed a bit compared to their first three days, but it did not disappoint by anyone’s standards.  The first boat finshed with three more sailfish and three mahi-mahi while the other boat was the big winner with three sailfish and the first and only marlin of the trip.  For those of you who don’t have a calculator handy, the final fishing tally between both boats in four days of fishing was:

52 sailfish, 7 yellow-fin tuna, 4 mahi-mahi, 2 roosterfish, and one black marlin

Needless to say, when you average 6 sailfish and one yellowfin tuna per boat/per day and then throw in the occasional rooster and dorado, and top it all off with a good sized marlin - you are going to have some happy vacationers.  The fishing reports have been excellent all year, but to end the peak season like this was truely a great example of just how amazing Costa Rica sportfishing can be.