I recently returned from a family trip to a resort in the Guancaste province on the northwest shore of Costa Rica. While I was there, I had time to get a bit of flyfishing in during the early mornings and at sunset. Sharing a recap as it may be helpful to any PNWFF members planning to fish that area of the world in the future.
Key Beach Fishing Takeaways:
1. Whenever vacationing near a beach, research the fishing ahead of time...when people at the resort asked me about the fishing they almost always said they wished they brought their own rod.
2. Local fly shops can be a great resource even for international fishing...Puget Sound Fly Shop knew the fish timing in CR and was able to outfit me with the lines and flies that I needed for success. The setup they recommended for my 8wt was a WFF Tropical Outbound Short line, 30lb tapered saltwater leader, and 20lb flouro tippet.
3. When booking a charter do your research ahead of time and find a guy that loves fishing...I read about the guy named Junior and sought him out when I booked a day on the water for the family...he was also a flyfisherman and gave a lot of local advice for being successful fishing from the beach.
4. Tube flies can be very frustrating at times...I had no problem getting strikes, but the hookup rate was lower than I would have liked. Also, the big tube that acts as the "joiner" kept slipping up to the fly or down to the hook...need to research how to avoid this issue.
5. Barbless hooks did not seem to hold fish as well as they do in Puget Sound...maybe due to the specific fish types...I lost some of the bigger fish due to this.
6. Strip flies as fast as possible...once I witnessed the fish react to the fly/lure from the boat this was the breakthrough that led to success the 2nd half of the week.
7. Target high and low tides as these are the peak feeding periods (especially if they align with sunrise/sunset).
8. Protect feet when fishing areas with stingrays (more on this later).
Fishing Recap:
Location: Jobo Bay has a busy area in front of the resort, but the majority of the beach to the south was very low traffic.
Day 0: Flew in and arrived after dark. No fishing
Day 1: Scoped the beach at sunrise. Arranged fishing charter and talked flyfishing with the local guide (Junior) to confirm that my gear would work for and he recommended flies from my box. Fished sunset, but no bites.
Day 2: Fished sunrise, but no bites.
Day 3: Fished sunrise, with bites, but no hookups. Caught 1x trumpetfish in evening and lost a decent sized jack.
Day 4: Departed on an inshore charter boat with Junior and my kids at 7:30am and headed south to Gulf of Santa Elena. Junior warned that fishing would not be ideal with the wind. Lost an Albacore and then caught 4 skipjack trolling and 1 casting. Tried fly fishing for a while, but too windy and a speedy retrieve was a challenge with the wind. We sighted a blue marlin and got it to follow a lure up to the boat several times, but he wasn't interested. Also saw dolphins and turtles. Found a huge school of Jacks and after I lost one, my son and I caught a double, which brought us to the end of our time in the boat. I fished the beach for an hour before sunset and caught 2 ladyfish, 2 small jacks, and a bigger trumpetfish...the key was maxing out my retrieve speed.
Day 5: Fished sunrise and caught 5 ladyfish and 2 small jacks. Fished the late afternoon and caught a needlefish and a small jack.
Day 6: Fished sunrise and caught 3 jacks and one reef fish (2 of the jacks were in the 3-4lb range). Fished sunset after return and caught 2 small jacks.
Day 7: Fished sunrise and caught a jack and needlefish. Fished the slack tide (low) at 2pm and I caught a pompano and a needlefish. Fished sunset and caught a needlefish and reef fish. I also learned a hard lesson about wading barefoot…I had felt "things" moving under my feet all afternoon. Just before sunset I felt a sharp pain on the side of my left foot, which turned out to be a puncture wound from a stingray. It was very painful and bleeding pretty good, but I didn't see any sign of a barb stuck in my foot, so kept fishing from closer to shore and didn't end up getting it checked out by medical.
Day 8: Flew home to the rain.
Jobo Bay at sunset:
The boys ready for a morning of fishing:
Double jacks to cap off the day in the boat:
Key Beach Fishing Takeaways:
1. Whenever vacationing near a beach, research the fishing ahead of time...when people at the resort asked me about the fishing they almost always said they wished they brought their own rod.
2. Local fly shops can be a great resource even for international fishing...Puget Sound Fly Shop knew the fish timing in CR and was able to outfit me with the lines and flies that I needed for success. The setup they recommended for my 8wt was a WFF Tropical Outbound Short line, 30lb tapered saltwater leader, and 20lb flouro tippet.
3. When booking a charter do your research ahead of time and find a guy that loves fishing...I read about the guy named Junior and sought him out when I booked a day on the water for the family...he was also a flyfisherman and gave a lot of local advice for being successful fishing from the beach.
4. Tube flies can be very frustrating at times...I had no problem getting strikes, but the hookup rate was lower than I would have liked. Also, the big tube that acts as the "joiner" kept slipping up to the fly or down to the hook...need to research how to avoid this issue.
5. Barbless hooks did not seem to hold fish as well as they do in Puget Sound...maybe due to the specific fish types...I lost some of the bigger fish due to this.
6. Strip flies as fast as possible...once I witnessed the fish react to the fly/lure from the boat this was the breakthrough that led to success the 2nd half of the week.
7. Target high and low tides as these are the peak feeding periods (especially if they align with sunrise/sunset).
8. Protect feet when fishing areas with stingrays (more on this later).
Fishing Recap:
Location: Jobo Bay has a busy area in front of the resort, but the majority of the beach to the south was very low traffic.
Day 0: Flew in and arrived after dark. No fishing
Day 1: Scoped the beach at sunrise. Arranged fishing charter and talked flyfishing with the local guide (Junior) to confirm that my gear would work for and he recommended flies from my box. Fished sunset, but no bites.
Day 2: Fished sunrise, but no bites.
Day 3: Fished sunrise, with bites, but no hookups. Caught 1x trumpetfish in evening and lost a decent sized jack.
Day 4: Departed on an inshore charter boat with Junior and my kids at 7:30am and headed south to Gulf of Santa Elena. Junior warned that fishing would not be ideal with the wind. Lost an Albacore and then caught 4 skipjack trolling and 1 casting. Tried fly fishing for a while, but too windy and a speedy retrieve was a challenge with the wind. We sighted a blue marlin and got it to follow a lure up to the boat several times, but he wasn't interested. Also saw dolphins and turtles. Found a huge school of Jacks and after I lost one, my son and I caught a double, which brought us to the end of our time in the boat. I fished the beach for an hour before sunset and caught 2 ladyfish, 2 small jacks, and a bigger trumpetfish...the key was maxing out my retrieve speed.
Day 5: Fished sunrise and caught 5 ladyfish and 2 small jacks. Fished the late afternoon and caught a needlefish and a small jack.
Day 6: Fished sunrise and caught 3 jacks and one reef fish (2 of the jacks were in the 3-4lb range). Fished sunset after return and caught 2 small jacks.
Day 7: Fished sunrise and caught a jack and needlefish. Fished the slack tide (low) at 2pm and I caught a pompano and a needlefish. Fished sunset and caught a needlefish and reef fish. I also learned a hard lesson about wading barefoot…I had felt "things" moving under my feet all afternoon. Just before sunset I felt a sharp pain on the side of my left foot, which turned out to be a puncture wound from a stingray. It was very painful and bleeding pretty good, but I didn't see any sign of a barb stuck in my foot, so kept fishing from closer to shore and didn't end up getting it checked out by medical.
Day 8: Flew home to the rain.
Jobo Bay at sunset:
The boys ready for a morning of fishing:
Double jacks to cap off the day in the boat:
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