|
|
Sport
Fishing Magazine - Hot Spots Outstanding Osa
Jason
Cannon
 "I’ll
bet you’ve never fished water 600 feet deep from a flats
skiff,” Capt. Todd Staley said as we cruised the Golfo
Dulce (“Sweet Gulf”), a 30-by-14-mile bay located
in the southwest corner of Costa Rica.
As we planed alongside the peninsula, we gazed in awe at the
surrounding mountains and rain forests that seemed to drop
into the bay like candle wax melting onto a table. Moments
later we arrived at Rio Esquinas (famous for filming of the
movie, Congo) near the innermost corner of the gulf, where
Staley positioned the 17-foot skiff in just 4 feet of water.
We idled along an edge that plummeted to about 100 feet in
only 20 horizontal yards. Staley stuck in my hands a 14-pound
baitcasting outfit, baited with a live blue runner. “Feed
out about 100 yards of line. Leave the reel in free-spool
and hold the spool with your thumb,” he said. “When
you get a hit, let it take line for a few seconds, then set
the hook.”
As we trolled the drop-off, I wondered what monster fish lay
at the bottom of the drop, waiting for a baitfish to move
into range. Could it be a prized snook? Locals are rumored
to have pulled in 60-pound robalo on handlines while wading
these river mouths. What about the dagger-toothed cubera snapper
(pargo)? Cuberas sit at the bottom, waiting to suck down unlucky
baits and drag them mercilessly into the rocks. Or the black-and-silver-barred
roosterfish?
It didn’t take long to find out before something slammed
my blue runner within minutes. I counted to five, engaged
the reel and set the hook. The fish nearly yanked me out of
the boat as I stumbled around the console to the transom.
As I watched the line leave the reel slowly and steadily,
I had my doubts that the fish, which hadn’t jumped, would
turn out to be a snook. It didn’t take me into the rocks
or hang on the bottom, so the pargo was out. That left either
a monster Pacific jack crevalle or roosterfish.
It surged 50 or 100 yards, then rested at the surface as I
gained back line. After about 10 minutes, we finally spotted
the fish about 50 yards from the boat.
The long streamers of its dorsal spines and the huge striped
shoulders gave away its identity. “That’s a big
fish!” Staley said. Commonly found along the surf and
outside beaches of Central America, large roosters like this
also frequent the Golfo Dulce river mouths.
After nearly an hour, I coaxed the nice rooster boat-side.
I posed for a few pictures, and as we released it, I realized
why roosterfish fight like seasoned warriors. Their long,
wide bodies with broad backs combined with a wide, forked
tail allow them the ultimate leverage when push comes to shove.phing
sailfish, I would also like to see if my wife can score a
women's world record cubera snapper on a fly rod.
Roosters,
Cuberas and Snook — Oh My!
 Ten
minutes after releasing the big rooster, we spotted a reef
on the depth sounder paralleling a yellow-sand beach. As soon
as the machine located fish, we broke out the tackle. Staley’s
preferred gear: Shimano Calcutta 250s with 10-pound Triple
Fish mono and 400s with 14-pound on medium-action Calcutta
rods.
Nothing turns on a rooster like live bait. Greenbacks prove
effective, but hungry roosters find a hand-size blue runner
irresistible. Staley prefers short-shank 2/0 or 3/0 bronze
live-bait hooks for this catch-and-release fishery. Circle
hooks would also work well.
“I used to watch larger fish inhale the bait, and the
bigger hooks went down with those baits,” says Staley.
“A small hook will catch the corner of the mouth almost
every time.”
Pargo present another common nearshore target. Residing along
reefs and rocky outcroppings, their fire-truck-red bodies
and jagged-toothed smirk seem to complement a flare for picking
(and winning) fights. At a particular volcanic-rock upwelling
a few hundred yards offshore from Matapalo (the southwestern
tip of the Osa Peninsula), cuberas hide out like an army lying
in ambush. These fish range from 20 to 80-plus pounds, according
to a few guides who’ve dived the spot. Anglers fishing
with Staley have yet to win the tug-of-war with any fish more
than 53 pounds before getting broken off in the rocks. If
you wanted to break the 78-pound, 12-ounce all-tackle record,
this is the spot to try.
To have a ghost of a chance at pulling one up, you’ve
got to start with stout gear. Staley prefers Shimano TLD50s
spooled with 80-pound mono and extra-heavy TLD rods. A live
blue runner will entice cuberas out of their holes. But the
rest is up to the angler. I quickly learned how menacing these
beasts can be. Staley and a Costa Rican native guide, Luis
Rodriguez, tried to demonstrate as Staley explained proper
technique.
“Reel, reel, don’t stop!” Staley said as he
watched Rodriguez get taken once again into the rocks. “When
you feel the line tighten, reel like crazy or you’ll
end up like that (hung on the rocks). Don’t worry about
setting the hook because by the time the line stretches, that
fish will beat you.”
I would have never tried after that display had I not seen
photos of previous successful outings. So I decided to go
for it. Time and time again, I felt the line tighten, then
reeled and got nothing but rocks and spit hooks. Believe it
or not, four different anglers combined to go 0-for-20 on
snapper that day. The only hopeful moment came as my wife,
Lori, pulled a nice fish to the top, and after congratulating
her, we saw the striped body of a 35-pound roosterfish. Bruised
and battered from the combination of 6- to 8-foot swells and
tough fishing, I wished we had 100-pound superbraid to help
tame the larger cuberas.
Guides from our host resort, the Crocodile Bay Lodge, have
just begun exploring the nearshore and estuary fishing around
the Osa Peninsula. The mangrove-lined river mouths look particularly
inviting for snook, one of the world’s most glamorous
inshore species. Locals have caught record-size fish for years
on hand lines in the mouths of several rivers here, according
to Staley, but for the most part these fish have not shown
themselves in great numbers. One explanation could be that
the snook bite depends on a particular season, and the guides
haven’t fished that time of year yet (they’ve fished
here only since last summer).
I decided to endure Costa Rica’s rainy season to explore
a new fishery last August, although we’d been forewarned
of the soggy conditions. The opportunity to reel in a smorgasbord
of prized inshore, nearshore and offshore species couldn’t
wait. Fortunately, my gamble paid off.
Crocodile
Bay Captains: Secrets of the Pros
Crocodile Rock - Trophy Costa
Rican Sailfish Tactics
Boaters.com: Raving Roosterfish
in Costa Rica
Boaters.com Magazine: Dueling
with Dorado
Boaters.com Magazine:
Coo-Coo for Crevalle Jacks
Boaters.com Magazine: Working
surface structure to find more fish
Sport Fishing Magazine: Costa Rica
Sport Fishing Magazine:
Costa Rica Revisited
Sport Fishing Magazine: Outstanding
Osa
Orvis Travel: Costa Rica's Crocodile
Bay Lodge
If
you are interested in record setting Costa Rican sport fishing
contact us directly: Office (800) 733-1115 • Fax: (415)
209-6177 • or RESERVE
ONLINE
|
|
