Costa Rica Fishing Report from FishingNosara
Costa Rica Fishing Report Archive | FishingNosara
The perfect way to kick off the season was with General Manager Javier Hernandez and his friends joining Captain David on the Explorer for a harvest of the fertile reefs just outside of Garza Bay. In just two hours they boated a handful of Yellowfin Tunas, Jack Crevalles, Cerro Mackerals, and Amberjacks.
Nice warm up lap! The fish are biting and we are fired up for a great year of fishing.
The Explorer is back in the water and she is primed for another season of rocking and rolling on the Costa Rican blue water. This year she has a new trick up her sleeve: a beautiful new bow rail which converts the prow of the Super Panga into a full-fledged casting platform.
As if the Explorer wasn’t scary enough for the reef dwellers, now Captain David has a new arrow in the quiver. Keep an eye right here on the FishingNosara blog as the season gets fired up this week.
After a great day of fishing with Kurt Stecken, Captain David noticed the clear weather was sticking around and decided to squeeze in a quick family trip this morning. Joined by Nosara Paradise Rentals GM Javier Hernandez, Captain David and Betsy had a very fruitful 3 hour morning trip.
Nice roosterfish! Estimated to weigh 25lbs, this rooster was released. Later in the morning these locals put some dinner on the table in the form of three nice Yellowfin Tunas and a Yellowtail snapper.
It’s always great with our staff gets some time on the water. When one considers the effort to launched and recover both boats in a single morning it is clear that Javier and Captain David deserved some fun fishing. Awesome work!
With boat repair going faster than anticipated and a two-day break in the rains approaching, the Captains and crew of FishingNosara dared to ask the question “What off-season?”
Both the Explorer and Wanderer were in action today with client Kurt Stecken separating his group between the two boats. Launching and recovering two big boats at a time on the beach is no easy feat, but Cumi and Javier are pros and got the vessels floating with minimal troubles. Even better is both groups of clients reported excellent catches.
On the Explorer the action was consistent and fruitful to the tune of nine Yella fellas and a pair of 20lbs. Amberjacks. They also had a curious Sailfish knocking around behind the teasers but he wasn’t hungry.
Check out the water behind this client and his Amberjack…the Wanderer had some big action going on as well!
Sure enough the big blue beauty was busy packing the fishbox. They started a little slow with a small Jack and a quartet of Bonitas, then the lines started popping off with some big fish.
The Wanderer scorecard for the day shows six nice Yellowfin Tuna and a massive 60lbs.+ Amberjack. Clearly, they caught enough fish for the party tonight. Big fish, full bellies and happy clients…it’s what FishingNosara is all about!
The unstoppable Captain David has mastered the maneuverable 26-foot Explorer and has her dialed in. He got her back in the water just in time to score some nice ‘off-season’ trips.
With calm seas and sunny skies proving to much to resist, Duane Stanley and his wife decided in the morning to go first for a billfish and come back to shore to catch something to eat on September 19.
Captain David was up for the challenge and brought along First Mate Alex from the Wanderer to do battle with the big boys!
About 8 o’clock they had their first hit and it was a nice Sailfish. The fight was short and fierce with Mrs. Stanley on the reel.
They released this acrobatic species a few minutes later, then came inshore had a field day on multiple species.
First, two nice Yellowfins came up the water column to David’s cloud of irresistible Bonita chunks. Duane made quick work of them and put them on ice. Then a line popped off a little stronger, and everyone thought that a big fish had hit the popper.
When most people think of a ‘double strike’ it is when two lines go off at once…not two fish on the same lure! It’s almost as if the fish missed seeing the Explorer. This Big-Eye Jack and his little Yellowfin companion could not help but throw themselves in the boat.
All of that surface commotion woke up the slumbering reef beasts, and Duane followed up this oddball double catch with a true Hall of Fame monster.
This Cubera Snapper fought like a panther and Duane Stanley earned his Hall of Fame enshrinement by digging his heels into the deck and holding on for dear life. A sweat-drenched, knock-down, drag-out, bareknuckle fish fight ensued with Duane and the Explorer emerging victorious.
Duane wrote us the following email:
“The day was amazing, we had such a good time and those guys down there are great! What are the chances that Snapper makes it on the Hall of Fame?”
It was a great day of ‘off-season’ fishing for the Explorer and clearly the clients, crew and Captain were all pumped to be on the water. Hall of Fame fishing for sure!
With the rains coming and the season almost over, Captain David welcomed client Marc Carson for North Carolina for a five-hour fishing trip and he came away with some excellent Yellowfin Tuna and a nice Sailfish release.
Great work by Captain David to squeeze every drop out of the Explorer‘s maiden season. Look our for this legendary boat to raise the bar even higher in 2012.
Craig Sutton and Danny “Shake and Bake” Baker were honored to welcome Lifetime FishingNosara Hall of Famer Señorita Richmond Phipps to the Wanderer for an excellent trip that covered the entire fishery both offshore and inshore. Sra. Phipps got things going early and taught the boys exactly how Costa Rica billfishing is done.
They obviously learned a thing or two because Danny followed up Richmond’s catch with a beautiful Sailfish of his own.
As the day wore on the Wanderer proceeded inshore to see what tasty morsels they could pull off the reef. Craig and Danny bent a few rods and piled the fishbox with a Yellow Tail Snapper and a Gilguero Snapper.
Great work by a true FishingNosara legend, the one-and-only Richmond Phipps!
Our new friend Wade Boyken from Merritt Island, Florida began his first of multiple days of fishing on the Wanderer with a huge day of Sailfish strikes. Captain William took them offshore where the Sailfish bite has been absolutely incredible the last few weeks.
Check out these great Sailfish releases:
By the end of this trip the Boyken bunch released 3 nice Sailfish. Wade has more trips coming this week. Stay tuned!
On August 19 US Representative for FishingNosara Craig Sutton was on the Wanderer for an afternoon billfish hunt with Captain William and First Mate Alex. Joined by Danny Baker of Virginia Beach, they started off with a nice-sized Dorado (about 30lbs.) and then started raising Sailfish left and right. Out of nine potential strikes the boys managed to catch and release three beautiful Sailfish.
It’s been raining for the last few days but yesterday the weather finally lifted and client Mark Carson took to the Explorer for a half-day fishing with Captain David. They got a few Bonitas for use as strip bait then headed offshore to where the swarms of Sailfish were before the rains (see August 8-12).
Though not as thick as before, Mr. Carson still caught and released a nice Sailfish. It’s good to see that the rain didn’t impact the fishing too much and we think that the next few days may provide one of the last weather windows for a few months. Good perseverance by the Explorer.