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Costa
Rica Fishing Archives 2001
2002 2003
2004 2005
2006 2007
 Costa
Rica Fishing Archives - 2007
by
Fishing Director Todd Staley
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
Crocodile
Bay Resort
Costa
Rica Fishing Report,
January 2007
By Todd Staley, Fishing Director
Who
says I’m superstitious? My knuckles are bruised
and bloody. A new guest arrives and asks, “How’s
the fishing” and I knock on
wood and say the marlin are still
popping up. We have seen over 250 marlin
since the run began and it is still going off like
the 4th of July. About 35% are landed and released
and the others are laughing at Gringos. Most fish
are running between 150 and 300 lbs with the top fish
this month around 400 lbs. I witnessed my most memorable
marlin catch recently…….
Some
kids hang around little league parks or video game
centers. When Tim Rajeff was a kid he hung around
a casting park with his older brother Steve in the
San Francisco area. They would only get to fish once
or twice a month, but they were there almost everyday,
casting. I
think the practice has paid off. Steve won the national
casting championship at the age of 15 and has held
the title for the last 35 years. Tim on the other
hand liked the flyrod. I have never
seen anyone throw so far or with such accuracy. But
it’s one thing to be able to cast and another
to catch.
Rajeff
was here to film a fishing show sponsored
by L.L. Bean called Guide to the
Outdoors. sailfish on the fly was
the objective. The fish weren’t that cooperative
and it was looking like the day might be a bust. All
of a sudden the captain starting screaming out a few
words in Spanish I can’t print here mixed in
with the words, “Marlin, Marlin, Marlin.”
In
a flash Rajeff dropped the 12wt, picked up a custom
made 15wt put together by his brother who today is
a top gun at G. Loomis and made a cast.
The marlin slam dunked the fly like I’d only
seen once before in Costa Rica when
Larry Dalhberg fed a 25 lb tuna to a greedy marlin.
Smoking reel, screaming line and shoulder cramps is
the short version of how Rajeff masterfully played
the 220 lb fish on a flyrod and in hour had it beat.
sailfish are now showing up more
frequently with a mix of dorado and a few tuna.
George Hetzel from Boston Whaler spent Christmas here
with the family and he and son Eric decided to do
some bottom fishing. They took a
half dozen African pompano, so a
man size bluefin trevally, and a
mixed bag of snapper.
Feliz
Año Nuevo!(Happy
New Year!)
Todd Staley Fishing Director
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
Crocodile
Bay Resort:
Costa Rica Fishing Report,
February 2007
By Todd Staley, Fishing
Director
Everyone
I talk to says the same thing. Something weird is happening
this year. Guests from California to Florida are telling
me that the same phenomenon is happening there also. The
fish patterns are different.
The first three months of this season which started November
1st , we saw close to 900 marlin. I’ve
waited every day since late December for the marlin
to slow and the sailfish to move in good
numbers.
The marlin finally slowed and the boats
have seen as many as 20 sailfish a day,
then it drops to 5 or 10, rises up and drops again. The
cycle keeps repeating itself. The big numbers are happening
but not with consistency like all the years before. Ed Waleryszak
has fished here for 7 years straight and never had a shot
at a marlin. This year he landed 3
on the fly in one week. Others in the Steve Newsome
group managed marlin on the fly. Yesterday
the top boat saw 15 sailfish. Most saw
6 to 10. Tomorrow will be different. Patience is the key
and those that stick it out are rewarded with sailfish,
dorado and the tuna returned this week.
Inshore fishing has been a little slow on roosters but the
snapper and amberjack had a strong bite lately. Chugey Sepulveda,
Diego Berenal, and Thomas Fullam were in the area from the
Pfleger Institute of Environmental Research putting
transmitters on roosterfish and following their
movements. They found most moved out to about 80 feet of
water and rested after release but were up feeding again
in as little as 4 hours. They roam about a seven mile stretch
of shoreline and reverse their direction and follow the
pattern daily. They learn a lot in a few days but not much
is known about this custom inshore gamefish.
Todd
Staley Fishing Director
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
Crocodile
Bay Resort:
Costa Rica Fishing Report,
April 2007
By Todd Staley, Fishing Director
We
finally saw a normal day of fishing here yesterday when most
boats raised close to 20 sailfish apiece.
Being brushed by El Nino this year has really made fishing
unpredictable but they say El Nino is over and hopefully this
recent trend will continue. Marlin continue to pop up and
we have seen record numbers this season. Wahoo made
an appearance this week and Wayne Bergeron’s group got
the big fish at 60 lbs.
In shore the roosters have been finicky but the African
pompano, jacks, and snapper action has picked up
considerably. Scott Paciello from corporate ESPN
brought his annual group down and he and Nathan Hanson from
Pure Fishing took to deep jigging. The rest of the guests
enjoyed their success at the buffet line with an array of
pompano, snapper and a couple of broomtail grouper
up to 35 lbs. Guests
can now post their own photos on our website
and Jeannie and Meredith Morrill took advantage of this to
show off their 120 lb sail and a 35 lb rooster they took a
few days ago.
Todd
Staley
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
Crocodile
Bay Resort:
Costa Rica Fishing Report,
May 2007
By Todd Staley, Fishing Director
If
I had any hair left on my head I would pull it out!! Not
even the best physic in the world could predict this season.
I bet I’ve said a million times this year. There are
plenty of fish out there….”your patience will
be rewarded.”
Cory Holbrook from the Sacramento area found this out yesterday
when in a three-hour flurry he had 6 marlin up,
hooked 4 and landed 2, plus 2 dorado, a
couple tuna and a wahoo. He was only a
sailfish away from a super slam. The marlin ranged
from 200 to 350 lbs each.
First El Nino hit us. This week patches of red tide moved
in and then the water cleared up. Something’s going
terribly wrong. I went looking for holy water and then,
the witch doctor.
Marlin seem to be the main attraction lately with them popping
up in the teasers every day. sailfish come in spurts with a
few dorado and tuna mixed in. It is more of a hunting game
this time of year, but “your patience will be rewarded.”
Oliver Hudson took a break from Hollywood duty to spend
a little time with his brother, Wyatt Russell who spends
his work hours trying to save his teeth from flying hockey
pucks. The two caught marlin, bagged a
double on sailfish and again their patience
was rewarded.
A
couple of roosters in 50-pound range were
caught this week but for the most part jacks are beating
them to the bait. One boat bagged 17 jacks.
Jim Bell made his annual trip down here and played tug of
war with a bunch of cubera snappers.
Todd
Staley,
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort,
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
As
I was leaving for the states Jeff Young from Shimano
was arriving with a group from the famous tackle company.
They landed a few marlin, and other offshore
species, and did well inshore over the reefs with the "Butterfly
Jigs" Shimano makes. I wished I could have spent
more time with the group.
Deep jigging has become more popular lately and has proved
to be a great way to fish here also. "Google,"
Shimano Butterfly Jigs and you will find plenty of info about
them. Instead I paid a little visit to the Owen Heart Center
in Ashville, North Carolina where Dr. Harry Burton put me
back together. Besides being a great surgeon, Harry is also
one heck of a fly fisherman. When he is not helping people
improve their lives, he's off chasing sailfish, tarpon, permit
and bonefish with chicken feathers. He has challenged billfish
on the fly here at Crocodile every year since we opened.
Many have asked, so to let those interested know, I am doing
great. Not back to work full time but I was able to pop in
the resort a couple times this week. It seems like the billfish
"headed for the hills."
It rained like crazy for almost a week in late May and all
the freshwater rushing into the ocean turned the water green
and billfish don't like that much. This happens
every year. The water changes color, fish
scatter. The water cleans up and it's off to the races again.
This first heavy downpour of the season also pushes a lot
of things like fallen tree parts out of the rivers and into
the ocean and they become a floating refuge for dorado
and yellowfin tuna. These fish are like popcorn
to marlin.
The weather is returning to it's normal pattern for this time
of year which is clear skies in the daytime and a late afternoon
or nighttime shower. The blue water returned. Fish
find shelter under floating debris and begins the rush of
summer marlin. I sure wish I could predict it's exact start.
Two years ago it was June. Last year it was July. This is
the time of year we see black and
striped marlin mixed in with the blues. By July the
water has usually cleaned up enough for a number of sailfish
to join the party.
Joe Forma from Safari Club International and
friend Tom Krug's goal was to get Joe's son Andy a billfish.
It didn't happen. I imagine it is kinda like freezing your
butt off in a tree stand waiting for that big buck to stroll
by to get your shot and it doesn't happen. They caught a total
of 79 dorado, a couple of those going between
35 and 40 lbs, a few tuna, a wahoo,
but no billfish. They saw action inshore
with a few roosters and a bunch of jacks.
Chris Pilder also fished with his son Gray. Gray looked to
be around 11 years old but is already an astute angler. They
bagged 44 tuna, 19 dorado
outside and some jacks and roosterfish
inshore. Most of the offshore action was under debris that
washed out of rivers. As I told Mr. Forma this morning before
he left, I really couldn't believe with all that marlin food
around one didn't pop up.
The happy angler of the week was Natalie Martinez, who passed
her honeymoon and birthday here with us this week. Fishing
along with her husband Michael she just wanted a roosterfish.
Being a ichthyologist, or one that studies fishes
she is right at home on the water. She got her rooster, a
nice 45 pounder and got the thrill of swimming with a whale
shark. I also met a good source for scientific information.
Natalie is the current leader in the Summer long biggest roosterfish
contest to win a return trip to the lodge.
That's the thing about fishing. Nothing is
written in stone. One day very soon it is going to be marlin
fireworks on the water. I sure hope it is tomorrow.
Note!!!!!
I turned this into our webmaster 4 days ago for our website.
Will Briegel is a really busy guy and won't
have it up till later today. In the last 3 days we have
landed a couple of marlin in the two to
three hundred range with a few sailfish
and the dorado bite is still on. I sure hope this is the
start of the marlin run I predicted.
Brandon Crick from Nokia Corporation was
down a couple of months ago with a group of coworkers who's
friends probably thought were computer geeks when they were
kids. Well these "geeks" are now all grown up
and laughing all the way to the bank. The time spent on
the computer really paid off because these guys wrote and
designed a lot of the video games you or your kids play
every day at home.
I am happy to say that what was once top secret is now out
of the bag.
The group was here filming action shots of varies types
of fish to incorporate in a new game. Creatures
of The Deep is a virtual fishing game set
at Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica and
will be placed on about 100,000,000 Nokia
phones.
This is full color graphics where you drive a fishing
boat out in the Golfo Dulce, pick your own spot
and fish. There are about 20 species of
fish to catch plus a few surprises. I don't know
the exact date available but I got to see the model version
and it is really going to be something. I just got a Nokia
N95 and I can't wait to be able to download the game. Don't
tell the boss.
Editors
Note: Rumor has it The Nokia Boys have incorporated our
own scruffy fishing Capt. Todd in the game
commanding anglers to reach certain limits
to move to the next angling level.
Todd
Staley
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
The
Young Ones are the Top Guns !
Costa
Rica Fishing Report, July 2007
by Todd Stale
Todd
Staley is in Las Vegas and will return next month with "The
Direct Line"
The
Young Ones are the Top Guns !
Costa
Rica Fishing Report, August 2007
by Todd Staley
I
thought I heard a gun blast as I passed the game room at
the resort. I jumped and looked to my left
only to discover it was just 9 year old Milan Murphy slamming
another goal passed his grandfather Henry Owens III. The
youngster had whipped grandpa once again on the foosball
table.
They traveled together from Boston for a week of Costa
Rica fishing and eco tours and
Milan had big expectations. He had roosterfish, sailfish
and marlin on his wish list of fish. He
bagged two sailfish his first day out with
a mix of dorado and bonita. Next he wrestled a 50 lb rooster
rooster to the boat. On his last day Milan was almost late
for dinner because he and grandpa took turns for three hours
in a tug-o-war with a 475 lb blue marlin.
Ethan Walter spent a few days here with his dad Ed and the
rest of the family from Pensacola, Florida. The 14 year
old was the fisherman of the family and
didn’t miss a chance to be on the water.
I don’t know if you have ever done battle with a Pacific
Jack crevalle. It is the bulldog of inshore fish
species. It is one of the strongest pulling fish
that swims. The problem is it is about as ugly as
Cinderella’s stepsisters and it doesn’t
jump. If it did it would be rated right up there with other
prized gamefish.
The world record for junior anglers has
sat in the IGFA record book for sometime
now at 21 ½ lbs. In fact it was caught in this area.
Ethan bested that record by more than 3 ½ lbs when
his fished weighed in at 24 ¾ lbs. Congrats Ethan.
Natalie Martinez held the lead in the summer long
roosterfish contest for over 5 weeks with a 45
lb fish. Many came close but could not
top her mark. Then 9 year old Milan Murphy’s 50 lb
fish took the lead. That fish
only held the lead for 3 days. George Vonnah stole the glory
from the youngster when he boated an 80 lb monster. George,
down from Georgia got back on his feet enough to enjoy a
fishing trip after rebounding from the
effects of chemotherapy.
Marlin has made a regular showing the last
month with a couple pushing 500 lbs landed. Most marlin
have been between 200 to 400 lbs. sailfish
have been hit and miss with some days seeing up to 8 fish
per day and other days 2 or 3. Dorado are
abundant around trash lines and floating logs. Tuna
have taken the last two weeks off after a run of 35 to 100
lb fish. Snapper were biting well until the moon, but the
big tides have passed and they should start biting again
any day.
Todd
Staley
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
Costa
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