# Costa Rica late July



## mrdcpa (Sep 24, 2011)

Will spend a couple days in freshwater on Machaca and nearshore (probably paddling) for roosters at Del Coco Beach in guanacaste. Then I have a couple days to fill with touristy stuff or more fishing. Any advice? My first time down there.


----------



## loves2fishinohio (Apr 14, 2011)

Offshore trips aren't terribly expensive down there as you don't have far to go to get to the blue water. Awesome Marlin fishing. If you have the means, I highly recommend a half-day trip to catch some billfish. I cannot help you when it comes to freshwater, sorry!


----------



## mrdcpa (Sep 24, 2011)

Well to report back, had a pretty bad ass trip.

Started off in the Caribbean lowland region of Puerto Viejo se Sarapiqui fishing the rivers for Machaca. It’s a relative of the piranha, is primarily a herbivore and could mistaken for a juvenile tarpon (in fact they use saltwater hooks because their bite is so hard). They target them on the fly with a golf ball sized “fly” that is a carved piece of wood that simulates a piece of fruit falling. This is combat fishing, not your typical fly presentation. You’re trying to smack the water almost as it lands, throwing a 40 Lb leader. They often strike literally the moment it hits the water. If you’re not trying to break their jaw on the hook set you’re doing it wrong! The first day I think I was only able to hook up with 4, none to the boat. The next day between better technique on my part and perfect conditions, I got 11 to the boat and don’t even know how many hookups. Side note, fruit was the bomb in that region.


























After that headed up to the guancaste coast near playas del coco. My goal was to get a rooster fish on artificial from a kayak. Not easy to pull off.

First day was throwing top water and sub surface early in one of the bays. Got a small cubera and a few strikes from what I assume were snook but then nothing. Ended up chasing a school of what seemed like bonita but turned out to be milkfish, essentially a giant mullet. Apparently they will on a very rare occasion hit artificial. As the sun got high, dropped a sabiki and pulled a blue runner. Threw him back out, trolled for a bit and hooked up with a pacific jack crevalle.









That afternoon we hit a different beach. Red tide was there in patches. We were able to find clean water, but I’ve got to believe it had an impact. After no success with hardbaits, we lucked into some blue runner schools and tried drifting in what should have been a pretty sick location but no eats. We later switched to throwing some artificials towards the rocks and picked up a few smaller fish.

The next day, we went to a very remote beach with a number of islands about two miles offshore. Picked up a mixed bag of mostly Bonita, bigeye trevally, and a whole bunch of tigrillos which kind of look like a hind. They aren’t the best fight but they strike hard and as I later learned, eat well! Threw top water a lot in the blue water but nothing other than a big hound fish (like a needlefish but bigger). Saw some rays mating - they would leap out the water doing cartwheels.




















On the way back, we trolled plugs not expecting much. Red tide was around here too near the beach. Couldn’t have been more than 50 yards from the beach on our way in and get a strike and assume it’s a bonita since it was smaller plug I was using to target snapper and tigrillo. It wasn’t long though before I saw the dorsal fin break - gallo! Not a monster but a rooster nonetheless. I had been fishing and paddling for almost four days at this point and my grip is shot so here’s the epic pic lol









Luckily Micah at least grabbed a shot as I was getting him in.










After the less than graceful release, we start frantically casting in the general area. Pretty quickly I hook up with one that had to be 20lbs or more 20 yards from the kayak. Saw him eat and everything. It was pretty sick. Unfortunately he comes unbuttoned pretty quickly. This things are basically jacks so with it being that close to the boat and an undersized hook that didn’t get around his jaw bone, it must have been too much pressure and it ripped out.

Came in for a few hours and made ceviche for lunch.








I’m in the go big or go home mood at this point. We fish pretty hard but no more roosters to be had. Unfortunately red tide had gotten worse but we decided to go for it instead of picking up and moving. Did end on a school of Bonita though which is always fun.

Last two days I take it a little slower in the Manuel Antonio area, fishing from the rocks a little but mostly exploring, talking to locals and learning the area. Cooked the rest of tigrillo right in the beach. It rained pretty hard my last day and didn’t fish much.









They people were friendly and the scenery was fantastic. Plenty left I’d like to go back and try that I didn’t get to - tarpon and guapote in particular. And offshore trips are a pretty good deal, but I wanted this to be more in the rustic side. Made some good connections down there so if any of this is of interest would be happy to share more.


----------



## percidaeben (Jan 15, 2010)

That’s some serious high living there! Thanks for the share!!!


----------

