Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2022 blesses you with lots of joy, happiness, and of course, many fish! I have to start by saying how impressive marlin fishing has been for the past month.

November is considered a transitional month as we enter our “verano”, or perhaps better known as Costa Rica’s summer season. This is perhaps one of my favorite months of the year as anglers have an excellent opportunity to target a variety of species coupled with the enjoyment of a rainforest found to be lush, green and awake with wildlife activity. The transition has treated us fairly well this year with bright, beautiful sunny days, calm waters, and of course a bite that continued to surprise us daily.

This September carried some amazing weather where our anglers took pleasure in fishing calm waters with beautiful tropical skies. September is usually known as a great month for anglers to target the larger roosterfish and cubera snapper. We had anglers who were able to catch their “trophy fish” after years of fishing for those 60-plus-pound roosters, along with the big cubera snapper; two species which are amongst that dream catch for our bottom fishing anglers. We have also seen a few 40+ pounders this month, which was definitely breathtaking!

Last month I reported that the marlín were starting to move into our area. If you ask my wife she might not agree, but I sometimes get it right. It is all a part of better marine management here in Costa Rica. For the last 6 years, the tuna purse seiners have been moved off the coast by 45 miles. This protects one of the marlin´s principle food sources, the yellowfin tuna.

Have had a little flurry of sailfish lately as well as marlín offshore. As we move closer to July and August we will get our “summer” marlin season. Most of the year we see blue marlin, but this time of year some black and striped marlin will be cruising the local waters. Dorado won’t be around in large numbers but if one shows up in the lure spread, it will be a big one.