The Wanderer pulled double-duty today with a pair of trips on the schedule. The morning trip featured our new friend Todd Lupton who is in Nosara after purchasing a prize package at a Coastal Conservation Association auction. FishingNosara is proud to be associated with this charitable organization dedicated to marine conservationism and even more excited when we can welcome guests like the Luptons.
These Naples, FL based anglers showed once again that Sunshine State fisherman are truly the class of the world as the party released and unheard-of FOUR ROOSTER FISH on just a 5 hour trip.
To think we were losing our minds with excitement over the triple Rooster release that Wayne Estes pulled off a week ago, and now we’ve had our first ever quad-Rooster release. Great work by the Lupton family and the mighty Wanderer on this landmark accomplishment!
On the afternoon trip, Dennis Paul and the boys hauled in a few dinners in the form of four 20 lbs. Dorados. Not his best trip of the week, but Dennis sets the bar for himself pretty high.
After two steller days of fishing earlier in the week, John Baumgart returned to the Wanderer for a final day victory lap around the blue water. This magnificent Pacific Sailfish showed up to send off Mr. and Mrs. Baumgart.
This is nearly as big as his Sailfish earlier in the week on the 22nd and combined with his gigantic Cubera with Captain David on the Explorer it is fair to say that John Baumgart put a beating on these fish. Great way to end a great week of fishing in Costa Rica!
Javier Hernandez (President of Fupperno) notes that his club has united to stop overfishing and irresponsible practices that affect fish resources and the balance of marine ecosystems.
By making this tournament catch and release, they hope to improve and change the management of marine resources and raise awareness. You can read the full story in the June 12 issue of the Voice of Nosara.
The first weekend was slow with high winds and uncooperative Snook leaving the anglers wanting. However things fired up on June 23 with several Snook releases on the scoreboard.
The winner was Senor Luis Rodriguez with a 24lbs. Snook released. Regular readers of this report recognized Mr. Rodriguez from his 38 lbs. Snook that was posted here on April 28, 2012. His winning snook weighed 24lbs. and earned Luis the first prize of $200. Here is video of the release:
Second place went to Mr. Carl Wells with this 7 lbs. Snook and $150 to go with it.
Third place was taken by local legend Luis Siler with this little 2lbs. Snook. His prize was $100 which he generously split with three other anglers who caught similarly small fish.
Regardless of fish sizes, this tournament was about far more than money and poundage…The swell of activity on the Fupperno Facebook page has proved that Nosara has a viable, thriving, and enthusiastic scene of land-based Snook anglers.
As this community of anglers grows and flourishes, they are lucky to have a person like Javier in a position of leadership…Mr. Hernandez sincerely cares about the future of this fishery and dreams of a day when catch-and-release will become the norm with Snook tournaments much as it has with offshore billfish.
Finally and most importantly, this tournament provides a beacon for the next generation of anglers and provides them with a moral compass heading that points to a future of sustainable, humane interaction between man and the sea.
“These are those of tomorrow,” said Javier. “We are very proud of participants like these at a young age, and they are great for the sport of fishing. Congratulations and best wishes!”
Dennis Paul has a habit of catching gigantic fish down in here in Nosara and on his third trip of the week he added a new species to his scorecard: BIG Yellowfin Tunas.
Captain William set the Wanderer far offshore (15 miles) to find the blue water and once the big blue beauty found the blue water the bite was on. Dennis caught a total of five Yella Fellas ranging in weight from 25lbs. – 40 lbs. All Yellowfin fight the same way no matter their size and these lunkers skyrocketed and zigzagged with the same velocity as their smaller brethren.
Only with the right combination of boat, tackle, and angler could these monsters find their way to the fishbox.
Excellent work once again from Dennis Paul and the flagship Wanderer.
Fresh sushi today for client Matt Lukof and his group on the Adventurer. Captain Carlos has the little 23-foot straight razor sharpened to a finely honed edge and on this trip sliced and diced his way to a full fishbox.
Amanda got thing rolling with this excellent Jack Crevelle, and if you notice in the background Matt a fish on the line as well. By trip’s end they had caught two Yellowfin Tunas, a Barbero Snapper and 7 Bonitos. That is fantastic action for just a 5 hour trip.
Great work Captain Carlos and the devastatingly diminutive Adventurer.
John Baumgart had a monster day on the Explorer with Captain David. They set up shop on top of the reef at Pincha Padre and the action was productively fruitful.
They piled the ice box high with two Dorados, six Bonitas, and a tasty Barbero Snapper. They unquestioned highlight of the trip with this meaty 60lbs. Cubera Snapper.
Looks like John has his filets covered for the rest of the week…in fact he may have a little extra to go around!
James Catalano is a South Tampa fella who came to Nosara to ply the skills he’s acquired in the challenging fishery of Tampa Bay. He enlisted the Wanderer for a quick 2.5 hour morning trip and Captain William set this party up right on top of the reef.
They hooked up two Jack Crevelles right away, then James tossed a top water plug to this beautiful Rooster fish.
Looks like First Mate Alex has been putting in time on the weight bench. Like all our Rooster fish catches, this majestic marine beast was released.
Great work by James Catalano on such a short trip!
Two time Hall of Famer Dennis Paul has returned to Nosara for another four day fishing expedition. His first trip of the week was on the Explorer with Captain David and around 9am Dennis cemented his world-class reputation with this Hall of Fame caliber Rooster Fish:
This monster is one of the biggest pez gallo we have ever seen and upon releasing it Captain David estimate her at 80+ lbs.
Dennis Paul added a few nice Yellowfin Tunas for the dinner table after becoming the 1st three-time FishingNosara Hall of Famer; it is also worth pointing out that his three enshrined fish were all different species.
Mr. Paul still has three days of fishing coming up so look out for this red-hot angler.
Client John Baumgart and his wife set off on their first of three fishing trips with FishingNosara on June 22. They chose the mighty Wanderer for their inaugural trip and within the first hour of trolling were rewarded with this mammoth Yellowfin Tuna.
First Mate Alex put out the billfish spread and around 11am a big mean Pacific Sailfish had gulped the hook and was pulling against Mr. Baumgart with all of its strength.
All eyes were on John as he slowly won back line from the monster and brought her alongside the Wanderer. Captain William displayed his mastery of boat handling as he cut off this creature’s attempts to outflank the flagship.
Good game, shake hands.
As always this billfish was safely released and we look forward to catching her another day. Great start to the week for Team Baumgart.
Enjoy the inaugural episode of The Discoverer Project. We will be presenting these video vignettes of our progress as often as possible as the Discoverer takes shape. No phony actors or multiple takes here folks, just real guys taking real risks to make a real dream come true.
