COSTA RICA NEWS

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.

Fishing has been full of surprises lately. Some good, some not so good. I always prefer to get the not so good news out of the way first. Sailfish numbers are down. El Nina has peaked and we are on the downside of it, but the result is cooler water temperatures and sails prefer a little warmer waters. It is predicted that El Nina will be completely finished by late May or mid-June and things will get back to normal.

Strange weather really affected offshore fishing in March 2021. I have seen more rain in this “dry season”, dropping surface temperature and causing a big wad of sailfish to move north early this year. There were a few really good days but the sails just were not consistent. The tuna on the other hand were in no short supply. Most fish ran 40 to 50 lbs but a few over 100 lbs tested some drag washers. Marlin, who are not bothered by the drop in water temperature, did take a few baits making for better than normal March marlin action.

We finished giving our pier a new look just in time for the crowd that came fishing in February. It was really nice to see that kind of movement again after being held back by restrictions for so long. El Niña played with us a bit during this last month as it is usually clear skies, with a flat ocean, and hotter in February.

January 2021 ended with a beautiful full “Wolf Moon”, and although you would be hard-pressed to find a Wolf in Costa Rica, the friendly neighborhood howler monkeys let anglers know when it was time to rise and shine and head to the boats every morning.

December was a tune-up for the season. It was great to see the movement around the resort again and to see some returning friends and meet some new ones. The captains have been itching to get on the water for months.