Paula | Costa Rica Fishing Report from FishingNosara

Ship of Fools Tournament Recap – April 10, 2016

The FishingNosara team competed in the 2016 Ship of Fools Tournament on April 9-10 and we are stoked to announce that once again Captain William and Bob Pease put the Wanderer in the money:

More importantly, all four FishingNosara boats were in the running for a top spot throughout the weekend.

The tournament began early in the morning on April 8 as Garza Bay was buzzing with excitement.

Captain Fico on the upstart Explorer was leading the team after the first day with seven Sailfish releases report by Roger Bowgen and his group.

Captain William and the mighty Wanderer snagged six Sailfish plus a last-minute Dorado; meat fish serve up a potentially tie-breaking 25 points and would this one would turn out to be essential.

Captain Alex and Hubble Keller on the mega panga Harvester were slotted right behind with six Sailfish released and caught a nice Dorado:

They actually released three more Sails, however the camera with those pictures got accidentally sent to Davy Jones’ Locker.

Matt, Craig, and Paula from the US Office rounded out the team’s results with four Sailfish released on the Discoverer.

On the second day was a big decision: head North to try to catch the tail end of the swarm of fish that was yielding double-digit releases a week prior, or cut South and try to anticipate the next school.

The Discoverer and Explorer went North, and that decision proved to not be the right one as only four fish were caught between the two boats.

We took advantage of every bite, but there just weren’t enough fish to stay at the top of the scoreboard.

The Harvester and Wanderer went South and they hit paydirt with multiple Sailfish and Marlin releases…Marlin are worth triple the points of a Sailfish in this tournament.

Captain Alex kept his momentum up from a productive first day and captured several more Sailfish releases.

Captain William scored the big fish of the day with Bob Pease’s epic 2 hour fight ending in a MASSIVE Blue Marlin release.

The Wanderer made up for the time lost fighting the big fish by closing the day with a Double Sailfish release.

This flurry of billfish action late on the second day propelled the Wanderer into the money for the third time in four years.

On Sunday was the legendary Ship of Fool’s Fiesta at Pacifico Azul in Garza:

Great food, great music, and great times were had by all the teams and all of the Garza community came out to celebrate.

On top of the scoreboard this year was the Old Squaw:

Followed up by the High Roller:

The Largest Tuna prize went to Siempre Algo:

As always the events were run masterfully by the Tournament Staff including Marlin Bill, Angie, and the Judges.

We look forward to competing in the 2017 Ship of Fools Tournament and once again seeing FishingNosara boats challenging for the top spot.

The FishingNosara Tournament Series continues this December as we are entering all four boats into the Dreamstarter Tournament:

If you have what it takes, get your best anglers together and reserve your spot in this event.

August 11, 2015

Craig and Paula took a trip on the Wanderer with grandbaby Kylee in tow, and the Sailfish showed up in numbers.

Kylee has been watching FishingNosara DVDs since she was born, and she proved her prowess on the boat…this kid keeps her eyes glued to the baits like an old salty dog.

Craig scored some Sailfish releases and Kylee finally got to see the live 3D version the the DVDs she enjoys so much.

February 5, 2015

On February 5 Craig Sutton joined the Wanderer with the goal of replicating the prior day’s Cubera Snapper success.

The offshore gear stayed stowed as Craig dropped a live blue runner to the reef on a Penn 760 Slammer. This monster Cubera ascended to the surface to maul the frightened bait, and the fight was on!

Amazing fish for Craig which may only be bested by his previous Hall of Fame Cubera catches:

January 22, 2010:

May 25, 2012

September 5, 2014

Craig and Matty took a break from boat work to go fish-hunting on the Wanderer, and while they took turns missing Sailfish and losing Cuberas, Nosara Paradise Rentals Chief Mechanic Senior Marino scored this sweet Dorado.

Nice work Marino! At least someone around here knows how to fish.

May 1, 2014

After a few days of assembly and shake-down, the Discoverer is in the water and catching fish!

Captain David has accepted the promotion to the new 31′ battle wagon and has tapped Mate Kevin to stick with him on this transition. On their first trip they were joined by Mate Fico and young Garza legend Hernan for an offshore trip with Craig Sutton and Ms. Paula.

Our new vessel headed to the blue water flanked by the FishingNosara flagship Wanderer and the super panga Explorer, and this three-headed fishing monster found a big mancha of spinning porpoises.

You know what that means….Yellowfin Tuna time!

Craig nabbed the first 15lbs. Yella Fella, then young Hernan strapped up for an Ahi of his own.

Ms. Paula notched the first billfish in Discoverer history with this fine Sailfish release, assisted by Mate Kevin.

In addition to dialing in the fishing tools for the new boat, Captain David and Mate Kevin are also experimenting with new photography angles to best deliver the blue water action to your eyeballs. With a 21′ tower and all kinds of good sight-lines it will be no time at all until we can all see how fun fishing on the Discoverer can be.

All smiles all around on the unflappable Discoverer!

April 7, 2014

April 5 brought a banner finish to the Russell Group’s week of fishing in Costa Rica. Captain William pointed the flagship Wanderer offshore to Sailfish City and these New Yorkers showed off the billfish fighting skills that they have honed over the last seven days.

The ladies’ kicked off the action with Sailfish release for each of them, then the boys strapped up for some big-time billfish battles.

First Mate Alex is on top of his game and released these fish with calm confidence.

Check out this monster scored by Larry Komenda:

The final send off was a beefy Dorado for Ken that satisfied his ‘fishing wishing’ list.

Check out this great email we received from Ken later in the week:

“We wanted to let you know that we all had an outstanding time in Nosara… the place was great, the staff were wonderful, and the fishing was beyond our expectations!”

“We had to add on another 1/2 day with David and Kevin when we found that we were facing two days in a row without going out on the water! Altogether we wound up with 3 full days on the Wanderer, 1/2 day on the Explorer and 1/2 day on the Adventurer…. all the boats were great as were all the crews.”

“I’ve got to say that William and Alex were genuine sweethearts and I can’t say enough about how much we enjoyed going out with them—even the girls!…. aside from 32 sails, we caught 3 dorados (one being my “bucket list” grande mahi!).

“Please tell Paula that Brenda wore her Pink FishingNosara hat to catch some HUGE sails and let her know too that Brenda says she was right”

He’s right about the hat; check out Paula’s first trip to Nosara compared to Brenda’s recent conquest:

May 15, 2013

Craig Sutton was joined by Paula, Matty, and Alejandro for an afternoon of fishing on the Wanderer on May 15. Captain William gathered the intellegence from Captain David on the Explorer that a large ‘mancha’ (school) of spinning dolphin were in the area feasting on Yellowfin Tuna.

The team worked this school together as First Mate Alex and Craig tossed poppers from the foredeck while Paula and Alejandro went to work in the cockpit. Captain William and Captain David worked together to keep the fish corralled so that both boats would have maximum chances at success.

Once the bite shut down around 3pm it was once again time for an honored FishingNosara tradition: Fresh Sushi!

February 21, 2013

FishingNosara Master engineer Captain Jack Weinmann is in town for a combination work / pleasure trip as he oversees the maintainance of the boats, safari carts, and trucks that keep our operation running smoothly. However its not all wrenches and grease this week as Captain Jack joined Craig Sutton and Ms. Paula for a productive day on the Wanderer.

This Spanish Mackeral is a rare delicacy and the boys will no doubt be munching on this all week long.

Jack and Craig also added two lovely Ponpanos for use as ceviche. What about thick-filet sandwich meat?

Jack’s got that covered as well! This small but meaty Grouper should yield some tasty filets that will make this group very popular around the Nosara Paradise Rentals campus. Excellent catches by FishingNosara’s #1 tech, Captain Jack!

May 23, 2012

Craig and Paula were at it again, joining Captain David and the legendary Explorer on the afternoon of May 23 for an inshore harvest. They got things off to a quick start with three nice Yellowfin tunas weighing over 30lb. a piece.

Then they drifted over the fruitful reef at Pincha Padre and pulled up this interesting Mullet Snapper, estimated to weigh 12 delicious pounds.

Great late-day action by the Explorer, a boat that catches fish rain or shine, early or late.

May 22, 2012

Craig Sutton and the lovely Georgia peach Paula are in town this week celebrating their 3rd anniversary. Hard to believe it’s only been three years since Paula came along and taught Craig how to fish, but today’s catches on the Explorer were a tasty reminder of Paula’s angling prowess.

Craig showed his stuff in the form of a beautiful 50lbs. Dorado to start off the half-day with Captain David, but Paula brought the house down by catching a dinosaur of a Cubera Snapper.

They also added another mighty Cubera that was almost as big as the first. Great catches by the US Representative for FishingNosara and his fishing instructor Ms. Paula.