Los Suenos Costa Rica 2012 starting off good

[reelintenseadventures]

2012 looks like it is going to be a good year if things continue with the way it started. after a tough past couple months, with less than spectacular fishing, things are finally turning around. 2012 has started with a classic Costa rican sail bite, providing some excellent fishing opportunities.

There has been a large concentration of hungry billfish, a short run run from the marina, and weather has been beautiful- upper 80's, sunny, with mostly calm seas.
the primary hot spot has been about 18- 20 miles out right inside the area know as the "craters".
the fish seem to be packed in a tight area, mostly sails, but a few blue and striped marlin in the mix. conditions most days have been excellent, little wind or waves, making it easy to spot fish rising in the spread.

Monday, Jan 2 we were a few miles out of the Hot zone and had already caught 1 sail when one of my friends called on a the VhF about just catching a double out of a triple raised. he said i looked good and was worth checking out.
when I got within site of him we raised a sail on the left teaser that would not switch off, i circled around and we hooked up. after the release we began working the area and quirky raised another, and another, and a couple doubles, and triples. I kept passing over the same spot, never leaving about a 200yard perimeter.
for about a 3 hour time period, the fishing was red hot.we were seeing a fish about every 5 to 10 minutes. most would come up on the teasers, giving plenty of opportunity for bait and switch. most would switch to bait, some would fad off and disappear, and some would come up on the long riggers. we had one hookup with a blue marlin about 300, but pulled the hook on him. and raised one small stripy which failed to bend the rod. it was classic costa rican action. at about 2:30 the bite turned off, and we fished the same spot for about another hour 1/2 without a bite, and headed home.
for the day we were 7 for 13 sail bites and raised about 20 total. 0 for 1 on marlin.
i know several boats saw the similar numbers.

Tues Jan 3, we headed to the same spot and stopped a little inshore about 17 miles from the marina. we had our first fish up within 10 minutes. worked out a little more and raised a double, a few other boats were very close and getting the same action so i started working the spot with them and let each other know every time we raised a fish, which was about every 5 to 10 minutes for each boat. surprisingly by 10am my clients said they had no interest in catching sails or marlin, and only wanted to catch dorado and go to isla tortuga in the afternoon. to be honest I was a little disappointed as it was already looking better than the previous day, but it was their call so by before 11am, i left the spot in search or their dorado (which have been a little scarce this past week). we had already caught 5 for about 9 and seen almost 20. and we never did find the mahi for them, only a jack and a mackerel; but they really wanted to hang out on tortuga anyways.

wends Jan 4 we fished offshore again in the same area, but this morning the wind was blowing out of the gulf of nicoya against the swells and seas we uncharacteristically bumpy for these parts.
we had pretty steady action until about 11:30 when a couple of the clients had had enough and we turned away from the bite and began trolling home. in the short time we fished, we we 6 for about 10 bites and saw at least 15 fish in the spread. on the way home we came across a humpback whale and several packs of porpoises.

thurs, jan 5 the wind had picked up, and the seas were really bumpy in the morning, most boats decided to look for the calmest waters and avoided the craters. it wasn't a problem at all aboard La Vida we ran easily though the rough and kept on the same spot. we got covered up once in the morning when i had about 8 to 10 sails pop up in the spread at once. the waves were pretty steep, and it was a spectacular bite to see them surf down the waves chasing out baits. we got several bites at once. my mate randall did and excellent job in the conditions, bent the rod on 3 and we landed a double out of it.
we raised many other fish thoughout the day, and got several more bites and landed a couple more. at the end of the day right before running home we got covered up again by at least 4 or 5 and landed another double bringing our total to 5 for about 10 or 12 and we saw close to 20. plus on dorado about 20lbs.The seas had laid down and we had a comfortable 30kt ride in.


friday we ran to the south to the edge of the dropoff to the area known as the "pocket". we had our fist bite immediately as the first line was out, before the 2nd had been put up in the rigger. we missed it, but circled around and imediatr raised 3 and caught 2 of them. the we raised a small blue marlin on the teaser, we hooked him, but pulled the hook a few minutes later. I heard several other boats working the area report marlin shots about the same time over the VHF. the rest of the day was a steady pic a sails but many we finicky bite who would drop the bait after the bite. we ended up with 4 for about 12 bites as a we assisted a client learning the circle hook dropback technique, and hooked a couple of them himself.

also inshore, the fishing over the past few days in picking up again, after a slow week for rooster fishing with bait being scarce and difficult to catch. the rooster bite is picking up as well. I am fishing inshore tomorrow so i will let you know how it goes.