Costa Rica

[KyleAvilla]

So recently I have been offered the opportunity of a life time to go down and be a marketing intern for my cousins company in Costa Rica, before I pursue my business degree next fall. The internship will last from June to the end of August. I'll be traveling quite a bit while I'm down there but I plan to do some fishing. For the beginning of my trip I'll be staying in Guanacaste in an apartment on Flamingo Beach. This will give me water access and hopefully the opportunity to catch some fish. After about 2 weeks there we will be heading to the shores of Nicaragua. I know we will be staying around the San Juan del sur area, from what I heard this offers world class marlin fishing. To round off my trip we are hitting San Jose (Don't intend to fish too much here because it's in the city) . My final stop will be the Arenal area of the Alajuela Province. There won't but much work being done as my brother and I plan to explore some hot springs, do some cliff diving and maybe even scope out the active volcano before we travel back to the states. 

 

If anyone has experience fishing Central America, or Costa Rica in particular, drop some knowledge on me. I want to do a ton of fishing while I'm down there and maybe even throw some big baits at the fish. Any help on where to fish or hearing your fishing experience down there would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

[waynem]

I've been to Costa Rica a number of times, mainly Quepos and Tamarindo.  All of those trips have been for big game: marlin, sailfish, wahoo, tuna & dorado.  You need a real boat for those and I would recommend Randy Wilson in Tamarindo who owns the boat Talking Fish.  Randy was one of the first big-game Costa Rica guides and he is one of the very best I have ever fished with.  He always got us into fish including 100 pound pacific sailfish on a fly rod- what a blast!

Some buddies have done some inshore fishing for rooster fish and cubera but I was not on that trip.  Friends also went to Lake Arenal for peacock bass but the biggest they caught were only about 3 pounds.

 

I would heartily recommend Costa Rica as a great place with friendly people.  If you don't do things like this when you have the opportunity you may  regret it later in life.  Good luck with your decision!

[KyleAvilla]

I was down in that area last winter and if I remember correctly Tamarindo is the smallish surfing town with that huge marina? If so that area is very close to where I’ll be staying for the majority of my trip.

[cascadekiller]

I fished Lake Arenal this past August with a guide. There aren't any peacocks in there, but they're rainbow bass. Called Guapote. Very fun to fish for and the lake is beautiful.

[FishDr]

I've fished the Guanacaste area a couple of times in the past 4 years.  You can get into pretty sweet action casting off the rocks and beaches, especially if you're willing to hit them after the sun goes down, or get up really early.  Lots of light tackle action for jacks, roosters, snappers from shore.  If you can get access to a kayak there are a number of islands and rocky pinnacles close to shore (scan for them using google earth to figure out the nearest beach to launch from) that are worth visiting - I had a 1/2 day trip with a kayak fishing guide and we ran into (but failed to land) jacks, snappers, and roosters on live bait.  There are also grouper lurking in and around the rocks.

 

Be sure to take a range of gear with you, both lure and bait, and DO NOT FORGET a sabiki rig so that you can "make bait" and then consign live bait to the depths.

 

Never fished FW in Costa Rica, but I think you could get into some fun fish there as well.