Costa Rica Fishing Report Archives 2002

Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report

We started December with a couple of good size groups testing the Costa Rican waters. John Maynard brought a group of 27 anglers who combined their fishing days with riding the famous surf breaks of Pavones and Matapalo. Harry and Joan Gualco came down with 14 friends who mixed up some Costa Rica fly fishing and eco tours.

A couple of crazy New Yorkers, Jesse Reinfelder and George Feaster unwound from life in the fast lane of the "Big Apple" and fished, snorkeled Cano Island, and hiked the rainforest. George who never snorkeled before was blown away by the array of sea life. He was especially ecstatic when he came eyeball to eyeball with a group of six-foot reef sharks. They were more interested in what a big cubera snapper was eating than skinny ole George. By the way if you ever watch Law and Order or Third Watch on TV you may have seen him. He is starting production with Jim Carey (also a big fisherman) on a new film, "A Series of Unfortunate Events." It should be hilarious.

OK so you want to know what is biting. A little bit of everything. Anglers are landing up to 8 sailfish a day with several more coming up in the spread. Enough yellowfin and dorado has hit the docks to fill dinner plates. Fly guys have found pink to be the color but the fish are a little lazy and play with the bait before eating it.

Marlin has slowed a little but enough are popping up to keep the blood pressure up.

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Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report

The fish forgot we reopened November 1st and the group of Indiana Auto Dealers had a tough few days of fishing. The green water offshore pushed the billfish way offshore and the only thing that wanted to cooperate was dorado. Even the roosterfish went on strike. Some nice ones were caught but they made you work for them.

Things changed a lot since then.

The blue water moved in around the 6th of November and the formal ball began. The ladies were dressed in blue and black. Big female marlin, those over 500 lbs showed up dancing. I saw the fat lady sing and Captain Scott Stimpson said as a fish estimated at over 800 lbs ate his bait and did the Cha Cha across the cobalt dance floor before the line parted. Guest Doc Brimhall hooked three black marlin in one morning the last taking his bait at noon. As the sun set he released the fish estimated at 650 lbs.

sailfish are starting to show in numbers and the dorado keep asking for the swimming pool of garlic and butter.

Inshore fishing has really picked up back to normal. Toyo Shimano and Dave Pheiffer from Shimano tackle took roosters up to 35 lbs several jacks and deep jigged some freight train cubera snapper that broke 80 lb line. They let me try a new model Tiagra 12 lb reel and I had the honor of being the first person to catch a fish on this model, a 25 lb rooster. The reel is sweet.

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Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report

Our last customers left yesterday as we spit polish the place the month of October to reopen November 1st.

Dave Stanley and Bob Wicks fished 2 1/2 days and spent a half day enjoying eco tours in the jungle.

Day one brought a 240 lb blue marlin while they raised 3 more that did not care to eat. This happened under a small log as the marlin teamed up to corral a school of small tuna. They added a 35 lb dorado which went very nicely with garlic and butter.

Day two was the day for a tug-o-war. They landed and released a 250 lb yellowfin tuna in just over two hours and boated an 80 pounder to eat.

Charles Cogliandro and Tom Taylor spent six days on the water looking for some light tackle action on topwater lures. They caught a smorgasboard of things including roosterfish to 60 lbs, huge jacks, barracuda and some corvina to ten pounds. This is how Charlie described his trip.

"The variety and size/class of fish is some of the best I´ve seen. Top water action, especially on roosterfish and jacks is phenomenal, and make no mistake, all these fish will hit topwater. With this beautiful setting, Crocodile Bay, Costa Rica is a fisherman´s paradise."

Also down this week was an old fishing buddy from a zillion years ago, Dave Zalewski with girlfriend Marti Saylor from Florida. They also took several roosters to 35 lbs but opted to spent their other two days offshore. They connected with several sailfish and dorado the first day out but finished with a 300 lb blue marlin, sailfish, tuna and dorado the next day making for a grand slam. They were off next to the base of Arenal Volcano to spend a couple days at the hotsprings. Sounds to me like the did the honeymoon trip.

The rain that has plauged much of the country has forgotten the south-west seaboard and we have been blessed with very good weather. The Costa Rica fishing has also been very good.

Allan Hekel and Lanny Rominger have been hunting and fishing together almost two decades. They teamed up here with a variety of roosters, snapper, sailfish, dorado, amberjack and a nice blue marlin.

The big story this week though is roosterfish on the fly. Many have said the roosterfish is the most difficult fish to fool with a fly. Tom Boyd has been here three times to figure them out. I think he's on to something. It took a prototype fly to do it. The fly is a sardine imitation and nothing like I've seen before but it sure had some results. There are a few bugs to work out on the fly, but it could ease the aggravation of many who have watched a roosterfish charge their fly only to turn away at the last moment.

Tom took several roosters incuding a 50 pounder that inhaled his offering and ended up losing it to a big shark. Fishing buddy Arnie Costello landed a 40 pounder and in all caught 11 different species on the fly.

"We started using live sardines to tease up the fish but put them away because we were getting more strikes on the fly than the sardines," said Boyd

July 15, 2002
Randy Mears and I have gotten in trouble together since second grade. When he brought his nephews fishing this week we had to keep the stories to a minimum because as far as nephews go, we were always upstanding respectable youth.
Well Randy, little Randy, Mike and Chris spent half the time fishing and half the time running through the jungle and rappelling down waterfalls. They took several sailfish and 7 nice snapper to feed the group. I hadn’t seen Randy on a horse since the guy came around the neighborhood with a pony, talking moms into buying a photo. Still a little sore Randy?

Mike Hennesey got into a nice school of tuna and a few blue marlin are cruising the rip lines. A few roosters to 50 lbs are hitting sardines far up the gulf.

Todd Staley
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Read the current costa rica fishing report

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Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report

June 24, 2002
Costa Rica Fishing slowed a little with the roosters getting lockjaw for a couple of days, but a few nice ones to 40 lbs decided to test some drag washers. Lots of jacks and big needlefish had been beating the roosterfish to the baits. A few cubera snapper have been taken and some big ones broken off.

11 year old Kurt Durnberg made other anglers at the lodge envious with his 350 lb blue marlin. The Durnbergs also took a few sailfish and roosterfish on their trip.

Father and son team, Joe and Matt Meador, teamed up together and wrestled a 200 lb yellowfin tuna which took the boat after a 2 1/2 hour battle.

Len Newon, who fished with us before the hotel was complete in 1999, returned after a long recovery from an auto accident. He took a boatload of jacks, a couple of snapper and a few roosters inshore, and landed a 147 lb yellowfin tuna.

Yesterday Dave Fontan had 15 sailfish up in the baits along with a marlin, so it looks as if the fish are going to cooperate a little better this coming week.

June 11, 2002
The Costa Rica Fishing's not too bad these days with stuff happening both offshore and inshore. George Sr., Jr., and Terresa Kohn teamed up for some great line pullin’ action this week as they took sailfish, roosterfish, and a marlin estimated at over 300 lbs.

Jon Fischer and Cathy Hooper from Urban Angler tossed some flys at a few billfish with success. In fact Cathy released a fish that was estimated as bigger than the woman’s world record.

Our own Nicole Elam from the U.S. office of Crocodile Bay Resort was down to check us out with her beau Jeff. They had an exceptional day a couple hundred yards off the beach when they took 13 roosters, 9 jacks, and 2 snapper. The biggest rooster went around 45 lbs and the snapper around 23 lbs.

Mary Davis and good friend Kathy Bussan from Ft Myers wanted two things during their short stay here, to snorkel at Cano island and catch a roosterfish. They saw tons of stuff at Cano, and each took a roosterfish over 30 lbs fishing a half day.

May 23, 2002
A good number of sailfish continue to show in the area. The John Williams group finished their week-long trip with Ty Visscher taking a 130 lb sailfish to lead the group. Good friend Dave “Tail-Hook” Bartel planted an 8/0 hook firmly in the tail of a 100 lb sailfish and an hour later was proclaiming, “This isn’t funny anymore.” Shane Brady and Malcomb Shantz got into a school of 60 lb yellowfin tunas and supplied shashimi and tuna steaks for the whole lodge.

John Williams and Tom “Freespool” Shipsey had a field day with roosters and bluefin trevally. By the way, Tom is still picking the backlash out of his reel when he freespooled on a marlin.

Renowned outdoor writer Bob Newman paid Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica a visit and raised 21 sailfish and a marlin, boating 6 on fly and light tackle. He also slid inshore to pick up a 50 lb rooster for some icing on the cake.

Corvina to 18 lbs have made a show in the gulf. Our own Bill Hutchinson took over a dozen fishing goggle-eyes near the rocks. Snapper in the 15 pound range have also been taking baits.

May 14, 2002
Top boat only took ten sailfish yesterday. Fishing has slowed somewhat since last report. The fish are schooling up and not spread out all over so it is a hunting game, but when you find them they are ready to play.

Adam Vinateri who either shocked or delighted the world with this year's winning Super Bowl field goal spent a few days with Trevor Gowdy filming for ESPN. He took sailfish up to 140 lbs using 20 lb spin tackle. He ain’t no slouch either. His best time was just six minutes. They also took a couple on the fly and when the show hits the air, it will be a good one.

John Williams brought his group of buddies down on their annual jaunt and bent a few rods along the way. John had a big day on blue fin trevally and roosters inshore and the group all stretched some string with billfish. Tom Shipsey found out what happens when you try to freespool a marlin. The result was a bird’s nest that would probably support the entire macaw population on the peninsula.
Flyfisherman did well on sailfish this week and managed to fool a few cubera snapper on the fly as well.

April 30, 2002
Whether it’s taking a siesta and having an apple drop on your head, or flying a kite in a thunderstorm, things happen and become theories. Well whoever came up with the theory that sailfish feed out at night on a full moon making daytime fishing useless can go back to the drawing board this week.
The full moon was on the 26th and George Haskins, head of Orvis retail was on his second day of a four day fishing trip. His brother Albert Seavy had tied up a bunch of flies and they were testing Orvis’s Vortex reels and Trident rods.

Their top day was raising 30 sailfish and landing seven on the fly, but tallies for the trip were 83 sailfish raised, 37 were fooled by the feathered offerings and 17 were played out and released at the boat.

Todd and Melanie Womble, honeymooners from Dallas only had two days to fish on their busy tour of Costa Rica. They found the fish had lockjaw on the Caribbean side, but not here. Fishing the morning after the full they landed 8 sailfish. By the end of the second day they had raised 49, had 28 bites and landed 15. Three of the sailfish landed fell victim of the fly.
Don Fernandez and other friends from Colorado including, Dave Duncan, Dick Clark and Joe Lewis, supplied the lodge with snook and snapper for dinner. Don took his first sailfish on a fly while his buddies took a morning off to go gold panning. They said they found enough gold to stay another week but the wives wanted them home.

April 16, 2002

A Whale of a Story
A head the size of a volkswagon surfaced, lit up in a purple hue and angry. Four teasers danced on the surface tempting the beast. Captain Rafeal Lopez screamed to his first mate Jonathan and he quickly tossed a heavy hook baited with a tasty morsel of fresh bonita.

Onboard were anglers Bobby Kloeppel, Eric Emery, and Mark Peña from the 2nd annual Boston Whaler group trip. It took the three of them just over three hours to slow the fish down enough to land. The blue marlin tipped the scales at 531 lbs. It was caught the first day of a three day trip that included catches in the group like Joe Yeni’s 200 lb marlin, Terry Dunnigan's four sailfish in a ten sailfish day for the group on her boat, where she took top one day angler, and Matt Lewci’s 13 roosterfish day.

Many of the same faces from last year were here and it was like having old friends down to visit. (See ya’ll next year.)

Babe Winkelman finished filming by taking a few sailfish. On his last inshore day he jumped a tarpon estimated at 150 lbs. One of the locals took a 40 lb tarpon at Rio Tigre two days ago. Maybe there is a small population seasonal or year round here.

Lots of roosters biting. Mr. D. Henson from Meritz Travel took top fish with a 70 pounder.

April 9, 2002

THANK YOU FISH GODS !!!!!!!!

I really dislike writing Costa Rica fishing reports like last week. But if the fishing sucks I’ll say so and when it’s great I’ll scream it. “THE FISHING IS GREAT!”

The annual “Redbone@Large” tournament for cystic fibrosis finished up yesterday and they had some oustanding catches. They raised as many as 18 sailfish per boat and cast flys, artificials, live and dead bait in different divisions and also fished roosters.

Top team for roosters was husand/wife team of Shuttle astronaut Bruce Melnick and his bride, Kaye. They caught 13 roosterfish in one outing and had largest fish of the tournament also. Some accused Melnick of checking the area out at 200 miles above the earth before coming down to fish.

Jackie Przysinda whose husband David fished the tournament went out for fun and took a 60 lb rooster that was bigger than any taken in the tournament. Artist Tim Borski took largest sailfish and Pat and Jim Sinclair teamed up for ten sailfish to take top honors in the tourney.

Twenty-six people participated in the event and it went so well that participants are already booking for next year’s event.
.........
Some other BIG NEWS!!!!
Babe Winkleman is down filming a couple shows for the upcoming season. First day on the water yesterday got started late due to airline luggage problems. I’m always a little nervous because fish don’t belong to the Screen Actors Guild and don’t always show up for the director’s cues.

Well the fat lady sang. First in the form of a roosterfish when Babe’s wife Kris tied into one that took an hour and forty-five minutes to land. The fish was taped for length and girth and released.

According to the formula that has been used for years to formulate a fish's weight (length X girth squared, divided by 800) the monster rooster weighed 106 lbs. This is the largest rooster to date here and falls just 8 lbs short of the all-tackle record. She took the fish on twenty pound line.

We are all looking forward to the return of the Boston Whaler group this week. They are a fun group of good anglers that lit the water on fire last year here.

Well guys, the fish are biting, come on down.

April 2, 2002

Except for Daniel Arias’s day Saturday when he took a 200 lb marlin, two sailfish, a couple of tuna in the 60 lb range and a dorado, there hasn’t been a lot to scream about.
sailfish have been real picky with anglers only taking two or three a day. Tuna have been present every day which is unusual this time of year since they are always moving.
Roosterfish have been the one thing consistent with several over 60 pounds taking live baits this week. Some smaller snapper are taking baits in the gulf and smaller sized snook at the Rio Esquinas.

Todd Staley
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Read the current costa rica fishing report

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March 25, 2002

I know when fishermen go on vacation they go fishing, but I didn’t realize cameramen do the same. Mike Laptew, who has done a lot of video that you may have seen (including a series with Lefty Kreh) was down for the week with wife, Donna and daughter Jenny. They spent their time between the fishing and the eco tours and of course, Mike toted his cameras.

I had the pleasure of going with him one day and saw a first for me for all my years on the water. We cruised with a pair of killer whales for about an hour while we both filmed them. Later we rigged some live baits without hooks and teased up some sailfish. As the sailfish would come into the spread we would cut the motors and Mike would enter the water. The fish were charged up and this did not phase them at all. He got some great shots of the sailfish leaving the teasers and eating the bait. Then I would take it away from them and they would circle back and eat again. It was the first time I’m taking a bait away from a fish instead of feeding to them, but what great fun.

Lin York made his third visit from Florida this week. Last year he battled a marlin close to 600 lbs for over five hours. “Don’t want to do that again”, he says. This year it was a little more mellow fishing. In four days on the water he landed and released 28 sailfish.

Don LaRuffa and Don Jr. had a great trip bagging sailfish and roosters. Don Jr. took his first sailfish on a fly. An 8 wt at that. Dad bagged a 67 lb roosterfish along with a couple in the forty pound range.

It’s more of the same. Some days are red hot, others the fish are picky, but there are plenty fish around to keep it interesting.

March 20, 2002

There is nothing like going up to bat for the first time and hitting a grand slam. Well the next best thing is coming close.

John Wood and Dave Watson arrived yesterday, had a leisurely breakfast and went fishing not expecting too much on a short first day of fishing. They were wrong. They started out by bagging a few sailfish, a dorado and a nice tuna to steak out. Then came the lady in the blue dress and she had on her dancing shoes. A big lady, about 400 lbs. A blue marlin crashed the spread taking, of course, the light 30 lb outfit.

Three hours later she was still putting on a show as the sun was beginning to set. As she finally neared the boat the line parted. It’s like starting your homerun trot and the outfielder has flubber in his shoes and snags the ball ten feet above the fence.

Sailfish are everywhere. Some days they are suicidal and others finicky, but boats are seeing 10 to 20 fish a day each. A couple dorado over seventy pounds have been taken this week and marlin are out there. One brave angler threw a fly at a 500 pounder. Maybe crazy is a better word than brave. Tuna in the 50 to 60 pound range have been taken, mostly with soy sauce and wasabi.

Inshore has been not so bad either. Lots of roosters, but no monsters this week. Barracuda have been hitting sardines and lures and a few snook have come from river mouths. A 37 lb grouper fed the Hamilton group last night.

March 12, 2002

It takes someone north of the Mason-Dixon line to throw a bass and walleye rig at a sailfish. If my redneck eyes hadn’t seen it, I might not believe it. You can see it too, if you tune into ESPN on Saturday mornings.

Steve Pennaz from North American Fisherman was here this week with guest Chris Bahl from Cabela's and cameramen Brian Kelvington and Terry Broeder. Using a contraption he made from Riverside plastic baits, Pennaz found the sailfish were eager to gulp down the offering after being teased in by the crew. The fish were also taken on rods designed to catch muskies, making for light tackle battles captured on film by his crew.

On the day they filmed inshore, they had a show in the can by 1:00 pm and took off for the blue water where they raised 8 sailfish and bagged 2 in two hours.

The trip was so successful that on their last day here Kelvington and Broeder got to do the fishing.

Most film crews get to capture the excitement, not experience it. They took home more than sunburns. They have a lifetime of memories of dancing fish, screaming drags and jungle paradise.

Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report

March 6, 2002

No longer a myth ….
Having grown up tarpon fishing in Florida and later spending five years at Archie Fields’ Rio Colorado Lodge on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, I kinda feel I got a pretty good idea at what a tarpon looks like.

About six years ago I was plug casting for roosterfish in the Gulfo Dulce when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fish roll on the surface. “God that looked like a tarpon,” I thought to myself. But these are Pacific waters and tarpon are an Atlantic species. Then I saw it again. And again.

There is a fish in Pacific waters called a milkfish that has similar looks and swimming patterns so I wrote it off as either that or bad tequila. But I always wondered.

Today Bill Sutton from Edmond, Oklahoma, fishing out of Crocodile Bay Resort in Puerto Jimenez on the Pacific landed a 37 lb tarpon putting to rest any doubts that this Altantic species has come through the Panama Canal and swam as far Costa Rican waters. This area with its many rivers and mangrove estuaries is perfect habitat for juvenile tarpon.

Sutton was fishing with good friend Leonard Hudson with Captain Ricardo Monge and first mate Francisco Villalobos when the fish took a live sardine while fishing for roosterfish off the beach at Matapalo. “At first I thought we had a big snook,” said Monge when it came out of the water. “But I’ve never seen a snook so silver,” he continued.

Sutton landed the fish in about ten minutes on twenty pound gear and became an instant celebrity at the lodge during happy hour after fishing.

This is the first confirmed “catch” of a tarpon in Costa Rican Pacific waters. Long time resident and real estate guru, Jeff Lantz, says he hooked one several years ago in the same area. First mate Villalobos says he caught one three years ago in the Rio Tigre while cast netting mullet, but until he saw the fish yesterday he never knew what it was. The fish was about five pounds.

March 1, 2002

Haven’t caught a fish in the last two weeks!!!!!!
Just Kidding. Thought that would get your attention.

To be quite honest the fishing slowed for a couple of days just before the full moon but has since returned to normal. Lots of sailfish up in the baits, a few blue marlin and dorado. The porpoises have been coming through every couple of days and yellowfin tuna from 20 to 200 lbs are cruising below.

Dennis Worley brought down a group of fly guys and gals who stretched some string and snapped a few rods when the sailfish were coming up in big numbers. Pink and white was the hot color.

Charles Cannizzaro and Richard Oralandi of Augie’s Bait and Tackle on Long G’Island mixed it up offshore with sailfish and big tuna but the news around here was Charles' big rooster that went between 70 and 90 lbs depending on who you talked to.

Some smaller size cubera snapper are taking both live bait and topwater plugs on the reefs and roosterfish are in good numbers and sizes just around the corner from the lodge.

Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report

February 21, 2002

The Fly guys are knockin' em dead!

Scott Paciello brought his annual group of big-apple anglers down and they scored some impressive numbers again this year. In five days of fishing they bagged 58 sailfish, 45 of them on the fly.

Brothers Brendan and Dan Mulholland set a Resort record by boating 10 sailfish on the fly in one day! Along with the sailfish the group had a mixed bag of dorado, roosterfish to 50 lbs, jacks, grouper, cubera snapper, and bluefin trevally. Bobby Olden cast his fly in a school of feeding roosters and a 25 pounder pounced on it! Roosters are tough customers on a fly and a perfect cast fooled this one. Anglers fishing bait have been taking good numbers of roosters and snapper between the Resort and Matapalo Rock.

Lately we have had as many as 30 fly-rodders in the Resort at one time and the sailfish have not disappointed. Ten to twenty fish are up in the teasers per boat and most are willing to take a swat at a fly. Tuna to 170 lbs have hit the dock and a few dorado are hitting as well.

February 6, 2002

Smokin!
Its tough to write a report like this 'cause many might think it's propaganda or just pure BS, but the fishing couldn't be better! Steve Newsome brought his group of fly-guys down again this year and raised as many as 26 sailfish per boat in a day. In five days of angling, two in the group landed 25 sailfish on the fly! The concentration of fish is now just 5 miles off the beach. A few dorado are in with the sailfish and a 160 lb. tuna made it to the dinner table.

Inside is also wide open. Father-son team of Mike & Mike Hatch took 23 roosterfish in a day's outing.

Some snook are still hitting at Rio Esquinas and snapper in the 10 lb. range have pleased the palates of bottom fisherman. Top rooster of the week was 70 lbs!

Come down and get a piece of the action!

January 29, 2002

Fins to the right, fins to the left, and you’re the only bait in town.
Bait and switch has been the ticket lately with sailfish. Bring em’ up with teasers and toss em’ something to eat. Whether it be a ballyhoo, mullet, blue runner or fly, they’re eatin’.

Sykes Wilford fished by himself and boated 14 sailfish in one day. Steve Newsome brought his group of fly rodders down again this year and they are all pulling in fish, hooking as many as six a day on flies. Some smaller size marlin have been crashing the teasers but are slow to take a bait. One around 400 lbs made it to the boat for release.

On the inside the roosterfish have been bending rods. The fish are averaging around 20 lbs but one over fifty was taken this week. Inshore fly guys have been doing well around schools of sardines and with bonito in the gulf. Jeff Heitzberg’s group hooked up 5 times in seven casts and added a 20 lb snook to the day's fishing. Other snook of similar size are coming from the river mouths.

January 18, 2002
The sailfish are finally starting to settle in after playing hide-and-seek for the last week. One day a boat raised 25 sailfish, the next day 1 or 2. Finally, boats are all getting 6 to 10 shots a day and fly-rodders have been scoring good numbers. Rusty Chinnis from Long Boat Key Florida landed 3 one morning on the fly, and Ted Herrick brought his group back from Colorado and then hand-lined a couple in after breaking their rods. A few tuna are still roaming the area as well as small blue marlin. Dorado have been scarce but a few taken tipped the scales at 50 lbs.

Dr. Dave Barry and his wife Gracia took 8 nice roosters on the inside. Gracia’s 50 plus pounder was the top fish. A few bonitas and blue-fin trevally have been fooled by inshore fly guys, and some small snook have been hanging at the river mouths. Snapper have been winning the battle with some big ones hitting the rocks at Matapalo, but Lennie Fitzpatrick managed a nice one for a honeymoon dinner.

Costa Rica Fishing Archives - 2002 by Fishing Director Todd Staley Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica

Costa Rica Fishing Archives - 2002
by Fishing Director Todd Staley
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica