COSTA RICA NEWS

The excitement continues at Crocodile Bay Resort in Costa Rica with solid offshore marlin fishing and good inshore roosterfish action. This has been an interesting May, to say the least. Historically, we tend to see a slower billfish bite as we are transitioning out of the dry season. However, this year the offshore currents have kept the blue-water closer and a good number of baitfish have been consistently around the current lines.

The action in April has been great! As I mentioned in the March fishing report, we sometimes get a run of marlin in mid-April and this year we were not disappointed. Large numbers of baby dorado moved onto the current lines offshore and with them came the marlin and a nice concentration of sailfish. Several boats were posting double-digit raises on the colorful sailfish and the powerful marlin in a single day. 

The offshore action continues at Crocodile Bay Resort. The weather has been fantastic with clear skies and light offshore breezes. An abundance of bait has been holding in the blue water for weeks now and the sailfish along with the marlin have been taking advantage. Most days the bite has been early and late in the day, but there were several “wide open” days when the dolphins, sailfish and tuna all moved in on the bait and the action was non stop.

Great weather continues, with sunny days in the upper eighties and light offshore breezes. The tuna have been around for the last few weeks and there have been some epic feedings with spotted dolphins, tuna, manta rays and sailfish all converging on bait balls. The tuna have been anywhere from ten-pounds all the way up to 200+ lbs. Last week we had an angler, Mr Harris from the UK, that hooked up a big tuna on a Penn 50 International and fought the fish for over three hours in the late afternoon.

January historically is a transitional month. The marlin and dorado in November and December begin to taper off and the water temperature rises slightly with sailfish numbers increasing. This month has been basically true to form, though we are still waiting for the big push of sails. There have been some very good days with the sailfish so far this season, including a ten fish release day from one boat.

In the waters off the Osa Peninsula, where the marlin action continues, we have had blue marlin being released almost every day in December. The strikingly beautiful blue marlin is the largest of the Atlantic marlins and one of the biggest fish in the world. The sailfish have been here in solid numbers and have been keeping the anglers busy in between marlin bites.