From the Crocodile Bay Lodge, Puerto Jiménez
by Todd Staley, Fishing Director
March 1, 2002
Haven't caught a fish in the last two weeks!!!!!! Just Kidding. Thought that would get your attention. To be quite honest the fishing slowed for a couple of days just before the full moon but has since returned to normal. Lots of sails up in the baits, a few blue marlin and dorado. The porpoises have been coming through every couple of days and yellowfin tuna from 20 to 200 lbs are cruising below.
Dennis Worley brought down a group of fly guys and gals who stretched some string and snapped a few rods when the sails were coming up in big numbers. Pink and white was the hot color.
Charles Cannizzaro and Richard Oralandi of Augie's Bait and Tackle on Long G'Island mixed it up offshore with sails and big tuna but the news around here was Charles' big rooster that went between 70 and 90 lbs depending on who you talked to. Some smaller size cubera snapper are taking both live bait and topwater plugs on the reefs and roosterfish are in good numbers and sizes just around the corner from the lodge.
March 6, 2002
No longer a myth …. Having grown up tarpon fishing in Florida and later spending five years at Archie Fields' Rio Colorado Lodge on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, I kinda feel I got a pretty good idea at what a tarpon looks like.
About six years ago I was plug casting for roosterfish in the Gulfo Dulce when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a fish roll on the surface. "God that looked like a tarpon," I thought to myself. But this is Pacific waters and tarpon are an Atlantic species. Then I saw it again. And again.
There is a fish in Pacific waters called a milkfish that has similar looks and swimming patterns so I wrote it off as either that or bad tequila. But I always wondered. Today Bill Sutton from Edmond, Oklahoma, fishing out of Crocodile Bay Lodge in Puerto Jimenez on the Pacific landed a 37 lb tarpon putting to rest any doubts that this Altantic species has come through the Panama Canal and swam as far Costa Rican waters. This area with its many rivers and mangrove estuaries is perfect habitat for juvenile tarpon.
Sutton was fishing with good friend Leonard Hudson with Captain Ricardo Monge and first mate Francisco Villalobos when the fish took a live sardine while fishing for roosterfish off the beach at Matapalo. "At first I thought we had a big snook," said Monge when it came out of the water. "But I've never seen a snook so silver," he continued.
Sutton landed the fish in about ten minutes on twenty pound gear and became an instant celebrity at the lodge during happy hour after fishing. This is the first confirmed "catch" of a tarpon in Costa Rican Pacific waters. Long time resident and real estate guru, Jeff Lantz, says he hooked one several years ago in the same area. First mate Villalobos says he caught one three years ago in the Rio Tigre while cast netting mullet, but until he saw the fish yesterday he never knew what it was. The fish was about five pounds.
March 12, 2002
It takes someone north of the Mason-Dixon line to throw a bass and walleye rig at a sailfish. If my redneck eyes hadn't seen it, I might not believe it. You can see it too, if you tune into ESPN on Saturday mornings. Steve Pennaz from North American Fisherman was here this week with guest Chris Bahl from Cabela's and cameramen Brian Kelvington and Terry Broeder. Using a contraption he made from Riverside plastic baits, Pennaz found the sails were eager to gulp down the offering after being teased in by the crew. The fish were also taken on rods designed to catch muskies, making for light tackle battles captured on film by his crew.
On the day they filmed inshore, they had a show in the can by 1:00 pm and took off for the blue water where they raised 8 sails and bagged 2 in two hours. The trip was so successful that on their last day here Kelvington and Broeder got to do the fishing. Most film crews get to capture the excitement, not experience it. They took home more than sunburns. They have a lifetime of memories of dancing fish, screaming drags and jungle paradise.
March 20, 2002
There is nothing like going up to bat for the first time and hitting a grand slam. Well the next best thing is coming close. John Wood and Dave Watson arrived yesterday, had a leisurely breakfast and went fishing not expecting too much on a short first day of fishing. They were wrong. They started out by bagging a few sailfish, a dorado and a nice tuna to steak out. Then came the lady in the blue dress and she had on her dancing shoes. A big lady, about 400 lbs. A blue marlin crashed the spread taking, of course, the light 30 lb outfit.
Three hours later she was still putting on a show as the sun was beginning to set. As she finally neared the boat the line parted. It's like starting your homerun trot and the outfielder has flubber in his shoes and snags the ball ten feet above the fence.
Sails are everywhere. Some days they are suicidal and others finicky, but boats are seeing 10 to 20 fish a day each. A couple dorado over seventy pounds have been taken this week and marlin are out there. One brave angler threw a fly at a 500 pounder. Maybe crazy is a better word than brave. Tuna in the 50 to 60 pound range have been taken, mostly with soy sauce and wasabi. Inshore has been not so bad either. Lots of roosters, but no monsters this week. Barracuda have been hitting sardines and lures and a few snook have come from river mouths. A 37 lb grouper fed the Hamilton group last night.
March 25, 2002
I know when fishermen go on vacation they go fishing, but I didn't realize cameramen do the same. Mike Laptew, who has done a lot of video that you may have seen (including a series with Lefty Kreh) was down for the week with wife, Donna and daughter Jenny. They spent their time between the water and the jungle and of course, Mike toted his cameras.
I had the pleasure of going with him one day and saw a first for me for all my years on the water. We cruised with a pair of killer whales for about an hour while we both filmed them. Later we rigged some live baits without hooks and teased up some sails. As the sail would come into the spread we would cut the motors and Mike would enter the water. The fish were charged up and this did not phase them at all. He got some great shots of the sails leaving the teasers and eating the bait. Then I would take it away from them and they would circle back and eat again. It was the first time I'm taking a bait away from a fish instead of feeding to them, but what great fun.
Lin York made his third visit from Florida this week. Last year he battled a marlin close to 600 lbs for over five hours. "Don't want to do that again", he says. This year it was a little more mellow fishing. In four days on the water he landed and released 28 sails.
Don LaRuffa and Don Jr. had a great trip bagging sails and roosters. Don Jr. took his first sail on a fly. An 8 wt at that. Dad bagged a 67 lb roosterfish along with a couple in the forty pound range. It's more of the same. Some days are red hot, others the fish are picky, but there are plenty fish around to keep it interesting.
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