Roosters Rampage and Sailfish “Fly High” in July!
Costa Rica Fishing Report- July 16th, 2013
by Will Briegel
from www.crocodilebay.com
The last few weeks of fishing have put the “sizzle” in our summer season for families, couples, and avid anglers who visited us looking to do some amazing fishing, relax in our Spa or enjoy the intense bio-diversity our area has to offer.
Mother Nature decided to pull the bait and switch “ON US” for once and delivered anglers flurries of high-flying sailfish instead of the black marlin that usually start to trickle in this time of the year. As a matter of fact the blue marlin have been sticking around with the sailfish and several anglers released Blues to 300lbs as well. Mrs. Nature also decided that everyone deserved a shot at lots of yellowfin tuna, roosterfish, snapper and pompano.
At least two of our guests hit grand slams and one of them was only 15. As forecasted by Todd Staley, the humpback whales have also moved into the gulf and are giving anglers and other guests great photo opportunities and the memories of a lifetime.
Yvonne and Ferrell Jones (growers and producers of famous “Blue Diamond” Smoked Almonds) decided to bring their grand children Cody and Clayton Cornell down for the fishing adventure of a lifetime. The fish may have thought they were “off the hook” and able to school these youngsters, but 15-year-old Cody Cornell decided he wanted to catch every last one of them, and almost did. Cody caught several Roosters to 60lbs, a monster cubera snapper in the 50lbs range, several large sailfish (90 to 130), and countless tuna to hit the Grand Slam landing himself a spot on our coveted Wall of Fame (See Cody’s pic aobove of the big cubera Snapper that landed Cody on our Wall of Fame!)
Young Clayton is missing his two front teeth, but that didn’t seem to stop the sailfish from biting!
Mrs. Yvonne Jones proved that she can take on large costa rican billfish any day with this large sailfish. It seems people of all ages young, and elderly had great luck with inshore and offshore species this week.
Cody, Clayton and Grandma grin at Cody’s larger than life Roosterfish
Their final night at the resort they enjoyed…what else?? Fresh Sashimi!!!
Here’s a homespun video shot by young Clayton of his brother releasing a sail!
Tony Giorgi came to Crocodile Bay to target a single species: Roosterfish,considered by many to be the toughest fighting fish pound for pound – and one of the most glamorous with its shimmering black stripes and 7 point comb-over. Roosterfish can be caught year-round at Crocodile Bay Resort and when the roosters are on a “run” anglers can get into hours of non-stop fighting action.
Tony released seven (7) Roosters one day and on other days did battle with sailfish and several plates of previously swimming sushi that he was kind enough to share with members of the Crocodile Staff, myself included!
Thanks Tony!
Tony Giorgi owns a hunting and Bass fishing guide service called BassNBoars in northern California and is rumored to be among the top Bass guides in the area – if you’re ever out that way, pay him a visit www.bassnboars.com
Father and Son tandem Alan and Robert Brightman who took a chance looking for Sailfish in July landed sailfish daily with young Robert pictured here with a monster Sailfish. The next day the dynamic duo went 4 for 4 on sails and left with the tell tale “Crocodile Smile” on each of their faces! Robert has fished all over the world and was very pleased with the amount of sailfish we put him on! Hope to see back next year!
Another youngster, Allan Brightman releases his first sailfish!
If you haven’t tried African Pompano, you’re missing a real treat! One of our favorite inshore species to catch and eat!
Mr. Jenkins owner of a Marriott Residence Inn Hotel In Daytona brought his son Kieth down for the Crocodile Bay “Tails and Whales” Package and have been getting plenty of both! On inshore days they caught nice pompano, roosters, and jacks and actually saw this young humpback close to shore..watch out – Breach, don’t beach! Offshore it was tuna galore following spinner dolphin closely, they also raised and released several sails.
This time of year we also welcome guests who like to mix the fishing with adventure eco-tours and or a luxury spa experience! National Geographic has been quoted as saying our area the Osa Peninsula is “the the most biologically intense place on Earth”. Our award winning eco-director Dennis Atencio loves to prove this fact to any guest who doesn’t’t believe it with one of our full day rainforest tours. Check out his monthly eco-report here that shows the amazing diversity of wildlife and scenery to be found in our very own back yard! Monkeys, birds, sloths, and other amazing species!
Hello! A Humpback whale waves to our guests as they look for tuna!
The Humpback whales inside our gulf have been spotted daily (a calf pictured below gets very close to shore). The whales have started to move in for their annual migration and their numbers and your chances to see them only increase as me move into August, September and October. This weekend we also saw more black and blue marlin moving into the area as well as some floating logs with birds on top that usually turn into nice pick-up joints for Dorado! Tuna continue to run with the porpoises which have kept plates full and chopsticks chopping. Some of our guests including Dave Jenkins from Florida had sashimi right on the boat…how fresh is that (drool).
August Rooster Rally at Crocodile Bay Resort! Don’t miss your shot at a complimentary Replica Roosterfish Display from Gray Taxidermy (replica mount) – a trophy and gift from Crocodile Bay – for the angler who catches the MOST roosterfish in August – his or her largest Roosterfish(or roosterfish of choice) will be immortalized by Gray’s Taxidermy and shipped to his or her home!(shipping charges not included)
People have been having so much fun catching Roosters within the past couple of weeks we decided to make the entire month of August a Rooster Rally. All you have to do to qualify and enter is sign-up HERE, show-up and catch LOTS of Roosterfish. August is also a great month to target Marlin and several inshore species like pompano, snapper, amberjack, and Spanish mackerel. In September we’re also offering 25% off peek season rates to curb your flight costs to our beautiful country.
The Legendary Todd Staley will return from his birthday and visit to the ICAST Fishing Show in Las Vegas next week for the August Costa Rica Fishing Report.
Until then, tight lines and crocodile smiles to everyone. Hope to see you all down soon doing some catching in Costa Rica!
Will Briegel
Filling in for Todd Staley,
Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
www.crocodilebay.com
