Costa Rica’s 2009 Sailfish
Numbers Continue to Impress
Costa Rica Fishing
By now most people know that Costa Rica is a tourism mecca and home
to some of the best sport fishing in this half of the world. Many
fishermen know that fishing in Costa Rica is typically best between
December through April when the dry season weather coincides with
the peak fishing season.
For those who were brave enough, and fortunate enough, to take
fishing vacation to Costa Rica this year have been rewarded with
some of the best numbers in recent memory.
Fishing reports have been coming in with some astonishing numbers,
with many captains saying it is the best they have seen in the past
decade.
The legendary Todd Staley at Crocodile Bay reported that in the last
week of January they had an eight day stretch as good as any other
he as seen in their ten year history.
His top boat raised 32 sailfish, successfully releasing 11 of them,
in just one day! While that boat blew away the competition, he says
their entire fleet has been averaging 10-15 sailfish. He also
reported releasing a few marlin in the 200 - 300 lb range as well as
a prize 150 lb yellowfin tuna. The in-shore fishing is still
streaky, but there are still some roosters and jacks to be had.
A little farther north in Quepos the fishing reports were just as
good if not better. Shawn from Atlanta came down for a week and went
out for four days of fishing. On his first day he went off-shore for
a full day and released three sailfish, one dorado, and one nice
barracuda. His next day he did a half day of in-shore fishing and
got to fight one of Costa Rica’s famous roosterfish and a decent
sized mackeral. In his final two days of off-shore fishing he reeled
in seven more sailfish and two more dorados. His four day total was
10 sailfish, 3 dorados, a barracuda, one mackeral, and one rooster
that got away.
No one is entirely sure why the sport fishing in Costa Rica has been
so good this year - it could be just a fortunate cycle or perhaps
the new, stricter commercial fishing laws are already having a
positive effect on the fishing population. For better or worse there
seem to be less people traveling this year due to world wide
recession woes, so that means those who can’t come are sadly missing
out on one of the best years in recent memory. On the positive side,
those that were able to make it down are enjoying less crowds and
more fish - now who wouldn’t like that?! |
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