Marlin, Tuna and Sails .. Oh My! Costa Rica Fishing Report!

[SailFishQuepos]

[CENTER]March 10, 2010



Had a great day out today! We spent all morning fighting a truely big Marlin. What a monster hookup. We went out 40 miles today, and got straight to the bait hunting. Not a moment after we had the lines all full lively small bonitas, did Rudy see one of our newly placed baits flying through the air. He lowered the drag on the pole waiting for the bite, and then I hear the reel start whirring like a small electric motor. He raised the break up and hooked the fish and we saw a huge splash behind the boat as the fish jumped out of the water. Then about half a second later the fish jumped again next to the boat and then anohter half a second later and the fish jumped 100 yards IN FRONT of the boat. He was moving so fast that he was still dragging off line towards the back of the boat as he was running forward. I got the boat in gear and throttled up and the fight was on! We chased him down only after he pulled off about 600 yards of line. The customers took turns fighting him all morning, until everyone finally wore out, and then they handed if off to Rudy. Rudy, like a kid in a candy store, starts reeling and pulling and about 20 minutes later we have the fish within 15 feet of the boat. It is huge, at least 12 feet long, and was an awesome sight. We made it all the way to the shock leader until the fish went crazy and the leader just couldn't take any more and gave out. I have to admit, this is the first time I've had a leader break since I started using Yo Zuri Floro Carbon. I'd say the fish jumped about 25 times though, so overall the leader did ok. Not the happiest ending, but we got through all the fight. This week has been amazing for fishing. The last two weeks of February were a bit slow (really strange for this time of the year), so we were super excited the fish started biting again! We hooked up with 5 sailfish yesterday, 4 monster big tunas the day before. We had an inshore day this week with 35 fish and one with 25 fish. It's been really great fishing and I'm looking forward to a super busy April through May. Well, here's some pictures, sorry, no Marlin pictures, I was only 10 feet from getting him to the boat so I didn't think to take pictures. Check out the big tuna though. Great times here on the water in Quepos!


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[CENTER]End Of February 2010



Ok, first I have to apologize, we have been 100% booked and I haven't had the energy to tap away at the keyboard after fishing/fueling/cleaning. So here is a recap of the last part of February. February was an awesome month, and with it came a lot of great times! A few stick out. One was this snook that we caught that might have been a world record if I had it weighed. I promise, the only photoshop used on the fish was to shrink it down for the web. That thing was huge! At the dock after the trip, all the mates were holding it up to have their picture taken with it, and I can't wait to see the mount! Another fun story was the 10 year old who reeled in this sailfish all by himself. He was super attentive and listened to everything Rudy said. The sailfish didn't come in easy either, but was jumping and doing everything it could to spit the hook or pop the leader. But thanks to a little bit of Yo-Zuri Floro leader (pink of course), and a great listener on the reel, we won the battle and the picture got taken! Offshore has been great with lots of double sails, usually one of the spinning rod per trip! Inshore has been especially insane as well, with between 15-35 fish a day. Inshore we averaged 4-8 Snook and 5-10 Roosters and at least one Dog Faced Snapper per day. And as you can see from the photos, the fish here are HUGE!


February 11


Lots of sails out today! I had a young couple out today and we really wore them out today with sails. On a side note, we have gotten at least one double sailfish hookup and at least one spinning reel sailfish hookup per trip now for the last 7 trips! Well, instead of me telling the story, I'll just show you some pictures and let you read the email I received after the trip!
Cant thank you enough for the best fishing trip we have ever been on!!!!!!!!! I am going to email you all of our pics from the trip and will be happy to recommend you to anyone I hear that is headed that way. We are seriously looking into moving down there, thanks again man!
Best Regards,
Capt. Ryan

February 5


Great day out, sailfish were everywhere! I lost count but we got either 6 or 7 to the boat, with literally hundreds of sails jumping around and swimming by the boat. And these weren't baby sails, they were monsters! The best was a double with one on the spinning. There is nothing more fun and challenging than reeling in a 125 pound billfish on a spinning reel spooled with 30 pound Mono! So we hit the first sail, he was wanting to eat the teaser. After a little bait and switch, we had the spinning reel screaming and the fight was on! As the sail was getting close, we saw that it was bringing up another one so we hooked that one too on the Tigra 30. It was some great fishing! Here's some awesome pictures! And yes they are enormous, and the pictures are of different fish!

February 3


Great day fishing. I fished with these guys yesterday & today and the sails were thick. We hooked 6 sails yesterday and 3 Dorado. Some of those were on small spinning reels as well, and I think overall we probably spent more time reeling than trolling. As a result of that some of the guys were a bit worn out today when we started out early! So about 12 O'clock today, we had already boated 3 sails and 3 nice Dorado, and the guys decided they couldn't handle anymore action! On a side note, it has been 4 days since a sail has come behind the boat and not gotten hooked. Many times you hear people say we went 2 for 7 on sails. Not on the Sterss Reeliever. Every fish gets a hook, and then the battle is between the customer and the fish. Even if we are reeling in another fish, fish beware ... as happened today ... So we had hooked this sail on the spinning and once again it was almost to the boat. Rudy was holding the leader on the sail and a Dorado just leisurely swims past. Customers are shooting photos and I hear, " Hey look at that Dorado". I couldn't let a fish come that close to the boat and get away!!! So without a word to Rudy, who is trying to get ahold of the sailfish, I throw out a bait on the 30, run up the tower and throw the boat in gear. Then I fly down the ladder and hook the fish while the boat is on Autopilot (figuratively, not literaly) and then run back up the tower and take it out of gear! Poor Rudy was halfway in the water with the sail and was yelling, "Who's driving the boat!" and "What the heck are you doing?" but he figured it out when I got the hook!!! Afterwards we had a good laugh though and he said I earned my third stripe(whatever that means)! And then we took the pictures of the sail while the Dordo fight was on! Today was all reeling and no breaks! Another great day out in the beautiful and warm Quepos Costa Rica Blue Waters!


Where Did Rudy Come From?

I get alot of questions about where I got Rudy and how he knows so much about fish. So I thought I would let the secret out of the bag and show you guys the photos of where I discovered him! Apparently, he drifted out to sea at a young age and was raised by sailfish! Neat story. It may be true, but that's not really where these pictures came from. Actually this was a tired sailfish after a battle with our spinning rod. It wasn't sure if it could go on with life, and Rudy, loving fish and never having hurt a sailfish in his life, jumped out to give the fish swimming lessons and whisper in its ear! I would have backed the boat up to the fish, but that just wasn't fast enough for Rudy! Ahh, I guess you can't hate him for his enthusiam! I'm planning on going back sometime mid-February to check on him and see how old Rudy is making out!
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[PVS]

Great photos!!
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