Over the years that I was in Costa Rica I tried lots of different fishing out. I fished for trout up in the mountains that were planted just for that purpose. There were also restaurants around Quepos that had tilapia ponds where you had to go catch your own fish to be cooked for your meal. They just had cane poles with a hook and ten feet of line. They used a bread dough type of bait that you just squished onto the hook then dangled it into the pond until you had the fish you wanted. It was fun to take the locals out to these restaurants because for most of them it was the first time they had ever fished.
I fished on the East coast a few times. The water over there in the gulf is beautiful. Generally it is flat calm and crystal clear blue water with great visibility. It always looked fishy but the fishing was not so good. Up in the north eastern area of the country there was some excellent fishing at different times of the year for large tarpon. They hang out near the mouth of the Rio Colorado and go up the river all the way as far as Lake Nicaragua. Some of them are huge world record sized fish.
I went in the end of November and we were targeting snook and tarpon. When you are fishing for snook you can catch a tarpon so you have to be ready for a giant fish at any time. We fished the river tossing lures into deep holes along the river. Our guide knew where the holes were and did an excellent job of putting us on the fish. We caught lots of snook then we moved out into the river mouth and started to work on the tarpon. We got bites right away but we found it tough to get them to stick. There is an art to setting the hook at the right time and right power. Too early and you miss the fish, too late and the fish spits out the bait or lure. I got to fight six or seven big tarpon the first day of fishing. I didn't land any of them. I have to admit though that I was so enjoying watching them dance above the water that I was intentionally holding my rod up high to encourage them to dance. To land them you should keep the rod lower. Most of the hooks were thrown while the big fish were shaking their heads. It was a fun day on the water and I think every angler in the world should put Rio Colorado snook and tarpon fishing on their short bucket list.
I fished around Bocas Del Toro in Northern Panama also. The area looks like the fishing should be spectacular but I found it to be slow. The sightseeing while fishing is awesome with all the tropical islands and beautiful water. There seems to be structure everywhere that looks like perfect fish habitat but the fish just were not there in numbers or any size. We caught some small tuna and some snappers and barracuda but not much else. I preferred to just swim or skin dive in all the cool little coves and stuff to the fishing. The diving on this side of Costa Rica and Panama is much better visibility than on the west coast so it is much more interesting except for around Coiba in Panama and maybe Canos Island in Costa Rica which both have excellent diving at the right times of the year.
Lake Arenal has some fishing I tried. They have peacock bass there which I wanted to catch. My only day on the lake we did catch some small fish early in the day but then we were blown off the lake by the high winds which seem to come up every day. I like to get on the water at the crack of dawn but we could not get the Costa Ricans to get out on the water early enough. I may have been there at the wrong time of year though. It wasn't my favorite place to fish.
I went fishing out of Tamarindo up in the north west area of Costa Rica. Again we were blown off the water fairly early in the day. We trolled around for nothing but some bonitas. That doesn't mean that the fishing up there is always slow just that we had a slow day where the wind came up strong. I have heard reports from people that had great days on the water for sails, tuna and marlin in that area.
I fished out of Zancudo Lodge in South Eastern Costa Rica and had a great time. A bunch of my friends from California came down and we stayed at the lodge and fished for a few days. We caught some nice sails and a couple of marlin and I had a very good day doing inshore for roosters and pargo. One of my roosters was the largest I caught in Costa Rica. I recommend the Zancudo Lodge for any serious fishermen. I also fished Crocodile Bay. They are over closer to the mouth of the bay than Zancudo Lodge. I only fished inshore there and I caught some huge pargo and lots of roosters. It was a really fun day on the water. Crocodile Bay is an all inclusive lodge like Zancudo Lodge was, both are fairly pricey but they both are great places to go get your fishing urges filled.
I fished one day out of a lodge that caters to the tourists at Corcovado National Park on the Osa Peninsula. It was just panga fishing and we trolled around for a couple of hours close to shore for some needlefish, a barracuda and a few small pargos. I have fished the nearby Drakes Bay at other times for some giant dog toothed snappers and some nice snook.
I went on a multiday fishing trip out of Quepos to Samara which is up in the middle of the Nicoya Peninsula. We fished near Montezuma, Mal Pais and almost as far north as Tamrindo. The purpose of the trip was to let the deck hands have a vacation and do some fishing themselves. We had a blast on the trip. We partied a bit too hardy in Samara the first night and then the wind came up so we didn't get a lot of serious fishing in but the deck hands got to land some billfish themselves for a change. I enjoyed Samara. It is a smaller town with only a few choices for places to eat and drink so they are all crowded and fun to hang out in. There were lots of hot friendly girls around too. Mal Pais is south of Samara and is a famous surfing destination in Costa Rica. It is known for big waves. Montezuma is another small town with a couple of fun bars to party in. The boats there take off from the beach because there is no pier or good harbor. It isn't known as a fishing destination so the fishing boats out of there are mostly just panga fishing. I love panga fishing but the attitude I found with the panga fishing boats here was not my favorite attitude. They kind of just go through the motions of fishing and are not seriously trying to get you on fish. Such is life.
So I fished around Quepos the most of all these places. When the rain lets up around thanksgiving time the dorados show up in big numbers around Quepos. I really love catching dorados or mahi mahi as they are also called. Dorados can change colors and they be green, yellow, white, blue, or almost any combination of colors and patterns from polka dots to stripes or two toned or three toned whatever. They are also great to eat. The largest dorado I saw was around 90 pounds and was caught by a long liner. I love to catch them and hold my rod up high to encourage them to jump and dance on the surface. We fished the garbage lines and any other debris in the water to find them. They could be close to shore or way offshore. There were days when I had to stop fishing because I was too tired from all the dorado especially in December and January around Quepos. That is the best time to fish the area because you can catch almost all the available fish like sails, marlin, pargo, wahoo, snook, dorado and tuna at that time of year. The weather is usually perfect at that time too and stays nice through about May.
I just got a report today from Quepos. My friend caught 9 wahoo, 4 tuna and three sails out of Quepos plus some nice big pargos down at Drakes bay and a bunch of smaller fish in the mangroves around Quepos. PURAVIDA
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