Tag: Testimonial

July 7, 2012

Our new friend Charles Mark Perdue joined Captain David and Mate Carlos on the famous Explorer for a 3/4 day trip, however the action was so intense that he extended his trip to a full day once they got out to the fishing grounds.

We’ll let Mr. Perdue tell the story:

“Craig, thanks again!!  Fishing with your group was the highlight of my brother’s trip to Costa Rica. Two of my brother’s caught a Sailfish and one caught a small Dorado.  My Brother-in-Law caught a sail as well.  What was great about the experience, is my 3 brothers had never been off-shore fishing except in a big party boat.  So, needless to say…they were really excited when they got to land sailfish!.”

“David and Carlos, were very good and patient.  We stayed out longer….we were having so much fun. I may be down again the week before X-mas and if so, I will book another day or two with you guys.”

June 3, 2012

Our new friends Asif and Sebastian joined our old buddy Jeff Grosshandler for what was supposed to be  a 5 hour half-day on the Explorer with Captain David and First Mate Alex on loan from the Wanderer.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and they had to shorten the trip due to big waves.

That didn’t stop the legendary Explorer from catching a nice Yellowfin Tuna, though. This 40lbs. monster came in the first 30 minutes of the trip. You can tell from the background in these pictures that the storms were just about to fire off.

Great work by the dynamic duo to keep the Explorer in one piece and to make sure all the clients made it back to shore safely. It’s days like this that we are so proud to have a boatman of David’s caliber on this vessel. Here’s what Jeff had to say:

“Wow, crazy storm! Alex and David handled everything amazingly well, Alex especially impressed me. We are going back out later this week, maybe Wednesday. There are huge Tuna there right now.”


April 21, 2012

Tyler and Emily Patterson won the Full of Bull Redfish Tournament last year and part of their prize included a half-day of fishing on the famous Wanderer. Captain William and First Mate Alex were primed to show these Jacksonville anglers the best fishing that Costa Rica has to offer.

The highlight of the trip was this excellent Sailfish release by Emily. Great work as always by the crew to ensure the safe release of this beautiful fish.

“We just got back Monday night after 7 awesome nights in Nosara.  Craig, your staff down there is amazing…Arturo is by far the most friendly and caring person I’ve ever met.  Manual, Javier, Eduardo, the cleaning staff, and William and Alex on the Wanderer were superb too!”

” We ended up going 2 for 10 on sails, my first ever landed, the other was pushing 100lbs!  I will absolutely do all that I can to spread the word on fishing the tournament next year and recommending Nosara Paradise Rentals to anyone planning a trip to Costa Rica.  Thanks again and it’s incredible that all of that happened because of a $50.00 redfish tournament.”

-Tyler and Emily Patterson

February 4, 2012

Derrill McCrary kept up the amazing fishing as he once again enlisted Captain William and the Wanderer. After wearing out the billfish yesterday, this time they set their sights on good eating fish and what they found exceeded even their wildest expectations.


The found an eager school of Dorados who fought with predictable vigor but alas were no match for Derrill McCrary and the mighty Wanderer. The group is pictured with the biggest of the bunch plus they had several smaller specimens on ice.


Check out this email we received from Derrill:

We arrived back home last night and wanted to let you know we enjoyed our fishing time with William and Alex. They are both very professional and know what they are doing.

Our first day was a good one with 3 Sails, 1 Striped Marlin and 2 Dorado. The Sails were a double header which made it very exciting.

The second day was much slower with a triple header of Dorado.

Your crew shows a lot of concern for the fish and we appreciated their efforts to make sure the fish swimming freely before the let them go.

Thanks again for a very good fishing trip,

Derrill McCrary


January 23, 2012

Janae finished her fishing vacation in with FishingNosara with another outing on the 26-foot Super Panga Explorer with Captain David and Mate Pipio. She added to her previous billfish releases with another excellent Sailfish at around 1:30pm.


Later on she had a nice Wahoo and but it shot like a missle and broke the line; shades of fishing stories from the Ledge back home in Jacksonville. They moved inshore to end the day and caught a few nice Black Tunas.


Here is the email she sent us once she got home:

“What an awesome time we had in Nosara! The fishing was so fun and Nosara is a great little place!! We are already talking about when we can come back! I just wanted to thank you again for answering my millions of questions and helping me prepare!! Can’t wait to come back again!!! Pura Vida!!!”

January 18, 2012

Another great client-submitted report from John Maysak:

Here are the pictures of my trip with my friend Barth on Nice n’ Tight with Captain Eduardo.

I was lucky enough to be on the rod and bring this big girl to the side of the boat for a clean release after an hour and fifteen minute epic hard-fought battle with lots of boat maneuvering help from Eduardo.


This fish measured 13 feet tip to tip with a girth somewhere north of 80 inches and we estimated her at 500 pounds!

Don’t let the diminutive Nice n’ Tight fool you! She is a wolf in sheep’s clothing whose bite is much worse than her bark.

Pura Vida,

John Maysak

January 13, 2012

Check out this great client submitted report for John Maysak:

“My friends and I went fishing with Captain Eduardo for a full day offshore trip aboard the Sportsman. We released 1 sailfish, saw another that never bit, and caught 3 bonito.”


“Eduardo and his mates worked incredibly hard to make the day a memorable one for all of us, so much so that we booked another full day trip next week! It’s easy to tell how much they enjoy their work and they are very good at it.”


“To top off the day mate Chano sold us some langoustines to cook for our dinner”



Photos by John Maysak, Washington, DC

January 11, 2012

We have received word of a MASSIVE Dorado caught on the Wanderer by client Jim Bates that may be the biggest of the season so far. Captain William reports that this monster weighed upwards of 50lbs. and by these pictures I think he may be underestimating a bit.


What an excellent gaff shot by First Mate Alex! For those who don’t know the goal is to strike the fish in the head as far from the filets as possible. This prevents blood contamination in the meat and ensures maximum meat yield.

“Thanks for everything Craig…we will back again. The house was great and my friends had a great time. The Wanderer was a nice boat and great crew. We saw lots of wildlife and caught dinner…not bad! Thanks again for all your hospitality  we will be back as soon as we can.” -Jim Bates


January 3, 2012

John Fitzgerald from Connecticut caught the first Striped Marlin of the season today on the 26-foot fish-fightin’ Explorer. This rarest of all Marlin species weighed and estimated 200lbs. and was released alive and unstressed as always.

Excellent work by First Mate Carlos on the safe handling of this majestic fish.

It’s amazing how fast the fishing can turn down here…just yesterday Captain William of the Wanderer filed this unfortunate report: “Well, really slow today. We only had a sail on the teaser, but nothing. It’s too windy offshore and the water is green.” Now, Captain William can catch fish in a crock pot so if he says they ain’t bitin’ trust me they ain’t bitin’

Just a day later and Mr. Fitzgerald potentially fished himself right into the Hall of Fame.  He backed up the Marlin release with this nice Jack on a topwater plug.



Check out this email we got from Mr. Fitzgerald: “Hey Craig just wanted to let you know that Cap David and Carlos are a great team! They put me on a bunch of fish today including a 200 plus Striped Marlin!!! Pura Vida! Many thanks John Fitz”

Great work by Captain David, First Mate Carlos, John Fitzgerald and the unconquerable Explorer on the first Striped Marlin of the season.

December 12, 2011

Our great friend Jeff Grosshandler and his uncle Arthur enlisted Captain William and First Mate Alex for an offshore billfish hunt today on the mighty Wanderer. They set off for the blue water and had two good shots at Pacific Sailfish.

These guys are used to fishing the brutal waters of the Northeast Atlantic where a 120 mile trip to deep water is the norm. Quite a change of pace to ride for 15 minutes and be in 600 feet of water!

The first one spit the hook, but his buddy gulped the ballyhoo from the long shotgun line and the fight was on!


The mighty Sailfish bucked and danced, tail-walking and grey-hounding  the whole way but Arthur Grosshandler kept tension on the line as Captain William expertly backed the Wanderer toward the fish.

A brief fight ensued and First Mate Alex professionally handled and released this beauty unstressed and unharmed.

“We had a good fight and my uncle and I had a great time. Alex and William really are a great team, Alex very much impressed my uncle….he was smiles ear to ear. Plus the weather was great and hopefully we will get some more on Wednesday.” -Jeff Grosshandler

We’re looking forward to it…can’t say the same for the fish though!