Costa Rica Fishing Report from FishingNosara
Costa Rica Fishing Report Archive | FishingNosara
On March 22nd, Jim Bridges and his party really captured the flag this month with a ridiculous FIVE Sailfish released in a single day, including the infamous Double Bill Shot. Craig Sutton and Charly Bernhardt were also aboard the Wanderer for the feat.
Great work Captain William and mates Alex and David for coming up with the idea for the picture, and then having the guts to hold onto these powerful Sailfish.
Longtime friend and client Scott D’Arrigo joined Craig Sutton and the crew of the Wanderer for a very memorable day of fishing on January 30th.
With Craig in command of the cockpit and Scotty on the reel they pulled in this massive Sailfish…Craig brought the big fella into the boat himself, a first time for him with a Pacific Sailfish.
January 22 was a fantastic day on the Wanderer with Craig landing a 65+lbs. Cubera Snapper, a 10lbs. Yellowfin Tuna and two 10lbs. Black Tunas. In addition they managed to raise five Sailfish.
We gotten to the point where we can get these Cuberas pretty much whenever we want…we’ve perfected a tactic that you can adapt in your home waters. Check it out: FishingNosara.com Tactics
On November 25 the Wanderer was full up again with Craig, Matty, Lucy from Los Angeles, and ‘Lucky’ Brian from San Francisco. Brian is an avid surfer who has visited Nosara for several years, but didn’t want to go fishing because he thought he was bad luck.
No such thing in these waters, my friend! Brian and Lucy absolutely destroyed the schools of tuna on our inshore reefs. Of course, Brian was the icebreaker, catching this 12lbs. Yellowfin tuna first…for the rest of the trip his nickname was ‘Lucky’.
Lucy is an LA County Lifeguard who knows a thing or two about water rescues, but I bet she never had a fight in the water like this Yellowfin tuna. She hung tough, and by day’s end there were eight yummy tunas for the Californians.
November 23 brought a great group of folks on board: Barb and Miles Johnston from Canada, Dan Ray (on again-off again Costa Rican resident), and our good friend Greg Vetto from South Florida. After a slow morning, Dan Ray hooked up this beautiful Wahoo that only got in the boat after nearly ripping Dan’s arm off at the shoulder.
A few short minutes later and Barb got into a nice fight with a 25lbs. Dorado. With Miles and Craig pitching in and the Wanderer’s fighting chair holding fast, Barb and the other clients were breaking out the wasabi sauce in good time!
While that fight was on, Greg very quietly was dueling a Black tuna by himself on the port side. While the crew was busy reeling and gaffing Barb’s Dorado, Mr. Vetto caught himself a nice fish. Greg released the fish and joined the rest of the boat in some well deserved fresh sushi.
With all the excitement surrounding the launch of FishingNosara’s newest boat, the Wanderer, let’s take a moment here and welcome her top-notch crew. Captain William Barrantes Mendoza and mates Alex and David are all lifelong anglers with deep local roots, and believe me they are more than capable of running such a fine boat.
After releasing four out of the nine Marlin raised in late November, the Wanderer set her sights on more of the big boys. On November 22nd Captain William was joined by Craig and Matty of FishingNosara.com and Nosara Paradise Rentals’ head builder Danilo for a 3/4 day of Marlin hunting. Sure enough one more raised, caught, and released for the Wanderer, this one approximately 350lbs.
Chris Savitz of Jacksonville was aboard with Craig and Captain William for several fishing trips in late November. Mr. Savitz was part of the team that rigged the Wanderer and it was quite a thrill for him to catch this massive Dorado. Now, Mr. Savitz is not an especially big guy, but you got to love that this fish is taller than Chris.
July 28th marked the arrival of one of our favorite clients, Richard Moran. Mr. Moran brought the whole family to Nosara, and fortunately he caught enough fish to feed them all.
On his first day, Richard filled the fishbox with a 10lbs. Yellow tuna, two 15lbs. Jacks, and six 10lbs. Black tunas, plus he reeled in a 10lbs rainbow runner and a little needle fish for good measure.
Then he invited Javier and Craig of Nosara Paradise Rentals along for the ride, and the extra hands were put to good use as the spread was literally getting shredded by some aggressive sailfish. Richard caught and released a massive 120lbs. Sailfish, the biggest single fish of his trip, but not his best total day of fishing.
That came on August 3rd when, once again joined by Craig Sutton, Richard Moran successfully fought four 50lbs. Yellowfin tuna! These are by far the biggest tuna we’ve seen in these waters this year, and it seems as though this tuna bite will hold strong in the coming months as the rainy season approaches.
April 21st was Captain Eduardo’s turn with The Outdoors Show team. Once again Kevin and Carrie Faver, Mike, Craig and Manuel were along for the cruise. They warmed up by catching a 15lbs. dorado and a 35lbs. yellow tuna. The big hit came in the form of this strong-fighting 120lbs. sailfish.
Be sure to watch this catch:
Captain Vibert got The Outdoors Show team onboard for one of the most memorable catches of the year so far. Crewed by Vibert Blanche Jr. and David Barrantes, Captain Vibert took the Cabo inshore first, sight casting around for the shallow fish. They left the area only after hauling in a 50lbs. Cuberra that according to Craig Sutton “hit the lure like a Buick!”
Around 2:00pm they headed out for deeper water. They trolled around for less than a hour before a magnificent 400lbs. black marlin hit the spread. Craig hooked it, then Kevin Faver fought the great fish for 40 minutes, highlighted by a 35 second stretch of above-water motion. After a grueling fight, and a long week of fishing, Mr. Faver had caught himself a big-time Costa Rican black marlin!
“Everytime I think about that fish, a big smile creeps across my face.”
-Kevin Faver, one week after the catch
On Februrary 1st, Captain Carlos took Javier (our office manager), Manuel (our concierge), and me on the Reel Deal where we raised three Black Marlins, burying hooks in two of them.
One of the Blacks looked to be in the 800-1000lbs. range! Seriously…follow this link and take a look at the new video for a taste of the action.
We finished off the day with a pair of 35lbs. Dorado. Great job by the whole team!