Kayak Fishing in Costa Rica - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

Podaker · 02-03-2016, 05:01 PM

Short story:
I went to Costa Rica on vacation and caught lots of fish and many different species. Barracuda, Spanish mackerel (not the ones we use for bait), lady fish, moon fish, corvina, lots of jack crevalle, snook & a couple of monster cubera snappers. I was hoping to get a couple of roosters, but I forgot all about those guys after getting slammed on top water jigs by huge snappers!

Detailed story:
I went out 3 days kayak fishing with my guides Pablo & Martin. They have tandem ocean kayaks, I’m glad I hired these guys as local knowledge is priceless, plus it was nice to be able to throw jigs and catch fish while Pablo was keeping me in the zone, making bait, and watching the fish finder/GPS. Every once in a while he would interrupt me from fishing the popper and ranger top water jigs and say “here, this one just took our bait”.

The first day was very windy and had some good size surf but we decided to go out anyways. We caught some barracudas and a Spanish mackerel trolling rapalas and using plastic swim baits. I also missed some chances, just couldn’t set the hook for some reason.

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The second day was much better. Calm wind, the ocean laid down, and sardines started moving in. It was tough to get the sardines so Pablo and I gave up on them as the surface of the water was perfect for some top water action. Martin stayed behind to keep trying for bait. I started out with a popper, having never fished this lure it took a little while to learn the technique. I had lots of followers, some all the way to the kayak. Pablo coached me on how to fish top water. I finally got it down, started slaying the jack crevalle’s. Switched to a ranger and had results as well. I Probably landed about 5 jacks that day, one was pretty nice.

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THEN………….., I throw my ranger lure, it hits the water, I had perfect tension on the line, before I could crank the reel twice, BAM! A huge snapper breaches the water about 2 feet into the air, It’s on! Pablo started screaming “Snapper, Snapper”! “keep the tension, don’t lose this one, it’s a huge snapper”. I was stoked to be on a monster towing both of us around on a kayak. Pablo was more stoked because he knew that the fishing was really good if big snappers are hitting top water. Landed this beauty, and released it to get bigger (and it did. Hint, hint). Besides, what am I going to do with a 35 pound snapper?

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The third day started a little slow, top water wasn’t producing like the day before so I switched up to swim baits and had some luck with the jacks. At one point we were just enjoying the beautiful Costa Rica scenery while my swim bait was just hanging in mid column and got slammed. I was able to get this one on the go pro. Fun fish to catch but I wanted something bigger & better. Back to some top water for a while, with the go pro on, hoping to get some good footage Pablo hands me the rod we had a big moonfish on for bait. This was the fish that made my fishing trip to Costa Rica a memory for years to come.

They told me I was lucky to catch that snapper the day before as they are not always around and only get them occasionally. Well this guy was much bigger!

Back to back days catching monster snappers, this one he estimated to be over 50 pounds.

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The video is about 18 minutes long with some cool views of the coastline. There is a cool release at 2:20. If you just want the catching section it starts at 4:20 with a small jack, after that a battle with a big Cubera Snapper. At 9:40 or so I get it to the surface and it made another run. Clean release so I can go back next year and catch more of these fish.

Pura Vida!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8P...ew?usp=sharing

ful-rac · 02-03-2016, 05:37 PM

Holy sheeit!

I thought the first one was big!

That's awesome stuff to catch on the kayak! Congrats!

katchfish · 02-03-2016, 07:36 PM

Bad ass!

momo fish · 02-03-2016, 07:37 PM

Beautiful. We need a beach launch like that..

JohnMckroidJr · 02-03-2016, 08:04 PM

Excellent report. Surprised you did not get a big rooster, but the huge snappers more than made up for that. Love the fact that you released the cueb's so that they can be caught again another day. Congratulations !

2-Stix · 02-03-2016, 10:33 PM

i did a few surf trips there in the late 90's but never fished it. looks great.

02-03-2016, 05:01 PM	#1
Podaker Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: la jolla shores Posts: 86	Kayak Fishing in Costa Rica Short story: I went to Costa Rica on vacation and caught lots of fish and many different species. Barracuda, Spanish mackerel (not the ones we use for bait), lady fish, moon fish, corvina, lots of jack crevalle, snook & a couple of monster cubera snappers. I was hoping to get a couple of roosters, but I forgot all about those guys after getting slammed on top water jigs by huge snappers! Detailed story: I went out 3 days kayak fishing with my guides Pablo & Martin. They have tandem ocean kayaks, I’m glad I hired these guys as local knowledge is priceless, plus it was nice to be able to throw jigs and catch fish while Pablo was keeping me in the zone, making bait, and watching the fish finder/GPS. Every once in a while he would interrupt me from fishing the popper and ranger top water jigs and say “here, this one just took our bait”. The first day was very windy and had some good size surf but we decided to go out anyways. We caught some barracudas and a Spanish mackerel trolling rapalas and using plastic swim baits. I also missed some chances, just couldn’t set the hook for some reason. The second day was much better. Calm wind, the ocean laid down, and sardines started moving in. It was tough to get the sardines so Pablo and I gave up on them as the surface of the water was perfect for some top water action. Martin stayed behind to keep trying for bait. I started out with a popper, having never fished this lure it took a little while to learn the technique. I had lots of followers, some all the way to the kayak. Pablo coached me on how to fish top water. I finally got it down, started slaying the jack crevalle’s. Switched to a ranger and had results as well. I Probably landed about 5 jacks that day, one was pretty nice. THEN………….., I throw my ranger lure, it hits the water, I had perfect tension on the line, before I could crank the reel twice, BAM! A huge snapper breaches the water about 2 feet into the air, It’s on! Pablo started screaming “Snapper, Snapper”! “keep the tension, don’t lose this one, it’s a huge snapper”. I was stoked to be on a monster towing both of us around on a kayak. Pablo was more stoked because he knew that the fishing was really good if big snappers are hitting top water. Landed this beauty, and released it to get bigger (and it did. Hint, hint). Besides, what am I going to do with a 35 pound snapper? The third day started a little slow, top water wasn’t producing like the day before so I switched up to swim baits and had some luck with the jacks. At one point we were just enjoying the beautiful Costa Rica scenery while my swim bait was just hanging in mid column and got slammed. I was able to get this one on the go pro. Fun fish to catch but I wanted something bigger & better. Back to some top water for a while, with the go pro on, hoping to get some good footage Pablo hands me the rod we had a big moonfish on for bait. This was the fish that made my fishing trip to Costa Rica a memory for years to come. They told me I was lucky to catch that snapper the day before as they are not always around and only get them occasionally. Well this guy was much bigger! Back to back days catching monster snappers, this one he estimated to be over 50 pounds. The video is about 18 minutes long with some cool views of the coastline. There is a cool release at 2:20. If you just want the catching section it starts at 4:20 with a small jack, after that a battle with a big Cubera Snapper. At 9:40 or so I get it to the surface and it made another run. Clean release so I can go back next year and catch more of these fish. Pura Vida! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8P...ew?usp=sharing

02-03-2016, 05:37 PM	#2
ful-rac Emperor Join Date: May 2009 Location: Buena Park Posts: 3,649	Holy sheeit! I thought the first one was big! That's awesome stuff to catch on the kayak! Congrats! __________________ There's nothing colder than yesterday's hotdog.

02-03-2016, 07:36 PM	#3
katchfish Paddle for Mahi Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Doing the happy paddle! Posts: 848	Bad ass!

02-03-2016, 07:37 PM	#4
momo fish Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Camarillo Posts: 1,491	Beautiful. We need a beach launch like that..

02-03-2016, 08:04 PM	#5
JohnMckroidJr Senior Member Join Date: May 2014 Location: Fort Lauderdale Posts: 1,932	Excellent report. Surprised you did not get a big rooster, but the huge snappers more than made up for that. Love the fact that you released the cueb's so that they can be caught again another day. Congratulations !

02-03-2016, 10:33 PM	#6
2-Stix Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Ventura, CA Posts: 376	i did a few surf trips there in the late 90's but never fished it. looks great.