June/July 2011: Costa Rica, Pura Vida

[lamb]

There is something about turning 40… And there’s something about your kid turning 18. Once you turn 40, and you STILL happened to be happily married, both you and your spouse seem to want to go back and visit places that you’ve really enjoyed visiting some years before. When your kid is already 18, and happens to be your only one, they don’t want to go! They’d much rather stay by themselves; enjoy the freedom of an empty shack. Time to pack up and hit the road!





The first time we visited Costa Rica was in 2005. Landed in San Jose, rented a car, and drove up North checking out their popular tourist attractions along the way. We spent about a week in Guanacaste, the very top North area on the Pacific side.



We stayed in Playa Hermosa and did plenty of driving around scouting beaches in the area. We then moved down to the central Pacific coast and spent another couple of days in Manual Antonio National Park, one of the most (if not the most) popular beach destinations in Costa Rica. The trip as a whole was unforgettable experience. Almost all the fishing I’ve done back then was from the beach; my boy and I hopped out one day with local pangero. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to put the report together, but it was a MAJOR blast. The quantity, diversity, and the ease of catching all the fish just blew me away. It wasn’t really a big fish, but I had no problem with that. We’ve been itching to go back…



This time we had very clear idea where we wanted to go. We did the same ting - landed in San Jose, rented a car, and then headed straight to Sugar Beach, small playa just north of Potrero. Potrero is tiny fishing village just South of where we were staying during our first visit. The whole Golf of Papagayo area of Northern Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast is mostly shielded from the might of SW Pacific swell. The whole area is full of small sheltered bays, beautiful beaches made out of conch shell bright white to volcanic black sand. A number of tiny Islands are scattered in the area. Some are only a stone throw away from the shore; others maybe a mile or two off shore. Majority of them are definitely within the paddling distance. You get the picture – perfect kayak fishing destination.







I did thorough prep & packing up. I bought 3 setups – one light, and 2 heavier ones. I packed my hand held Garmin GPS and a bunch of tackle - all sorts of jigs & plastics. What I realized while doing the research for the trip was that kayak fishing really gained popularity in the area! Many places advertised kayak fishing as sporting activity. There was none of that 6 years ago. I easily found a number of local kayak fishing guides. I tried to hook up with Ralph Salano, kayak fishing guide from nearby Flamingo. How could I not – the little snappa’-lamb he has as his Facebook profile pic was just too appealing:



I was little surprised that I wasn’t getting any response from Ralph, but I soon learned why. Ralph had just found out about the tumor in his abdomen; he had to have urgent surgery to get it removed. We’ve been in touch - Ralph is now going through chemo and radiation. He is doing great, he’ll be back on the water soon. I am sorry I didn't get a chance to fish with Ralph. My thoughts and prayers are with him - please send yours as well.

My first morning in Costa Rica, I lined up a trip with Walter Moreno, another local kayak fishing guide (www.costaricakayak.com). Walter had 2 Tarpon 120s waiting for us on Potrero Beach. 85 degrees water, 85 degrees air – gotta love it!



A good number of locals were already fishing from the shore. They were hand-lining, standing in the water up to their armpits, occasionally flinging their bait towards the thick schools of “sardinas” boiling on the surface.

Local dogs rooting for their teams... (it's all about sponsorship down there)





I quickly learned from Walter that their way of fishing was very similar to what we’re doing here in Southern CA – use sabiki to make bait, then fly-line, troll sardine around and wait for the bite. As for the rest, follow the standard operating procedures. The schools of “sardinas” were easy to spot. The only thing, their sardinas are like ours on steroids! Their body is about 3 times taller than of our sardines! And they've got a serious prop!



There was also a lot of caballito and many other smaller fish that could be used us bait, but sardinas were the candy. How familiar - the main game in town was seabass. The fish is obviously from croaker family; it looks similar to our White Seabass. It is the prime table fare. It can even grow up to 20 kilos, but smaller models are much more common. They are being actively perused. Here’s a pic of one that Walter had on board one day I ran into him OTW, above a little jack - similar to our corvina:



We had no luck on seabass the 1st day, so we headed out of the bay to target some bigger fish. Walter caught 1 dorado a week prior, many other species were a possibility. I told Walter I never caught Rooster Fish and I’d love to. He put us on the spot only maybe only ½ mile out for a wide open Rooster Fish and Jack Crevalle, descent 10# to 20# models. We both pretty much turned all the live bait we had into a fish or at least a good bite.







Walter showed me the ropes, so for the rest of my stay there, I went fishing on a kayak every day, at least for a couple of hours early in the morning. Sugar Beach Hotel where we were staying had some SOT kayaks; I brought my “travel” seat with 2 rod holders in the back. One day I took out their single 7 ft SOT. Looked cute on the beach, but this little thing was horrible to fish from – every stroke of the paddle almost turned me 180 degrees, it was unstable… and I almost ate it in 1 ft surf! Other few times, I took out hotel’s tandem, and the last 2 days I rented Tarpon from Walter. With “real” rod holders and simply rigged but indeed a fishing kayak, it was much easier to do the business.I caught many small grouper, and few other fish that I couldn’t ID throwing smaller crocks and plastics into the rocky reef right on our beach.



They were going crazy for plastics, but with their sharp teeth, they would bite a chunk of it with every hit… And they were still biting it, the led head with just a tiny piece of plastic barely hanging on it! Talking about the importance of a color... or swimbait shape for that matter



There are lot of fish down there with really sharp teeth – barracuda, real large needle fish, many others that I was getting brief hits from that I never managed to reel in closer to the kayak to see… They would promptly chew through my 50# leader. Needless to say – I donated a lot of my tackle to Costa Rica’s deep blue and its residents.

Keeping bait alive in a small troll bucket and 85# water was another big challenge. Many times I would paddle out to hunt, just to find only 1 or 2 out of my 7-8 pieces of bait still kicking…. that was a bit frustrating.

Nothing to complain about – every trip was productive, I had non-stop action. But I haven’t connected with their seabass. I only caught one that was really small on plastics, and I let it go. The day before we left to check out cloud forests of Monte Verde, on my last fishing trip, I finally managed one maybe 2-3# model. Back to hotel with me he went. The hotel staff was happy to turn it into a dinner for us – deliciouso!



One thing to be aware – Costa Rica is WILD. Don’t be surprised to find this guy in your drapes right above your bed… Didn’t try to use them as bait



Did I mention how great the food was, ambiance and all?





Local folks are very friendly - it was a lot of fun to be fishing with them





Hand-lining from a yak... Bad ass!



I have to throw a plug for Walter - he's a cool dood, very friendly and knowledgeable. He took really good care of me, I'm sure he takes care of all his customers. Seabass in the picture was about 20# model - he already had it chopped up sitting in the fridge... I made him piece it together for a pic for some "fishier" PR walter@costaricakayak.com



Costa Rica is beautiful, and the place is just packed with fish. I highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance.





Pura Vida – will be back fo’ sho.

And since this is my long overdue kayak fishing cool report, here's a video to boot - enjoy!