The wide open fishing continued last month here in Costa Rica as the sailfish bite remained steady, there were still plenty of tuna around, the mahi were found in swarms, and the ‘second season’ for marlin was in full swing. The fishing was so good even the elusive wahoo was a regular on fishing reports throughout the month! As far as we are concerned, the term “peak fishing season” probably needs to be retired because the fishing in our green season (May-Nov) has proven yet again that Costa Rica really is ‘the billfish capital of the world‘. Below is our Costa Rica Fishing Report – July 2018.

The sailfish bite was particularly strong in the northern Guanacaste region with several boats enjoying double digit days. That’s pretty standard for this time of year as the best fishing in Guanacaste is from May through November, but what exceeded expectations, yet again, was the incredible marlin bite. The marlin bite has been consistent all year with at least some boats eliciting bites on a daily basis, but the middle and second half of the month the bite exploded as our fleet in Quepos and Los Suenos were seeing 2-3-4 marlin a day. The Sea Fly had a day where they released six marlin and a week later our good buddy Mike on the Epic went two for five on marlin and released two sails the same day. The months of Nov-Feb are generally considered the peak marlin months, but we call June-Aug our ‘second season’ and this is exactly why. As I’ve mentioned just about every month since November the meat fishing for dorado, yellow-fin tuna, and this month – wahoo – has continued to be the best it’s been in years. Most days boats could catch as many bailer and schoolie mahi as they wanted, but there were a few 50+ lb trophies landed as well. Lots of variety = lots of happy anglers eating well in July!

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Out at the seamounts the FADs continued to show why they offer the best marlin fishing in the world. Just about every boat that went out for a two or three day trip came back with double digit blues, with some even reporting grand slams as sailfish, stripeys, and even a few blacks were around. Below is our day-by-day Costa Rica Fishing Report – July 2018.

July 1 – Bushwacker – 1 blue marlin, 3 mahi, 8 yellow-fin tuna
July 2 – Wet Ass II – 1 blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 14 tuna
July 3 – Good Day – 1 blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 1 tuna, and 6 mahi
July 4 – Epic – 3 for 3 on blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 1 wahoo, 4 mahi, and 15 tunas
July 5 – Captain Tom’s – 9 sailfish released and one mahi
July 6 – Gamefisher II – 7 for 9 on sailfish, 1 tuna, and 5 dorado
July 7 – Good Day Too – Released 3 blue marlin and 2 sailfish
July 8 – Reel Escape – 20 tuna, 1 wahoo, and 1 dorado
July 9 – Pescadora – 6 dorado, 3 tuna, 2 wahoo, and 1 sailfish
July 10 – Circle Hook – 1/3 on marlin, 10/15 on sails, 7 dorados, 1 wahoo
July 11 – Pescadora – 8 yellowfin tuna, 1 Wahoo, 11 dorado
July 12 – Captain Tom’s – 5 tunas and 2 dorado
July 13 – Good Day Too – 4 sailfish released, 10 dorado, and a tuna
July 14 – Good Day – 2 blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 2 tuna, 1 mahi
July 14 – Super Fly – 4 blue marlin released and 5 dorado
July 15 – Reel Escape – 20 tuna, 3 wahoo, 1 mahi and 1 roosterfish
July 15 – Super Fly – 7 blue marlin, 2 sailfish, and 6 dorados
July 16 – Captain Tom’s – 2 blue marlin and 10 mahi
July 16 – El Jefe – 11 sailfish released
July 17 – Gamefisher II – 3 for 4 on sails and 8 dorado
July 18 – Captain Tom’s – 3 blue marlin, 1 sailfish, 5 mahi, 4 yellow-fin tuna
July 18 – Sea Fly – 6 Blue Marlin, 2 Sails and 7 Mahi
July 19 – Super Fly – 1 blue marlin and 4 sailfish released
July 20 – Good Day Too – 1 sailfish, 6 tuna, 6 dorado
July 21 – Gamefisher II – 5 for 6 on sailfish, 0 for 3 on marlin, 8 dorado, 3 yellow-fin tuna
July 22 – Bushwacker – 1 sailfish, 1 blue marlin, 1 tuna, a dozen dorado
July 23 – Epic – 2 for 2 on blue marlin and 4/5 on sailfish
July 24 – Permit III – 4 for 7 on sails
July 25 – Spanish Fly – Released 2 blue marlin, 4 sailfish, and a mahi for dinner
July 26 – Epic – 2 for 5 on marlin, 2 for 2 on sails, and 2 tuna
July 27 – Gamefisher II – 2 for 2 on marlin, 7 for 11 on sailfish, 5 dorados
July 28 – Sea Fly – 2 blue marlin and 2 sailfish
July 29 – Good Day – 1 for 1 on blue marlin, 4 dorado, and 1 wahoo
July 30 – Talking Fish – 2 sailfish and 6 mahi
July 31 – Wet Ass II – Released 7 sails and 2 dorado for dinner

 
Costa Rica FADs fishing report:

Open Fly – July 5 – 19 for 26 on blue marlin in 2 days
Double Nickel – July 9 – 18 for 30 on blue marlin, 1 striped marlin, 1 sailfish in 3 days
Tranquilo – July 14 – 24 Blues, 1 Black, 2 Sails, and 1
Chaser – July 15 – 31 marlin bites & 20 dorado
Geaux Fly – July 19 – 12 blue marlin, 2 sailfish, and 4 tuna
Spanish Fly – July 22 – 14 blue marlin
Tranquilo – July 23 – 16 Blues, 1 Black, and 1 Striped Marlin

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I got myself involved in the Costa Rica Fishing Report – July 2018 when I headed down to Quepos myself and got out fishing with my good friend Benn and his father/son crew of Manuel & Yackson on the Good Day. Our day pretty much followed the script for what fishing was like last month: we started our day trolling various lures & baits at the popular ‘Twenty-six’ where we boated three dorados and a wahoo. After we had secured dinner we headed out to ‘The Corner’ and started trolling ballyhoo and two plastics in hope of driving over one of the many marlin that have been around. It was slow for a the first two hours until one angry blue crashed into our spread at the left teaser, decided it didn’t like the way it looked so it went to the right teaser, still undecided so back to the left teaser, and right when we thought it was going to lose interest it swam back across and smashed our plastic squid on the right side. I battled it stand-up for about 20 minutes, but unfortunately it played an epic game of hide & seek with Benn who was trying to film it on two different cameras. Whenever he was ready with his Canon zoom lens to capture a magnificent jump it would go deep, then he’d switch to his GoPro to get underwater shots and it would launch itself right by the boat. We got it officially leadered but it refused to pose for a picture and broke off right by the boat, which gave Benn one last chance to snap these parting shots! Great fight and good jumps, but not much to show for my tenth marlin.

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