If you’re not after billfish, fishing for ‘meat’ in Costa Rica has also brought its rewards. On July 19 I put Tim Randall and his fishing pal on the Spanish Fly, a loaded 42-foot Campos Yacht out of Los Sueños captained by Daniel Espinosa. What was supposed to be a full-day charter ended early – the guys came in at 2 PM exhausted from pulling in literally tons of dorado. I got lucky too. Later that afternoon I was on the receiving end of a cooler containing at least 30 pounds of exceptionally tasty dorado filets.
There’s ‘meat’ all along Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. Up north, near Playas del Coca and Playa Papagayo, Don Carr of the Predator tells us that the guests on his sportfishing charters are bringing in all kinds of medium-sized tuna, dorado and wahoo, and are seeing blue marlin and the ever-present sailfish. What a great change from several weeks ago, when fishing there was, to put it bluntly, pretty slow.
Not that the billfish have disappeared, no way. Captain Randy Wilson of the Talking Fish, a 38-foot Topaz Express out of Tamarindo, reports that his fishing charters have been constantly running into marlin in the 350-500 pound category, along with the usual quota of sails expected for the July period. Anglers on the Talking Fish have had some great marlin hook-ups and fights over the past couple of weeks, says Randy, who’s used to seeing off satisfied anglers during his 30 years of fishing in Costa Rica’s North Pacific waters.