Was in Costa Rica from 6/19-6/26 (Papagayo Peninsula). Back for a week but just getting time to pen a brief trip report today given how busy work has been since my return.
Context:
Edit: i am a horrible photographer and rarely take pics, but added a few photos, including a massive (Russian oligarch?) single master that was in the marina. To get sense of scale zoom the photo and look for the people on deck or in the rigging, and note their size relative to the yacht’s…
Context:
- I have been to Costa Rica many times over the years, either for surf trips or if I am with my family, family trips in which i still try to sneak some surf in. During the trips, I rarely fish unless the surf conditions are just too poor. Might seem like sacrilege, but if you surfed….you would understand.
- This go-round I knew from the surf forecast that I was going to get decent surf for the duration of the trip, so packed one of my shortboards (if anyone cares…5’8” Lost Puddle Jumper HP Carbon Wrap typically i run it with quads, and I am 6’0 170).
- At same time I also packed an 8 wt with a sink tip and with an intermediate spool so I could do bit of exploration.
- When staying on the Papagayo peninsula with family your range is kind of limited, so if you want surf, best bets are either renting a boat and heading up to surf Witch’s Rock, Ollie’s, or some reefs near there….or jumping in your rental car and buzzing down to Playa Grande or further south.
- On this trip we were at the Hyatt Andaz. It has a nice beach out in front (it is in the bay so no surf though) and is also pretty close to the marina (5 minute walk or kayak).
- Given this was a family trip, you can assume all the normal pressure and guilt tripping from my wife and family about how i shouldn’t abandon them. Family trips are all about balancing quality time with wife/kids (sitting at pool, hiking nature preserves and swimming in waterfalls, beach/snorkel time, horseback rides, rum tasting….) with hopefully enough surfing/fishing to keep my itch to manageable level
- Surfed four days of the trip (not bad given family trip vibe) and caught solid surf every day. Ended up surfing two days at Playa Grande, one day at a reef i won’t name, and one day at Witch’s. Sets were well overhead, with occasional bigger clean up sets to take on the head if you were unobservant/had been trapped in your WA basement working for many months before your last decent surf and were still getting tuned into mother ocean. Plenty of barrels and long walls to be had, some lips to bash on occasion, and the swell mix had a bunch of spots working.
- The first morning I got up early, strung up my rod, and just fished from shore (ok waded into waist deep or so). There is some structure at both ends of the beach in front of the hotel, and lots of baitfish moving around so I thought it was worth a go. Tied on a chartreuse and white clouser variant and started to work out near the rocks. Within a few minutes I hooked something - never got a look at it - that immediately took off, ran out some line, then I proceeded to lose it. Maybe a decent snapper? Fished for bit longer and zero love.
- On day three, decided to walk over and fish the rip rap close to the marina. The marina is gorgeous - super deep right off shore, crystal clear water, lots and lots of marine life. I some some corvina and some snappers, with lots of other species as well. Unfortunately within a few minutes of starting to fish, a marina security guy rolled up on a quad and gave me the “absolutely no fishing here” so that ended that. I walked back to the hotel and cooled off in the pool
- The following day, I grabbed a kayak from the hotel and paddled over near the marina (figured as long as I’m not fishing within the marina docks and buoys the security folks shouldn’t bother me). Managed to catch my first fish of the trip after 20 minutes or so - a little snapper! On my next cast I was stripping in the big clouser and had it almost to the kayak when suddenly a massive spotted eagle ray popped up right next to the kayak. So beautiful! I couldn’t tell if it had some interest in the fly but I definitely didn’t want to hook it for a variety of reasons, including fact that it was almost 5’ long without the tail. He stuck around next to the kayak and we kind of eyeballed each other for a minute. Such a cool experience. I waited for him to move on, fished for a few more minutes, then got chased off the water by thunder and lightning
- Early in the morning of the last day fished for a bit from the beach again. When I first walked down to the beach I actually saw a rooster fish chasing bait right off shore and got really excited…. Only to throw a bunch of stuff out there for half and hour and get zero attention. Que sera sera
Edit: i am a horrible photographer and rarely take pics, but added a few photos, including a massive (Russian oligarch?) single master that was in the marina. To get sense of scale zoom the photo and look for the people on deck or in the rigging, and note their size relative to the yacht’s…
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