Fishing report
From the 1st of September the Bahia Rica fishing reports will be with lost of pictures and on this link:
NEW FISHING REPORT
25. August
½ day of fishing with Tom, Kay and Brad. A slow morning where we could not find any bait at all. We came back in into the green water around noon and caught 4 baits on one of our prime spots. We headed back out and got instantly attacked. It was a toothy fish that took the bait and left the leader in bad shape. After this it was then 2 quick jacks and a last jack about 30 min after. Out of baits and time to head back. We could see the humpback whale spouts in different areas as they moved around.
12. August
Vigdis and I went out a few hours in the morning to try our luck. Baits were a little harder to get but we got 3 after 15 minutes. Almost as soon as they hit the water it was fish on and a nice rooster of about 40 lbs for Vigdis. As she was fighting that one the other rod went off and on the second try I hooked a jack for a double hookup. After landing these I hooked another nice jack of about 20 lbs. There was a shrimp trawler close by so we tossed some poppers behind it and was rewarded with 1 nice hard fighting jack each. We tried for more bait but it wasn’t cooperating. We then moved to a new spot where we caught 2 baits. After 20 min of trolling Vigdis is on to another rooster of about 25 lbs. The last bait gets taken in an explosion of water and the fish cuts us off on the reef (big snapper???). Not bad for 3 hours of fishing!
8. August
½ day of fishing with Claudio. We went out to check out the conditions and were not disappointed. The bait was on the spot and after a few minute of trolling hooked a nice rooster that gave Claudio a nice fight. Then it was Vigdis’ turn. Almost immediately after the roosterfish she was onto a nice jack of about 20 lbs. My turn turned out to be a missed needlefish…
14. July
After a long time of not fishing, we finally had a trip. ½ day of fishing with Javier and his family. Because of bad weather offshore it was a little rough at the point so we went to our favorite place, the Boca. We had a little trouble getting bait but got 1 and decided to use it while it was still early. After 15 minutes we had a hit and after a good fight Michael could boat a nice amberjack of 20+ pounds. We don’t get a lot of these in this area, especially this size so it was a prize catch. Not long after we were on a nice rooster that Wendy with some help from Javier brought to the boat. This was a nice 30 + pounder. We then had another big one take the bait. It was on for about a minute before it spit the hook. Shortly after we got a nice needlefish and ended the day with a nice jack on the popper that left us right next to the boat. Not bad for a few hours fishing…
24. May
We are out on another half day and this time prepared with wire leaders. Of course they wire leaders account for less strikes but we wanted to see what was cutting the lines. I started with a nice jack on the popper. Then it was Vigdis who got one on the bait at the same time. They it slowed and we switched back to mono leaders and it gave another jack. I also caught a skipjack on a small jig. Then Vigdis topped the day off by getting a 70+ pound rooster that took her 30 minutes to get in. Nice work Viv!
23. May
½ day of fishing with Vigdis and myself. We went out in search of food fish. It was quite rough but not a problem. Vigdis hooked a nice rooster pretty quick that gave her a good fight. Then it was my turn and I got a jack, she got a jack, I got another jack and she topped it off with a nice needlefish. On top of this we had several more bites and 3 times the line was cut over without us even noticing it.
10. – 15. May
5 days of fishing with the Arntzen group. We decided ahead of time to fish the best time of the day since they didn’t want to spend all day in the boat. This was not a bad idea because in what would normally be a little over 1 day of fishing we caught 5 roosters, 5 jacks, 1 bigeye trevally and 1 dorado. We had 40 baits and had at least one bite on all of them. Lots of baits clipped in half and some killed by needlefish. All in all very good fishing at a time when others were struggling.
7. May
½ day of fishing with Ramon and friends from Manitos. We went out on this beautiful day and caught a ice sized jack and then a 12 lb mackerel. We had several more strikes but mostly the bites were eaten up without us having a chance to do anything about it. Still, everyone had a great time.
23. April
½ day of fishing with David and family. We got off early to a good start and hooked a nice needle and then a good rooster. There were several more good bites and we had another needle to the boat but they didn’t want to hang on all the way in. We went in early but everyone was happy.
21. April
Full day of fishing with Marcel and Ruud. This was the last try at another rooster. The conditions were very good and we immediately got a nice needlefish. Then a good mackerel of 13 lbs. We were getting some other good bites and one turned out to be a jack. Then it slowed and the wind came up in the afternoon. It was hard to fish right but we got a barred snapper and had a couple more bites.
20. April
Full day of fishing with Marcel and Ruud. Another try offshore. This time we had no billfish come up into the baits at all. There were a few groups of birds working the water but whatever it was wasn’t in a biting mood. We decided to hang around Cabo Blanco a bit to see if there was any more action closer to shore. Sure enough, several small schools of yellowfin tuna started showing up and jumping all around. We got 1 and lost 3.
16. April.
Full day of fishing with Marcel and Ruud. This time we went offshore outside of Cabo Blanco. We had a marlin come behind the spread early but didn’t take. A sail took only a short while later and while resetting the lines another sail took the bait but got off. Not too long after another sail was on the outrigger but jumped itself off. We had a big homemade tuna teaser in the water when the rod bangs in the rod holder and the teaser was gone! On the way back we found some birds and picked up a small yellowfin tuna and a small dorado as well. Lots of turtles and some nice dolphins as well.
15. April
Full day of fishing with Marcel and Ruud. Again we went for the roosters in the morning and were successful at landing a 10 kg one. We also had 3 bites from mackerels which took the bait, the hook or bit the bait in half. We jigged without success and the reverted to trolling which gave one yellowtail snapper and 1 skipjack tuna. We loaded up more baits to try for another rooster but again the needles attacked the baits.
13. April
Full day of fishing with Marcel and Ruud. We started out after roosters but they were not biting. We switched to jigging and rapidly caught a yellowtail snapper and a smaller amberjack. Nothing more happened until later in the day when we were throwing poppers and live baiting. I had 3 big roosters come after the popper without taking. A few minutes later a line goes off and a giant rooster jumps out of the water and shakes out the hook. We only had more bites from needlefish. Some poppering gave a lot of follows but no takers.
9.-11. April
3 full days of fishing with the Van den End group. Since they had all their equipment and lures with them we got a chance to try some bottom jigging. After missing a couple of good bites we finally hooked up with a monster. It turned out to be a broomtail grouper of 45-50kg! We tried to release it but it floated as its swim bladder was full of air. When the tide turned we got a 15 kg rooster and a needlefish. The nest day we were hampered by strong winds in the afternoon but still got a roosterfish. The last day we decided to do some more jigging and got some good bites but they wouldn’t stay on. Then another monster bites and after a few minutes decides to go back to its cave. We couldn’t do much and had to break it off. Later on in the day we trolled and got 4 smaller grouper. Towards the end we were throwing poppers and hooked a smaller dorado and 2 nice jacks.
3.-8. April
5 days of fishing with the Ibenfelt group. March was a slow month and April started good so we had high hopes for some nice catches. We did have some nice catches but did not get any numbers of fish. The water was very blue and the fishing slows when it is like that. We got a couple of jacks including a big one of 12-14 kg, a nice sailfish on the offshore trip, and a big rooster on the last day (25-28 kg). It jumped like a dorado and almost landed in the boat. The guys tried to flyfish a little and the bonitos liked the fly. So did the sierras, skipjack tuna, smaller jacks and even a gafftopsail pompano. We had a good trip but were hoping for some more fish. Once the rains come it will pick up again.
1. April
½ a day of fishing with Alajandra and her husband. We had good baits today and had just put out the first one when a nice jack took it. It didn’t take long before there was another bite and we were on to a nice roosterfish. We kept on getting bites, some cut the line and others got the bait but we got 2 nice mackerels (1 on a popper) and a big needlefish as well. Hopefully it will stay more like this in April as opposed to the slow month of March!
26. March
½ a day of am fishing with Scott and his girlfriend from Calypso cruises. The bite was very slow today but we got a nice needlefish, had a couple of good bites that didn’t stay on and managed 1 bigeye trevally in the end.
24. March
½ day of fishing with Holly and Adam from Calypso Cruises. We started right off Punta Coral and had on numerous ladyfish, bonitos and tuna. The end result was 1 bonito which we later used as live bait. Out by the rocks Holly got a nice big mackerel and soon after Adam got a needlefish on the popper. We also lost a couple on the popper. We continued fishing along the island and found a spot that held some bigeye trevally. There were many hits but only 3 made it to the boat. Adam also got a small yellowtail snapper.
16.-29. March
Scattered days of fishing with Simen and Kristin from Norway. The bite continues to be slow but we crank out some jacks, small snappers and mackerel every once in a while.1 day was very good with 6 mackerel and 1 jack in 2 hours. A mini offshore put us on some dorado but these fish were quite small. An offshore trip on the 25th didn’t give any results. The bite is to the south a little out of our reach. The days have been nice and calm but we need a change of something to bring in more fish.
6. – 10. March
A full week of fishing with Dag and Roy from Norway. We had perfect fishing weather and the current was on our side as well. We also had baits almost all of the days. The first 2 days were pretty good as the bite came on strong in the afternoon. We only managed jacks, but they were good size up to 15 kg. Dag had a monster that peeled off 300 meters of line before it made it to the rocks and cut the line…The offshore day was slow but around lunch Roy hooks a big sailfish (70-80+kg). It went nuts jumping and jumping and after 4 or 5 minutes actually managed to jump off the hook. The rest of the week was fairly slow but we did manage to get some jacks, needlefish, a triggerfish and a barracuda as well as some skipjack tuna. The roosters were not around so they will have to be for next time. We saw whales, dolphins, sea turtles and manta rays.
3. March
Full day of offshore with Harald. We went looking for some sails, tuna and possibly marlin. Early in the trip we had a marlin come into the spread but it only took a look and disappeared. A little later another marlin swan through, also without much interest. We saw 4 sails but none were interested. We ended up with a 10 lb skipjack tuna on the way back. We saw lots of manta rays and some dolphins.
27. February
½ day of evening fishing with Harald. We had 3 baits but started fishing with the poppers. There were lots of fish around. A rooster almost took one popper while something with teeth attacked the other almost cutting the line. We ended the day with at least 15 jacks, lost 10 or so plus had a ton of follows. The live baits only got attacked by needlefish which we caught one of on the popper as well.
20.-25. February
A full week of fishing with the Tanderod group. We had great fishing as there were large schools of jacks and tuna around. We spent the morning chasing them while in the evenings we baited up runners for the roosterfish. We didn’t have to wait long and caught several nice roosters and big jacks on the baits. The baits also produced a couple of snappers including a 24 lb. dogtooth. We also did a lot of popper fishing which produced bigeye trevalleys, jacks and a monster rooster of over 70 pounds… We had chances a several more roosters and another big snapper on the popper as well but they are still there for the next groupJ Offshore was slow but we saw 3 sails and a huge marlin, so they are there and will bite when we least expect it.
13. – 19. February
Fishing with Elise, Tore, Vigdis and Frode. The fishing was varied but we got into jacks, roosters, snapper, bigeye trevally and skipjack tuna. We went offshore and had a yellowfin steal a bait and then lost either a marlin or sail. It just stopped in the water was heavy and then the hook fell out of its mouth. It never jumped. We did see some nice dolphins, a whale, turtles and manta rays along the way.
11. February
1/2 day of evening fishing with the Hatveit family. This time we only got into the jacks but we all had a good timeJ
10. February
½ day of evening fishing with David and Jim again. We were going for roosters but they did not appear and we had to satisfy ourselves with some nice jacks on the popper and live bait instead.
9. February
Full day of offshore with Jan from Holland again. We headed out to the craters and had an early hit but didn’t have a chance to hook it. The another hit on the big marlin lure but still no go. We saw 7 sails but it was a slow bite and we ended up with 2 skipjack tunas off of Cabo Blanco on the way back in.
8. Febraury
Full day of fishing with Brad and his friends. We had a slow morning but the bite picked up in the afternoon and we got some nice jacks and bigeye trevally. The roosters were there but didn’t want to bite.
6. February
Full day of fishing with Jan from Holland. He wanted a rooster so we loaded up baits and decided to divide the day into the morning and afternoon. The afternoon having the best tide. The morning was very slow and resulted in 1 tuna and around noon a very big jack took one of the baits. After a nice lunch at a private nature reserve we went back out. It was still a little slower but the sonar was showing fish everywhere. We managed to nice roosterfish and 3 jacks. We saw a school of dolphins on the way back.
4. February
¾ day of fishing with the Haatveit family. We fished in front of the house before lunch and got into big schools of smaller jacks and tuna. We caught 5 jacks and 1 tuna as well as losing a few. For the afternoon bite we went after the bigger ones and got a 20 kg rooster and a 5 kg jack.
3. February
½ day of fishing with David and Jim from Paquera. After the recent rooster success we were hoping for a repeat. The fishing was slow but at 10 we got a nice jack. We caught 2 more of the bigger jacks as well but the roosters were not biting even though we had good baits. We had a few follow the poppers but none were takers.
28. January
½ day of fishing with Henrik and Tone. We went out in the afternoon because of the incoming tide. It was slow to start out with but as it got later things started to happen. We got a jack on the popper, then had 2 roosters follow as another jack actually took it right in front of them. We moved to a different spot and found a school of smaller roosters. We were hooked up on the popper and got 2 more on the live bait. We also had another one on the popper for a while. 3 roosters in 20 minutes is not bad! The sun set so we had to get back.
22. – 27. January
5 full days of fishing with the Jansen and Helgesen group. After a slow start the first day and a half the fishing really picked up. The roosterfish went crazy and we ended up with 10 in total and 2 really big ones. We had everyone fishing for baits as well as ourselves. Since it is not easy to get bait at this time we were lucky and it paid off. We also did a lot of popper fishing. We had many roosters come to the poppers and lost 2. One was a monster that inhaled the whole popper, leader and the teeth broke the braid. It was at least 40kg as it shook its head like a tarpon out of the water. On the last day we had a bite that took 150 meters of line on full drag and we could only watch as it headed for the rocks and broke off. We also caught 3 rays, many nice big jacks, skipjack tuna, bigeye trevally and needlefish. The weather showed itself from its best side again.
20. January
½ day of fishing with Tor. We went out early looking for some nice roosters as we had a couple of live baits. The bite was incredibly slow and it only seemed that needlefish were around and they were mauling the baits. We moved to another spot and it was equally slow. It was a great full moon last night and perhaps the fish were full from feeding at night. We pulled up to the rocks and threw a chunk of bait and Tor got a big needle. We then poppered one of the beaches. We had a few follows but no takers. On the way back Tor got a skipjack tuna on a white jig. Even though the fishing was a little slow the weather was fabulous.
10. – 15. January
6 full days of fishing with Stefan and Pyt from Holland. These were good popper fishermen who wanted to catch a roosterfish on the popper. We managed this goal as Stefan caught a nice one and we raised 14 more. We had some days with insane action and some days that were slow. The highlight was a 70+ lb rooster on live bait as well as the snook on a popper. We caught a bunch of jacks, some bigeye trevally, groupers, snappers, and needlefish. We missed a sailfish on the offshore and had chances at a few huge snapper and a bluefin trevally that only followed to the boat. All in all it was a great trip and we also had a 12 ft manta ray swimming next to the boat.
7. January
Full day of fishing with Brent and Larry. 2 boats out of Tambor had caught a total of 2 blue marlin and 2 sailfish very close to shore. We decided to head to this area and try our luck. We got the bites but never really had a chance to set any hooks. In total we had bites from 2 sailfish, 2 tuna and most likely 2 smaller dorado. The day was not bad but had been better if we had gotten something to the boat. We did see about 6 grown humpback whales and one breached. We also saw a big manta ray jumping.
31. December
½ day of fishing with Elin and Truls. We had an interesting day. The bite was slow but we picked up 5 skipjack tuna. The last two came as a double when they were tossing lures into a feeding school. It was a great finish.
30. December
¾ day of fishing with Brent and Larry. This time we had 11 bites and picked up 2 mackerel in the morning. The afternoon was a little rough and produced a couple of fish but no bites.
29. December
½ day of fishing with Brent and Larry. We had a few live baits and ballyhoo. After 13 bites we could finally boat a smaller roosterfish and nice sized jack.
26. December
½ day with Brent, Dave and Kristine. It was windy in the morning then calmed a little. It gave us a small window and we came across a huge school of feeding mackerel and tuna. In 15 minutes we caught 2 mackerel, 2 tuna and a big bonito. Then the wind came up again and we had to go in.
24. December
Full day of fishing with Brent, Larry and Dave. We had 8 live baits and went for the roosters. We trolled a ballyhoo rig on the outrigger as well. We kept getting bit and eventually we got a nice mackerel. We also picked up a big jack. Then we headed for the shark mouth and lost another big mackerel at the boat and had several big hits on ballyhoo (took 100 lb leader and bit it off), a snapper for bait got mauled 3 times without catching the fish and we finally got a rooster on a split tail bonito!
23. December
½ day of fishing with Paul. We went looking for roosters with 6 live baits. Finally we hooked up to a big jack and Paul could put a new personal record in the books.
18th and 19th December
Fishing with Brent, Danny and their family. We went for inshore fish and caught some tuna on light tackle. Danny hooked a nice dorado on a popper but it jumped free. He got a nice barracuda that also came off at the boat along with 2 triggers. We also had a possible wahoo on a jig but it came off. In the afternoon we had a baby whale jump in front of the boat. We then hooked a nice rooster of 30 lbs to end the day. The next day we got 2 big mackerel and a big jack.
7. December to 14th of December
Fishing 6 full and 1 ½ day with the Jeffrey group. We had some great days with this group. The fishing seemed to be on and off every other day. The good days were excellent and the bad days slow. The offshore didn’t give a result even though we found some really nice blue water. We caught 14 different species and the best day produced 4 big roosterfish, 2 barracuda, 5 needlefish and 3 ladyfish. We bottom fished, poppered, trolled and cast to catch skipjack tuna, big bonitos (for bait), mackerels, jacks, bigeye trevalley, catfish, yellowtail snapper, triggerfish, lookdowns, groupers, sandia and mullet snapper. We saw turtles and dolphins and had all in all a great fishing adventure.
6. December
½ day of fishing with Brent, Danny, Larry and Jordan. We went for dorados again. As it has been a very slow year for dorado because the water is a little too cold. We caught 2 nice ones, the biggest being 27 lbs. We also got a small skipjack tuna. We saw turtles and dolphins.
4. December
A short trip with Brent, Danny and Larry. We fished off Negritos and got into some major jack action on the poppers. There were fish stacked 50 ft from the surface to the bottom. The guys got a little tired so we put on rapalas and hooked a monster roosterfish which Larry fought for 15-20 minutes. When the leader and main line passed the roller guide it did a rush and the line snapped. We estimated it at over 100 lbs! Not bad for a short trip.
2. December
½ day of fishing with Diego and family. We had a nice few hours of fishing that gave us 2 medium sized jacks, 3 needlefish, and a nice 12-13 pound mackerel.
28. November to 1. December
Fishing with Glenn. The fishing really picked up again as we could boat 12 jacks, 1 rooster, 1 bigeye trevally, and 2 sierra mackerel already on the first ½ day of fishing! The bite continued with various jacks up to 25 pounds, mackerels, needlefish and triggerfish. On the offshore day we were sooooo close to hooking a good marlin that attacked 3 different baits but didn’t ever take the hook! We made up for it with a nice sailfish though. Again we lost several big ones that just took us into the rocks on full drag. We know 2 of them were dogtooth snappers as we saw them. Even on the marlin rod (50 lb outfit) it was impossible to stop one of them and Glenn has a very burned thumb to show for it…A great 4 days of fishing.
21. November to 26. of November
Fishing with Joergen and Mikkel from Norway. The fishing had slowed a little compared to the week before. The weather was however, outstanding with light winds and fairly smooth seas. We lost a few big ones that took us into the rocks or cut the line. We did get the following species, triggerfish, needlefish, skipjack tuna, sierra mackerel, dorado, jacks, catfish, pufferfish and a couple of roosters where we took a 60 + pounder the last day. On the offshore trip we had a sailfish come into the spread and hit a bait with his bill and then it jumped twice right behind the boat. We saw another sailfish and caught a small dorado in the end. We saw dolphins and a humpback whale with young as well as a bunch of turtles.
14. November to 19. November
Fishing with the Moen group. The weather had finally stabilized and was perfect for fishing. The guys were all experienced pike fishermen and could throw poppers with extreme precision. We started after roosterfish but they were not around. The popper fishing soon gave results and they caught 2 nice sierra mackerel, 2 jacks, 1 needlefish, 1 dorado and 2 bigeye trevally, mostly on poppers. We saw a big dorado behind Isla Tortuga and Joakim threw his popper. It got ambushed but it wasn’t the dorado. It just took line and cut the line on the rocks in the end. The nest day we tried for dorado again without results so we stopped to do some afternoon popping again. This time it gave 18 jacks and 1 bigeye trevally. Instead of going offshore they wanted more popper fishing and a new day gave 20 jacks, a lost shark and a 25-28 kg roosterfish on the popper for Herman. Unfortunately when we were going to boat it, it had a last kick and snapped the leader, but it is all on film luckily. More popping the next day resulting in over 50 jacks,1 mackerel, 1 hawk fish and 1 puffer fish. The last day was exciting as they caught 2 needlefish on bait. Then Joakim gets a big hit on the bait and he tries to hold the fish back and the line snaps on the reel but ..… later in the day they get over 25 jacks on the popper. This time Lars hooks a rooster on the popper and after 20 min it lets go….the hook on the popper broke. It was a trip of the lost big ones but we had a blast and they will be bigger next time ;o)
12. November to 13. November
½ day of fishing with Ray, Jim and Carol. We went looking for roosters but nothing would bite so we went back the next morning and Jim caught his first fish ever… a nice 18 lb jack! Congratulations!!!
31. October to 5 November
Fishing with the Jansen group. We started with a great ½ day of fishing which yielded 2 roosterfish of medium size 2 jacks and 3 more bites from big boys that we didn’t manage to hook. The weather and fishing was fantastic.
The next day we went in search of dorado but they had not come in yet. We were also forced to fish further in than usual due to big swell and an oncoming wind. This weather proved to be the start of a hurricane on the Caribbean side which reduced our ability to fish exactly how we wanted. We had 1 dorado check out the baits without biting. We also got a jack and a mackerel.
Then the rain came and we decided not to fish but it calmed in the evening and we got out for a quick afternoon run that didn’t give any results even though the fish finder was showing solid markings of baitfish everywhere.
The next day was our offshore day but the weather and waves made it very hard and we came back early. The highlight was a nice sierra mackerel that we enjoyed for dinner.
Finally we had a break in the weather and after a little bit of bait fishing in the morning we headed off to Negritos in search of more rooster fish. We were not disappointed as Roger got into one early. Then it was Thomas’s turn and he cranked up a wonderful rooster over 60 lbs! Tom had a big one on for a few minutes but it let go. We were also bit off twice once by a shark while we were fighting one of the roosters. In here we also had another big bite but missed the fish. An excellent few hours. Then we turned our attention further in into calmer water to look for tuna. We got one skipjack and 2 mackerel as well. There were patches of blue sky and it was looking good.
The last day was just rain, rain and more rain and the guys decided not to go out. We did see some big turtles, dolphins and had the mother humpback whale and her calf pass close by us.
30. October
First ½ day of fishing with the Leo group. We got out after the tide turned and had some good baits with us. We got a small rooster, a medium jack and a medium needlefish. We trolled after this without result.
Second ½ day in the afternoon. We fished with Glenn and Roy from Calypso Cruises. We started with popper fishing which produced a fair amount of follows and produced 3 smaller jacks. Then we switched to live bait as the tide had changed. We lost a big mackerel that cut the line and had one more bite. A slooooow afternoon. We saw 2 big turtles.
23. October
½ day fishing with Claudio from Italy. We went in search of roosters and found them! There was actually a school of roosterfish hunting sardines. The fish were not big but were willing to strike our bonitos. We got 2 roosters and 2 mackerel as well. There were not a lot of bonitos around, but the bigger fish were definitely in the area.
16. and 17. October
2 short fishing trips with Ray and his family. I picked them up in Puntarenas and on the way out this way we came across massive schools of skipjack tunas. We caught 8-10 tuna and moved on. In the evening we went to Negritos and it was a little rough. We had 5 baits and one got away so with 4 baits we caught 2 big jacks and a smaller rooster. The last bait was torn to shreds. The following morning we went back with 5 baits, got 1 nice jack and a small rooster and lost 3. We also saw dolphins cruising by. Things seem to be getting back to normal.
27. September to 6. October
71/2 days of fishing with Tony and Wilma from Holland. After having more than 6 weeks of red tide the pouring rain seemed to take it away. The first 3 days were rainy but the fishing was not too bad. Then it cleared up and got really nice for the duration of the trips. The days were calm and the swell relatively small. We were hoping to see the whales often but 1 glimpse of them. Dolphins came by a few times as well. The dorado had not come in and the rest of the fishing was on an upswing but not amazing like it can be. Our offshore day was totally spoiled by green water that was more than 45 miles out. We did lose one dorado in the green. In the end we managed 11 mackerel, over 40 jacks with a few nice big ones in there, 2 skipjack tuna, 1 pez perro, 10 grouper, 3 snapper, 1 sea bass (corvina), 5 triggerfish, 1 lookdown, 8 moray eels and one giant roosterfish. We had a great time and hope they will want to come back.
4. September
½ day of whale watching with the Fernando group. While we looked for whales we used the chance to throw out a couple of Rapalas at the same time. We got an early hit that took the 14 cm Rapala and 4 feet of 100 lb double line. Wahoo!!!! We trolled on and got a nice mackerel for the dinner table. There was still a lot of red water so we did not spot the whales, but we did see two turtles.
3. September
½ day of fishing with the Martin Lively group. We had a few live baits to start the day and again got a nice start with a big hit. The fish was on for about 3 minutes before it just let go. It was most likely our friend the rooster. Further trolling gave no results so we switched tactics to 2 lures and ballyhoo and headed further out. We got a bite early and we could boat a big needlefish. We had 4 more strikes that only bit the ballyhoo in 2 so we were in no position to hook these fish that were most likely mackerel. We saw the whales again and also had some manta rays jumping many times out of the water next to the boat.
26. August
½ day of fishing with Ray and Craig. With a strong red tide in the area we had low hopes of doing great. In addition we picked up the clients in Puntarenas and had quite a run to get to the fishing grounds. On the way out we came across huge schools of jacks churning the water white. We caught a couple trolling and then switched to casting poppers. We lost count of the amount of fish but ended up with between 15 and 20 fish. Finally a normal day again.
9. August
Full day of fishing with the Trond family. We decided to go offshore this time as the bite inshore had been slow. We started out at the craters and saw a 100 lb tuna jumping but it would not bite. Towards lunchtime we finally found a nice current line and we got a few bites and could land a small dorado. Then we spotted some birds working the surface close by. Yellowfin tuna and spinner dolphins!!! We got a hit every time we passed by the school of dolphins. We boat 2 tuna and lost a third at the boat. We could have had a dozen with a little more luck. It was wonderful being surrounded by a couple of hundred dolphins and having tunas jump 6 ft in the air next to the boat!!!!
6. August
½ day of fishing with The Kay’s Gringo Postres group. We left with 7 baits and high hopes of getting into some good fish. We got a few bites early but again the fish would not hold on. We had a needlefish almost to the boat before it decided to drop the bait. Then Kay got a nice hit on her bait that cut the 100lb leader and took the baitfish with it. Wahoo maybe…? Some more trolling a few more bites and we could finally boat a medium jack.
28. July
½ day of fishing with Claudio from Calypso Cruises. We had previously caught some baits and 2 were quite large. Big bait, big fish, right…We got a nice bite almost immediately, but it was only on for 30 seconds or so. Then it was slow, but we got bit on all of the baits, eventually. It was almost a repeat of the last trip where none of the fish would get hooked. They were just playing with the bait. We tried some popper fishing as well but it got very windy. We ended the day with many bites but no fish.
25. July
½ day of fishing with the Trond family. We went to the rock early in the morning and managed to catch 3 baits. We then used these for trolling and had several hits but the fish would not sit on. One seemed to be a nice one but the others seemed like needlefish. We had a very slow day and for the first time we didn’t bring any fish to the boat.
22. July
A few hours of bait fishing with the Trond family. We went looking for bait as we were going to fish a few days later. The pelicans were diving and the fish finder was showing lots of bait but they would not bite. We then trolled around a bit looking for various fish but had no luck even though we saw tuna chasing bait.
12. June – 7. July
I went to Norway for this period and did some fishing there. The bite was excellent for mackerel, cod, herring and Pollack.
5. June
Another ½ day of fishing with Bob and his friend again. This time we were in search of more roosters. We had plenty of bait and the bait was biting locally as well, finally. We didn’t get any bites before the tide turned so we followed some tuna with Rapalas and got 1. Then we picked up a nice needlefish on the same bait. Later we headed for a rock to try some bottom fishing. We were hoping for snapper but ended up with 2 20+lb jacks and had a possible snapper that took us into the rocks. We got up close to a pair of mating turtles.
29. May
½ day of fishing with Bob and his friend. We went out in search of dorado since he had never caught one before. It was an extremely slow day and we boated one tiny 2 lb dorado. We did have a few more bites but couldn’t get them to sit so they were most likely small fish as well.
28. May
½ day of fishing with Pam and Chris from Calypso tours. After plenty of rain we were hoping the fishing might heat up a touch. We were not disappointed as Pam hooks a roosterfish after only about 2 minutes of fishing. After a long hard fight of 45 minutes and a hand-off of the rod to her husband, Chris, we boat a rooster fish between 70 and 80 lbs! Pam has all the luck this day and gets 2 jacks in the 20 lb range as well.
18. May
Vigdis and I went out for a short afternoon trip to check the bite and bait situation. We had some baits we had previously caught further in and hooked them up. Quite quickly Vigdis hooks a big mackerel. It turns out we were using 20 lb line and it is a line class world record by a landslide (weighed in at 5,85 kg). We are in the process of sending in a claim. We also caught 2 very big needlefish were the one was in the all tackle record format.
29. March
½ day of fishing with the gang from Kay’s Gringo Postres in Athenas. We started out bottom fishing with live bait. This resulted in nothing so we switched to trolling as there were a lot of birds working the surface. This paid off as we got into fish almost right of way. Everyone caught several and we ended up with a mixed bag of about 10 jacks, 2 sierra mackerel, a huge needlefish and a ladyfish. Everyone had a good time.
17. March
A full day tour with Gary and co. We fished in the morning and then again in the evening. We had a nice bite and a jumper in the morning but it got off. It could have been a mackerel or barracuda. In the evening the fishing heated up and we got 2 mackerels (1 big and 1 medium), and a medium jack. We also had 4-5 more hits where the fish missed or fell off after a short fight.
15. March
½ day of fishing with Richard from Calypso Cruises. We started by popper fishing some local reefs. Rich had a handful of snappers follow the popper and had actually 5 bites, 1 from a big needlefish and others from the snappers, but none of them wanted to stay on. We then decided to troll Rapalas sine we had no live bait. We trolled several of the beaches in hopes of snook or a rooster. This didn’t pan out so we went behind Cedros. We instantly got into fish. Richard caught to nice jacks and had a big mackerel all the way up to the boat. It was lightly hooked in the side so when I grabbed the leader it made a lurch for freedom and managed to get off. Still counts as a live release.
27. February – 10 March
In this period we had Tony and Wilma here for 8 full days of fishing. We had some battles with the wind but managed to fish most of the areas we wanted. The highlights of the fishing were 2 sailfish, a big rooster (55 lb), a wonderful dogtooth snapper, and the big boils of hundreds of jacks chasing sardines (we caught a few casting). Others than that we can put on our list are various needlefish, sea catfish, leatherjacks, ladyfish, skipjack tuna, smaller snapper, groupers, and triggerfish. Offshore we got to see a lot of turtles, dolphins, a whale and a few manta rays.
24. February
Full day of fishing with Knut and Erik. We went offshore again but even 35 miles out we were still only getting skipjack tuna. Maybe they grabbed the baits before the sailfish had a chance to?? It was pretty much a repeat of the last fishing trip. We did however, see a big humpback whale with 3 smaller whales very close to shore in the morning,
21. February
Full day of fishing with Knut and Erik. We went offshore for the big boys. We saw a school of yellowfins right off the bat but they were not interested. What we thought would be a great sailfish day turned into a skipjack tuna day. We caught over 20 fish and couldn’t quite seem to get away from them. When we did there were no sails around. We saw a lot of dolphins, turtles and some monster big manta rays,
5. February
Vigdis and I decided to do a sail fishing trip by ourselves as the reports were indicating a good bite. We started with a very quick bite that resulted in a mutilated ballyhoo. Then Vigdis has another bite on the outrigger but it doesn’t come back to pick it up. The outrigger goes again and she is hooked up to a 80 pound sailfish. It behaves nicely so she gets in the water with it for a photo session. On my watch I get a quick bite. It grabs the bait 3 times but still doesn’t get hooked. A little later another sail grabs the shotgun line and again after 3 runs and bites I am left with only a head. Then it is very quiet for a long time before we find a school of yellowfin tuna. I decided to toss a popper this time and I had one follow on the fist cast but it didn’t take. On the way back we get several bites, most likely from smaller tunas as I manage to hook one skipjack. The right before taking out the lines the short one takes off and it is another sailfish around 60-70 lbs. A good day of fishing!
2. February
John and I went for some cat fishing again. It was very slow but we managed to get 2 bullet tuna in the current. I also had two medium snappers follow the popper. The one took it but fell off after some thrashing on the surface. We also saw some nice tarpon on the inside of Negritos. I need to bring my fly rod one of theses days…
31. January
A short trip with Marlon and his friend Robbie from Calypso cruises. On the first cast of the day Robbie hooks into a huge snapper that took right next to the boat and peels line off a hard set drag like in was nothing. It eventually got into the rocks where it cut off the 100 lb leader. We had a good amount of follows but ended the day with 2 skipjack tuna.
30. January
I went alone to do some popper fishing in the morning since it was low tide. On the first cast a 6 ft needlefish almost crashed into the boating going for the popper. On the second cast 2 jacks of 20 + pounds followed but didn’t take. Then a needlefish of similar sized got hooked before jumping itself to freedom. There were several big tarpon over the rocks now. A little bottom jigging produced a smaller amberjack and a small grouper. I also had a wahoo follow the popper without taking it.
20. January
The weather was stable and the bite had been good during the Los Suenos tournament so we decided to take a full day offshore with our neighbors John and Sue. We came upon a sail on the surface but it wouldn’t take the bait. The other boats were complaining of a slow bite which proved to be true. We had 1 sailfish bite and then came across a school of smaller yellowfins. We had 4 bites but no hookups. On the way back we got bit off by a probable wahoo.
14. January
After a week of wind I need to get out to look for some tuna for the cats. A quick trip gave up 3 skipjack tuna.
28. December
Full day of dorado fishing with Brent, Guy and Jacques. What a difference a day makes! Today the weather was windy and the seas rough. We started trolling and got some early bites and one fish. We ended the day with around 25 dorado bites and only 4 fish. They were all biting short just like the sailfish the day before. Still a descent day.
27. December
Full day of fishing for sailfish and dorado with Brent, Guy and Jacques. We headed straight for the sailfish grounds on this absolutely beautiful and calm day. We raised 6 fish, had 3 bites but ended with no sailfish. On the dorado side of things guy got a nice one around 45 lbs and we picked up two more on the way back in. We saw turtles, dolphins and manta rays.
26. December
½ day of fishing with Camilla and Martin. We tried out the inshore around Negritos but could not get any bait. So we trolled and picked up a couple of needlefish.
24. December
Full day of fishing with Kenneth, Camilla, Tapi, Martin and Birgit. We decided to try for dorados again. Another fairly slow day with Martin getting a nice 20 lb dorado. We also picked up a few small skipjack tuna.
20. December
Vigdis, Hilario and I went for a ½ day of dorado fishing. The fishing was a little on the slow side and we missed one but Hilario got a nice 20 lb + fish. On the way back we trolled a few Rapalas around Negritos. We had several hits and lost a mystery fish close to the boat as well a getting a possible wahoo bite.
9. December
Vigdis, Juan Jose and I went for a ½ day of fishing looking for some dorado as the rumors had it they were catching quite a few off Tambor. We trolled around with 3 ballyhoo and a jethead for quite a while. We had a mackerel/wahoo cut one bait in half almost immediately but didn’t get hooked. On our way back 2 lines went off close to Tortuga and we could bring in a 20+ pound dorado that had actually eaten both of the baits! Then we tossed some poppers close to shore and had a bunch of follows but only 2 bigeye trevally got hooked.
4.December
Vigdis and I went for a short trip mainly to try out our new camera and the fly rod. We came across a lot black skipjack tuna chasing bait but they were not interested in the fly. In between the schools of tuna were schools of jacks and these were a little more cooperative. I ended up with 2 smaller ones on the fly and Vigdis caught a couple casting. She then went over to taking pictures as the jacks hit as soon as the lure hit the water.
20. November
½ day of fishing with XXL group. We managed to get 4 baits in the morning. We hadn’t trolled long before Staale hooks up to something big. Then Fredrik gets a bite on his from something big as well. They fight for a while and I get a look at Fredriks and it looks like a very big wahoo. It makes a run and pop, off went the leader. Staale keeps fighting and in the end manages a very big rooster pushing 70+ pounds. Flemming looses another hook to something with teeth. We continue with popper fishing and end the day with 1 rainbow runner, 7 needlefish and 12 jacks. We saw a school of dolphins in the morning and several turtles.
19. November
Full day of fishing with XXL group. Today was the day to try our luck offshore. We got out early and put out a 5 ballyhoo spread. Fairly quickly we hooked a nice 15 lb dorado. It was then quiet a while until Flemming hooks up and yells it’s a marlin or something. It was a sailfish. At the same time as we were clearing the lines, Bernhard had a bite on the line and out of the water comes a second sailfish. It was on for about a minute before it jumped and threw the hook. Later in the day we got 5 more dorados up to 50 lbs. We also lost 3 dorados. We saw a big whale, several turtles and a giant manta ray.
18. November
Full day of fishing with XXL group. Today we had 6 baits and were sure to get some more roosters. They were not in the biting mood and we lost four baitfish to some fish that was playing with the bait instead of eating it. We finally caught a nice 20 lb jack on one of the baits. The day ended with 10 jacks and 1 bigeye trevally.
17. November
Full day of fishing with XXL group. Today was a shot at roosterfish. Flemming caught 1 bait on the fly along with a skipjack tuna and we had one bait from before. We started trolling and it took a while before anything happened. When it did it was a double header with roosterfish. Both fish were around 35 lbs. Then we got into some excellent popper fishing for jacks and caught around 60 up to 15 lbs. We also got 2 lookdowns and 5 needlefish. We also had a big snapper take off with one of the poppers.
16. November
Full day of fishing with the XXL group. We decided to try for dorado to start off the day. After a few hours of trolling and not even a bite we decided to change tactics. Just when we were ready to pull in the last line it took off and Bernard landed a nice 15 lber. We then started to fish poppers and ended up with a mixed bag consisting of 1 rainbow runner, 1 skipjack tuna, 1 bluefin trevally, 1 dogtooth snapper, 1 mackerel, 2 needlefish and 6 jacks.
15. November
½ day with the group from XXL adventure. We started fishing at around midday and the bite came after about an hour. We trolled around and picked up around 20 jacks up to 12 lbs. 2 of them on a fly. We also hooked 1 needlefish. There was bird action all around and we even had some yellowfin tuna around, but we could not get them to bite.
12. November
½ day of fishing with Jens Petter, Ingfrid and Jon. We had a morning trip and we tried for bait but it was unavailable so we trolled. We got a nice mackerel and a yellowfin tuna! Sushi timeJ We saw a lot of jacks around but they would not bite.
6. November
½ day of afternoon fishing with Devan and Roger. We were hoping to do some roosterfish fishing. The tide was good but the bait was not around. There was however a lot of bird action so we decided to go with the old trusty Rapalas. First of all we tried some poppers along the rocks. There were very few follows but Roger did manage a descent needlefish. The Rapaplas were great and we almost immediately got into some mackerel. We caught 2 smaller ones, lost another one at the boat and had one on for a few seconds before it got away. Then it was the jack show. Small to medium sized (up to about 10 lbs) were constantly grabbing the Rapalas. We ended the day with around 10-12 jacks. All in all a good day. We saw 2 turtles as well.
3. November
½ day of fishing with Jason and Kate. The plan was to start with Roosterfish but the bait was not there so we had to troll instead. There were birds and feeding skipjack tuna everywhere. They would not take the rapalas but Kate got a nice mackerel. We then decided to try further out for dorados. We trolled for several hours and we had a few hits but nothing would sit. We returned to the starting point to see if maybe there was bait now but to no go. We trolled alittle more, had a few hits and Jason got a smaller needlefish. We saw 2 turtles mating.
2. November
We went out again in the afternoon just to see if anything was around and willing to bite. We had Pia and Espen with us. It was a little rough on the outside but we had several bites and one resulted in a 6 lb mackerel. When we came around the islands into calmer water there were tuna and jacks everywhere. We decided to cast at them and it rewarded us with 1 tuna and 8 jacks.
1. November
Again Vigdis and I went out for some more cat food in the afternoon. We hadn’t gone long before the one pole had a bite. I thought it was off but it was swimming rapidly towards the boat. It was another wahoo. Several runs and 15 min later it was at the boat again and it seemed like it would cooperate and come in. The hook on the rapala suddenly pulled and bye-bye wahoo. It was a nice release thoughJ. Since it was nice and calm we decided to throw the rapalas towards the rocks and we had both several bites and ended up with 2 medium sized yellowtail snapper. We saw a sailfish hunting but had no baits to present to itL
28. October
We thought we would go out to the craters in search of some yellowfin tuna as the reports had not been too good in this are. The sea was rough and the wind came and made us turn around earlier than we expected. We caught 2 nice sized dorados and had a few more hits from them but that was all.
23. October
Another quick little afternoon trip to check out the conditions and the bite. We picked up a big needlefish on a rapala and were satisfied with this. We only fished for 30 min.
13. October
Vigdis and I were out looking for a few skipjack tuna so we could have some extra food for the cats. The plan was to try for some roosterfish and then troll a little bit. The bait was not available so we switched to Rapalas fairly quickly. I had just put the rod in the holder when it takes off screaming…really fast. I watch as the line peels off the reel and I add more drag. I have to ask Vigdis to turn the boat towards the fish as I am almost out of line. The whole time the fish is making a large commotion on the surface. I looks like a big tuna but when we get it closer to the boat we see that it is our first wahoo, a 30 pounder. Since I was using the small bait rod and had no wire leader I or gaff it was a miracle we got it in but we did. Later on Vigdis got a smaller mackerel casting a Rapala. We saw several nice sized dorados jumping in the area and lost one.
10. October
There were reports on good dorado fishing off Tambor so Vigdis and I decided to give it a go in the morning. The weather was perfect but the fish were not biting. We trolled for 2 hors along the longlines set up for dorado that were everywhere. We did a tactical change and decided to try another area closer to shore and bingo. 8 dorado in the 15-20 lb range in 2 hours. We lost 1 so we could have had 9. We kept two for food and successfully released 6 as they were all hooked in the corner of the mouth. We also saw a few turtles.
7. October
Vigdis and I went out for a 2 hour afternoon trip to try to get a few tuna as baits. We were just on the back side of Cedros and the birds were working several big schools of fish, mostly jacks. We trolled around the schools and got 8 smaller jacks and 2 nice longjaw leatherjacks.
3. October
Vigdis and I just went out for fun around Negritos for a few hours. The bait was there but not willing to bite as the water was again very nice and clear. We put on some Rapalas and did some trolling around the islands. We ended the day with 1 skipjack tuna, 1 jack, 1 needlefish and 1 nice mackerel for the kitchen.
31. September
¾ day fishing with Mike and Wayne. The weather was beautiful and we set off in search of dorado and perhaps a sail or two. I spotted a big swirl behind the short ballyhoo and a second later the next rod over with a lure goes off. It never got hooked. The ballyhoo was bitten off almost clean as close to the hook as possible. It was really slow after this and after a while we managed a dorado. As the afternoon bite started we got quite a few more bites on the ballyhoo but they were only small fish that only bit off or tore up the bait. Then a 6 lb tuna took one of the lures as we were trolling back. When we got it in we saw it had been attacked but it didn’t have any teeth marks, only severe abrasions……marlin??? The whales put on a great show as well as the baby probably did 15 jumps and twists for us.
15. September
There was a report of a hot sailfish bite out at the craters the past few days so Vigdis and I decided to check it out. When we got there, there were already 3 boats there and they were al hooked up! We had a couple of hits where they just ate the ballyhoo body and left the head before Vigdis hooked up. After a nice acrobatic show we could release a 100 lb sail. It didn’t take to long before it bit again. This time it was a 25 lb dorado. I brought in after a nice fight. While we were busy cleaning up after the dorado we still had a couple of lines in the water with bait and one took off. It was another but bigger dorado that Vigdis struggled with. After a 15 min fight we released a nice 35 lb’er. Then it was my turn to hook into a sail. It was a jumper and quite wild along the side of the boat too. It made a dive under the boat, I held hard against the leader and the line touched the boat and snapped for a safe release. It was only midday but we decided to head home as we had a long ride back. We saw a whale and a whole bunch of manta rays jumping out of the water, often several at a time.
12. September
½ day of afternoon fishing with Brian R. We went out early to try to secure some live bait and ended up with 6. Brian arrived at Punta Coral with the Manta Raya around 11:30am and we headed out to Negritos to try some popper fishing first as the tide turns good around 1:30 pm. Brian had a couple of hits and a few follows but they wouldn’t sit. We then turned to the live bait fishing. We got a small jack fairly quickly and then it slowed a little. After a while Brian got a nice jack (20 lb+) that put up a good fight. The bite was now good and the next fish was a medium rooster of about 25-28 lbs. We had then a double bite that stole both the fish and a bite earlier that stole one as well. We then tried to troll some Rapalas as there were birds in the area, but it only resulted in one good bite. It was then time to turn back. We also saw 1 turtle.
4. September
½ day of morning fishing with Connie and Chris. We got a hold of bait early and it really paid off. After 30 seconds Chris was into something big. After a 25 min battle a 75 lb rooster came along side the boat. We decided to try to take pictures of it in the water since it was so big. It was safely released. Minutes later Chris got into a nice 25 lb dorado. Vigdis jumped in the water to try to take some underwater shots which proved a little difficult as the water was too murky. As she was in the water a giant humpback mother and her calf passed within 50 ft of us! We had more bait so we kept fishing. We had a few more bites and saw 2 more big dorados cruising around. One took Connie’s bait, jumped and managed to rip the bait off the hook without hooking itself. We saw several turtles as well.
1. September
Last ½ day of fishing with Simen. We had a hard time with the bait again, Simen lost another shark and we had a couple more bites. As we could not get more bait we decided to have a go at poppers. It gave us quite a few follows and 1 needlfish and 1 bigeye trevally.
30. August
½ day morning trip with Simen, Kristin and Akaylia. Had a tough time getting bait so we only caught 1 roosterfish and 1 jack, but we had several more bites. We trolled a little on the inside and picked up 1 skipjack tuna. Simen had a shark make his 100 lb leader seem like a 1 lb thread and shredded it. We also saw the whales again.
27. August
Full day of fishing with Simen. We decided to try a little offshore to see if we could hook Simen up with a sailfish or two. We went off Cabo Blanco. We hooked into a nice dorado pretty quickly but it jumped and threw the hook. After that it was totally dead. The current was very weak and we saw no activity at all. The offshore has been hit or miss for a while and we definitely hit a miss. On the way back we got 2 smaller dorado and a few bites from other dorados that only played with the bait. We saw both whales and a few dolphins.
26. August
Another ½ day of afternoon fishing with Kristin and Simen. The bait is still in the area and so are the fish as trolling gives us 3 nice roosterfish and several more bites.
25. August
½ day of afternoon fishing with the same group. The water is clear and the bait is hard to get but we managed a few. Birds are working the area as there are several large schools of different bait around. This is good because the bite is descent and we ended up with 2 jacks, 1 roosterfish and 1 aguja (needlefish). We had several more bites but they would not hang on.
24. August
We have Kristin (Thomas’ sister), her daughter Akalia (5) and her boyfriend Simen visiting. We took a ½ day and got a jack and a skipjack tuna. Slow fishing but we did see several turtles and a whale.
17. August
Again the current is great so Vigdis and I go at it again for a few hours. We have a hard time with baits but pick up a few. Trolling gives us one decent jack (20 lbs or so) but no more bites in that area. We go a little farther out and get ready to fish for dorado when we get another bite and it is another jack but a little bit smaller. We pass several schools of dorado, the jacks and tuna again and a lot of nice patches of current, but we end the day with 1 dorado and 1 skipjack tuna and had a shot at 2 other dorado. We saw several turtles.
16. August
The current is perfect and so is the moon so we have to try. Vigdis and I are out for a few hours. We pick up a few baits and start trolling. A big sail jumps very close so we head in the direction and Vigdis misses a nice rooster?. Moments later another results in a 25-30 kg rooster which fought Vigdis for 30 minutes. The sail would not bite. The fish finder shows fish everywhere but they are not receptive. Just as we are about to go back a school of big jacks mixed with medium sized tuna come cruising by. They are not interested in anything! Trolling close to the school gives us one dorado.
15. August
A short trip with Vigdis, Juan and myself. The fish are there but the bite is slow so we are trying to coax up a few fish to see that it is possible even when it seems hopeless. We managed to get a few baits and started off with a few good bites for Juan. He was not on and missed all 3 but managed a medium jack while I missed 1. One of the missed ones was a dorado as it jumped and then spit the hook. We went trolling further out and picked up 2 dorados. On the way back we fished on the outgoing current and had 2 needlefish bites but they wouldn’t sit. We saw 2 big humpback whales and several turtles.
10. August
We have had Roberto and Vanamo here visiting us. They wanted a combined boat tour and fishing tour. Since we only left at noon we started looking for some dorado. We got a nice eating size (8 lbs) close to Tortuga. Then we went to the island for a little while and the trolled our way back. We lost a small dorado on the way. In the shark mouth we managed one bait as the water is still quite clear and the bait shy. We had 1 good hit but it took the bait before we had a chance to set the hook. The highlight of this trip was the 2 giant great hammerheads we saw sunning themselves on the surface close to shore. A modest estimate puts the sharks between 500 and 600 lbs!!! We also saw several other dorado chasing bait and a few flying fish.
4. August
½ day of bottom fishing with Ted, wife and friend. The current switched on us very fast but we got 3 nice triggerfish almost immediately. After this it was quite slow. We then decided to go for needlefish to get some action. It was nonstop bites every 30 seconds or so and we ended up with 6 big needles in the cooler and bunch of releases and a whole lot more bites. We also picked up another 3 nice sized triggers in the same area.
1. August
Another short morning trip and this time we were accompanied by Juan, one of the caretakers of Punta Coral. Almost identical conditions as yesterday and we managed 5 baits fairly quickly. Juan had his hands full and landed a 12 kg rooster, an 8 kg jack and a 6 kg dorado, all on live bait.
31. July
Another short morning trip with Vigdis and myself. The weather is absolutely beautiful and the water is even clearer. This makes it tough to catch bait. We spent 25 min getting 1 bait but it paid off as we hooked a nice 110-130 lb sailfish inside the channel at Negritos! The fight was great and after about 20 min we could release it back into its element. We managed 6 more baits but it only gave us a couple of bites and we lost a dorado. We decided to try further out but this only gave 1 small dorado. There was also another bigger sailfish jumping in the same area.
30. July
A few hors of morning fishing with just Vigdis and myself. The water has now turned quite nice and clear. We had no trouble getting bait but the big ones wouldn’t quite sit. We were using 200 lb wire because we were trying to hook a shark and this spooks off a lot of fish from biting because it is quite visible. We ended the day with 5 bites and headed in as the weather was a little rough.
17. July
Full day of fishing with Anya, Frid and Benedicte. The red tide is here so we were not to optimistic about our chances but the plan was to go far enough out to get out of the red tide. We started for roosters again and actually land a nice one (35 lbs). We then hooked a nice mackerel of about 9 lbs before we went out in search of sailfish and dorado. The water was somewhat better further out but still quite dirty. We ended up with 4 dorado (small) and a couple of bites we missed. All in all not too bad for being such bad conditions.
13. July
½ day afternoon trip to check out the conditions with Anja, Frid and Benedicte. We started out trolling for dorado. The water was quite dirty and there were no fish around. We did see a sailfish jumping. We then went to try for roostersfish. We had no problem getting bait but we kept getting bites and missing the fish. Finally Frid landed a jack. We also had another shark around and lost one bait to it. So we switched to wire and had a double hookup. They fought good for 15 min before the lines got tangled and broke off. A slow day most likely because the water was close to red tide.
9.July
Full day of fishing with the Rudolf group of 3. Another great day of fishing. We started out after roosterfish and got 1 early. Then when the tide changed we moved into the best spot and got 2 more. After this it slowed a bit and we went after dorado. They were not quite in the mood today and we got only 2 smaller ones. Since the afternoon was nice we decided to go for more roosters. The bite really picked up and we ended up with 4 more for a total of 7 where the biggest one was in the 60 lb range. We also had on another shark. On top of this we also got a nice 10 lb mackerel and 10-12 more bites from ones that got away. An amazing fishing day!
8. July
Full day of fishing with the Altenau family. The fishing continues to be good. Bait is readily available and we got a 20 lb roosterfish at first. Then it was time for another big surprise. We hooked and landed another sailfish just off the rocks. This time it was a big one 130-150 lb. Lars had his hands full for close to 30 min but it was successfully released. We also had several more bites, one coming from a shark. We decided to go after some food fish and trolling in the current got us 6 dorados. All in all a great day.
24. June
We had to try to fish again today to see if the blue water was still in close. It seemed to have gone further out so we decided to try for our friends the roosterfish. Another boat from Los Sueños had just arrived as well. They could not find the bait, but we had no trouble and within 3 minutes we had 6 baitfish. 2 minutes later we had our first hookup, a nice jack. This was followed less than a minute later by another jack. Then it was time for a roosterfish in the 35 lb range a few minutes later. After this it slowed. The other boat was unsuccessful and went somewhere else. We were soon joined by another boat from Puntarenas. They did not get anything, but we stuck it out and managed another rooster about the same size as the first. We also had 4 more bites so all in all for 3 ½ hrs of fishing it was a good day.
20. June
We had some guests that wanted to go to Tortuga so we dropped them off and spent the next 3 hrs fishing close by. The bite was fantastic and we landed 6 dorado and lost probably 8. There were a lot of very small dorado around but in the end it was a big male weighing in at 34 lbs that made the day special. We released the other 5 dorados and wanted to release the big one but it had no more strength left and was more or less dead when it came aboard.
17. June
We were scheduled to go fishing with the Mayor of Paquera, but when he didn’t show we decided to go ourselves. It was an absolutely fabulous day and we started out after roosterfish. We caught 2 baits early and the one got chomped by a 25lb jack and the another was attacked by a nice sized dorado that jumped itself free. After this we went after some dorado for the frying pan. First we get a descent crocodile needlefish, then right afterwards something is playing with one of the baits. A sailfish jumps out of the water and we can carefully take some pictures and release it after about 10 minutes. This is our first sailfish on our boat and we weren’t even fishing for sailfish! Anything can happen when fishing here. The fishing was great the rest of the morning and we ended up with 5 dorado (3 released), 1 nice mackerel (10 lb), 1 amberjack (small). Not too bad for ½ day of fishing. We also saw 1 turtle and a whole bunch of flying fish.
13. June
A short trip with Vigdis and myself. We went in the afternoon to the Boca de Tiburon and immediately got baitfish. A dorado (8lbs) bit instantly and 20 minutes later Vigdis hooked up with a nice 30 lb + roosterfish. After this we went trolling further out but the weather got a little nasty so we had to turn around after only about 30 min. We did get 3 bites on the ballyhoo but they were most likely small dorado that just toyed with the bait.
7. June
½ day of fishing with the Daviknes/Midtkandal family. A perfect day, nice and calm. The bait is biting good and as soon as we put the bait in the water it got slammed. The first fish was on for 2 minutes and then it came off. A few minutes later a new hit gave a nice 18 lb jack crevalle. Then it was time for a double hit. The one took the bait but the other was hooked. After a 15 minute fight we could boat a nice 40 lb roosterfish. The fishing slowed after this so we switched to trolling for dorado. We managed 3 dorados and had 5 more that did not want to come to the boat. They were schoolies and the biggest one was 8 lbs. We also had a chance at a sailfish that was chasing bait on the surface but it was not interested. Not bad for a ½ day trip!
4. June
A quick trip to test the conditions. We went to our favorite spot and immediately got enough bait. After about 10 minutes of trolling we got a double hookup. Vigdis was busy battling a rooster fish and I imagine I was onto a shark. The rooster was about 25 lbs and the shark was on for about 3 minutes before it most likely either rolled on the line or cut it with the tail, above the Bimini.
2. June
A quest for some eating fish with Vigdis and myself. A fairly rough afternoon between Negritos and Tortuga gave us one small skipjack tuna and 1 small dorado and we lost another dorado. We saw several schools of both tuna and dorado but they were not too interested.
23. May
Rumors of slow fishing had to be tested by Vigdis and myself. It was a little windy this day and we could not get baitfish so we ended up trolling rapalas and tossing poppers. It was really slow and we ended the day with one small snapper and lost a small dorado.
15. April
½ day of fishing with Ottar, Ellen, Kari and May Lien. A beautiful day! Nice and calm. We managed to get one baitfish early and unfortunately lost 3. But the one gave results in a large needlefish (All tackle world record size (around 5kg)). It was released. With no more bait we switched to trolling and managed a 14 lb mackerel which would clearly be a record for women but we were using 30 instead of 20 lb line so it cannot be submitted. We had a few more close to the boat but they released themselves. We also got a small needlefish.
12. April
½ day of fishing with Gary. A much calmer day. We got some nice baits early but the roosters were not there. Instead Gary got a very big jack. More popper fishing gave us 3 dogtooth snappers and a yellowtail snapper. In addition we had a lot of strikes we missed and a fair amount of follows.
11. April
Full day of fishing with Gary, Alex and Alexis. We were planning an offshore trip but the conditions were no good so we decided to stick it out around the islands. We stuck more to popper fishing and it gave 1 grouper and 1 big rainbow runner. We also lost 2 big roosterfish on the live bait. One broke the hook and the other straightened the hooks on the small rapala. We had them both within view. Some trolling gave us 3 skipjack tuna. Very rough conditions again.
10. April
½ day of fishing with Gary, Alex and Alexis. We did a combination of trolling rapalas and throwing poppers along the rocks of Negritos. We were rewarded with a very mixed bag consisting of 2 skipjack tuna, 2 big sierra mackerel, 1 jack, 1 dorado, 1 needlefish, 1 yellowtail snapper and one dogtooth snapper. The conditions were quite rough.
7. April
½ day of inshore with Anne Mai and Bjorn. We went looking for roosters and even though the bait was tough to get we stuck it out and got a couple. After a slow start we got a double header with rooster fish. One was around 25-30 lbs while the other was close to 60!
26. March
¾ day of fishing with the Steineger family. We decided to head out n search of sailfish. We got quickly into the dorado and picked up 5. 2 of these were of a nice size (16 lbs). The wind picked up and we headed in a got a couple of needlefish on the troll. There were also a lot of dolphins around.
23. March
½ day of fishing with Brent in his panga. A nice day which gave us a total of 4 dorado (small), 4 bullet tuna and 2 skipjack tuna on the troll.
14.March
¾ day of fishing with Brent, Elizabeth and Paul. We fished on Brent’s boat. It was a rough morning but we headed out anyways. It calmed down and we had a marlin pick up the bait early. It spit it and a second later a big dorado hit it. We got the dorado. We saw another marlin but it wasn’t interested. A lot of bait and nice currents but we only got 1 skipjack tuna in addition. We saw a lot of dolphins.
13. March
½ day of fishing with Chief and Liv. Finally a semi calm day that gave us 1 mackerel, 4 skipjack tuna and 2 needlefish on the troll. There were more fish around but because we started in the morning the midday bite was slow.
22. February
A full day of fishing with Are and family. We had caught some live bait the day before and went roosterfish fishing. We got a bite early but it was big shark or snapper that took off with 100 m of line on full drag and got cut off on the rocks. Later we picked up a 20lb jack on the live bait. We spotted a lot of fish, but they were not responding too much. We switched tactics to trolling with rapalas and got 1 needlefish and lost several others. We tried for small dorado offshore but it resulted in nothing. The wind picked up and we went for the cover of the islands. We came across a big school of feeding jacks, tuna and mackerel going berserk on the sardines. We trolled around the school and we ended up with 4 sierra mackerel, 6 skipjack tuna and one more jack. We saw an adult humpback whale off of Negritos.
11. February
½ day fishing with Kjartan. Another day of wind which forced us to stay close to shore. A needlefish was caught on the troll and some more spoon tossing resulted in 2 more skipjack tuna. Other than this it was a slow and difficult day of fishing.
10. February
¾ day tour with Kjartan. The wind was even stronger today but it eventually calmed a little at midday as it switched from East to South. It was a rather slow day and live bait gave no results. We decided to troll and picked up 1 dorado, 5 black skipjack tuna, 1 bullet tuna, and 1 jack. On the way back we came across a lot of feeding tuna and caught 2 more skipjacks tossing spoons. We also saw 2 dolphins.
9. February
¾ day tour with Kjartan. The wind is still coming but it is possible to fish. We brought along the baitfish we caught the day before. This was smart because Kjartan hooked and landed a 27-28 kg roosterfish. He also caught a nice sized jack as well and we lost another big fish on the live bait. Popper fishing gave a few strikes but no fish. A little bit of mixed trolling produced 1 black skipjack tuna, 1 needlefish and 2 dorado.
8. February
½ day evening tour with Kjartan. The wind has calmed down enough to give it a try. Although it was still a little windy and quite bumpy we found a school of feeding Dorados close to Negritos and managed to catch 6 on the trolling squids. These were schoolies but they are still quite tasty.
3. – 7. February
Strong winds from the north have made fishing impossible from the boat. Some casting from shore in the evening did produce 4 snapper, 5 jacks and a big longjaw leaterjack.
27. January
Private 3 hr fishing trip to look for dorados for dinner. Rumor had it they were in the area. We went straight out past Isla Tortuga and started trolling a mix of ballyhoo and lures. We came upon a nice marlin hunting dorados but we could not interest it into taking anything. We lost a lure to a wahoo, caught 1 small dorado, 12 skipjack tuna, 1 jack and had 15 bites that resulted in no fish.
24. January 2009
½ day tour with Pontus and Josefina. Calm and clear day.
We left at 07:00 for Boca de Tiburon and used 30 minutes to catch a big Bonito (Blue Runner). We hooked up almost instantly to a huge Roosterfish. 30 minutes fight, fish estimated at 35-40 kg. We couldn’t get more bait so we trolled Rapalas and caught 3 needlefish, 1 Skipjack tuna and one nice sized Mackerel. We saw 2 turtles and a school of giant Roosterfish.
18. January 2009
Fishing with Bob, Steve, Carol and Pat for the full day. Popper fishing, bait fishing and trolling gave us a nice mixed bag. Steve tried flies on tarpon. He had one hookup but it threw the hook almost right away. It was a nice school of tarpon. We ended the day with 15 needlefish, 8 jacks, 1 roosterfish and lost another roosterfish.
17. January 2009
Fishing 2 hours in the evening with Bob, Steve, Carol and Pat. Popper fishing resulted in many follows and missed strikes. However not all were missed and we caught 4 needlefish and 1 jack. We saw a full grown humpback whale right off of Negritos no more than 100 m from our boat.
13. January 2009
Fishing with Daniel, Caroline, Ellen and Line for ¾ day. The fishing is still slow. No dorados but we managed to catch a couple of blue runners for bait and Daniel hooked a 30 kg roosterfish towards the end of the day.
1. January 2009
Fishing with Bjørg-Siri, Camilla and Ingrid for ¾ day. The fishing has slowed down a bit. We went for dorado but came up empty although we had several strikes. The day ended with 1 skipjack tuna. We saw a small school of dolphins behind Isla Tortuga.
26. December 2008
Fishing with HP, Marthe and Ingrid for ¾ day. Great day for dorados. We caught 5 along with 3 skipjack tuna and 2 jacks. We came across a school of big eye trevally (albacora). I threw in a popper and caught one of around 6 kg. We also saw several turtles.
19. December 2008
Private trip with just Vigdis and Thomas. We went dorado fishing in the afternoon behind Isla Tortuga. The fishing was red hot and we caught 8 dorados in 3 hours! 6 were released.
14. December 2008
Fishing ½ day with Finn and Inger. We saw a lot of nice sized fish schooling (jacks, tarpon and trevallys). Popper fishing gave a lot of follows and few quick on and off hookups. We ended the day with 3 needlefish, 2 jacks and another nice mackerel.
1. December 2008
Fishing with Rakel and AK full day. Great day of fishing. The early morning bite produced 4 dorado. On the switching tide we decided to try for roosterfish and were rewarded with 1 and another that we lost. We also bagged 2 nice sized jacks and a sierra mackerel.
26. November 2008
Fishing with Vegard and Trude for ½ day. The dorado were biting and we caught 1 and lost 1. We managed to catch a small yellowfin tuna as well for the sushi dinner.
15. November 2008
Fishing with Albert, Heidi and Kristin for a full day. We went looking for dorado and caught 1. It was a nice but slow day. Heidi caught a skipjack tuna. We saw a pair of turtles mating and another turtle feeding on a dead fish.
September 2008
Number of trips: 1
- Roosterfish: 1
- Jack: 3
- Mackerel: 2
- Tuna Skipjack: 1
August 2008
Number of trips: 10
- Roosterfish: 24
- Needlefish: 10
- Dorado: 2
- Mackerel: 1
- Jack: 42
- Palometa: 1
- Amberjack: 1
Juli 2008
Number of trips: 3
- Roosterfish: 4
- Needlefish: 1
- Corvina (seabass): 2
June 2008
Number of trips: 4
- Roosterfish: 4
- Needlefish: 2
- Corvina (seabass): 2
- Bullet tuna: 1
- Mackerel: 1
- Jack: 2
May 2008
Number of trips: 2
- Needlefish: 1
- Dorado: 4
- Bullet tuna: 2
April 2008
Number of trips: 7
- Rooster: 6
- Mackerel: 2
- Needlefish: 10
March 2008
Number of trips: 2
- Rooster: 3
February 2008
Number of trips: 1
- Mackerel: 2
- Sea Catfish (Bagre): 1
- Skipjack tuna: 1
January 2008
Number of trips: 1
- Rooster: 1
- Mackerel: 1