From the Crocodile Bay Lodge, Puerto Jiménez
by Todd Staley, Fishing Director
October 21, 2003
Costa Rican Chinese Fire Drill (or Multiple Hook Ups)
I don't think there is anything more beautiful on earth than an endless carpet of cobalt blue ocean. Blue water trolling can have a hypnotic effect on someone. The teasers, sweetened with mullet or blue runner skitter across the surface behind the boat wakes, skipping to the rhythm produced by the motors. Purples, pinks, greens, oranges, whatever colors the captain feels are lucky this day. As one stares at them for a while, dancing along, one drifts into a trance.
The tail of the bait flips in a certain way and a spark of adrenalin races through your veins as your eye is fooled into thinking it was the bill of a sailfish. This rush repeats itself several times over until you don't want to blink because you might miss something.
Suddenly a shadow appears below one of the teasers. It rises and the bill clears the surface slashing back and forth as it takes whacks at the teaser. The fish is now lit up in a neon purple hue, a quick meal on its mind. Though this has been repeated a thousand times over the adrenalin rush overtakes the captain and crew and they begin spurting out a form of Spanglish, a mixture of Spanish and English as they communicate with each other and the client at the same time.
At Crocodile Bay we use the "bait and switch" method most of the time. We pull lures without hooks (teasers) and when the time is right take the teaser away and present an offering with a hook in it. That offering could be live bait, dead bait, or a fly. It is a simple process when all work together and gives the angler a more "hands on" experience even for the most inexperienced novice.
Basically the fish is attracted to the teaser and begins its chase. The crew will keep the teaser just out of reach as the teaser is brought towards the boat. On the crews command the teaser is pulled from the water and the angler presents his bait or casts his fly. By this time the sail is so worked up it races over and gobbles up what hits the water. By law billfish anglers in Costa Rica are now required to use circle hooks. This takes a lot of the guess work out of how much time to wait before setting the hook and also results in a lot less deep hook ups.
This is an easy enough process to follow. What happens in Costa Rica quite often though is more than one fish are raised at a time. The last time our friend O´neill Williams from O´neill Outdoors TV show was down we raised 17 fish and caught four sets of doubles before noon. That is a Costa Rican Chinese Fire Drill for sure, but with a little planning on the part of the crew and anglers, "Multiple Hook-Ups" can happen often.
Be prepared. The first thing to do is communicate with your crew and it is their job to communicate with you. Costa Rican's are a humble people and sometimes are a little shy about asking about a person's experience. If you are a good angler let them know, and if it's your first blue water adventure let them know too. The more you ask, the more eager your crew will be to please you. Talk about what part everyone will play if more then one fish comes into the teasers.
Have your baits ready. This is part of the crew's job. They generally fish two anglers so they will have three baits ready. Usually two live baits and a dead bait. Lots of dead baits will be prepared in a bait cooler ready for a busy day. In the case of fly fisherman decide who will cast first. After the first fish is hooked up and running away from the boat, the second fly can be easily cast to another fish.
Relax. OK easier said than done. When there are two or three lit up sails running around in back of the boat and your heart is racing a million miles an hour it is easy to forget to remain calm. Once they are hooked up and doing their fast forward ballet across the surface we need to try not to cross the lines. A sailfish is one of the fastest fish in the ocean and sometimes they have a mind of their own as to which direction they want to go. When you have two fish a couple hundred yards out in different directions it is impossible to chase down both fish with the boat. As they fish get close to the boat it is important for the anglers and crew to let each other know what the fish are doing.
On an average day here you will get a chance at least a dozen billfish. We have had boats raise over fifty. The best we've done is catch four out of five raised at one time. How's that for a spider web of mono going in opposite directions? If there is anywhere in the world to have a chance at "multiple hook-ups" on billfish it is Costa Rica. A little preparation and you can douse any blue water fire.
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