Snook payback, crazy fly action, attack of the land crabs, report
Last installment of our over nighter and some pics coming up I promise......kind of busy.....although I did get a little snook payback yesterday.
I hopped aboard Capt. Roy's panga with a single fly angler fishing out of Quepos. Since I had last fished with Capt. Roy, he adopted some of the tarpon/cobia tricks that we had talked about, unlocking some new doors...... The day before, Roy had landed 18 snook up to 25 pounds and he wanted to show me what he was doing.....so despite our fly angler's desire to catch a fish in Costa Rica on the fly......we started the day snook fishing....which is not conducive for fly fishing. It was good.
We had 10 bites, catching 5 snook in the 7-10 pound range, jumping off a monster and catching a nice corvina (Costa Rica sea trout) that was about 8 pounds. You know that you are fishing with a good captain when you show them a new trick and they improve upon it......no, I can't tell you what the trick is.....he swore me to secrecy.....and unfortunately, my tricks won't work from the beach where I am still yet to catch a snook this year.
After leaving the snook bite, we went back to the sardine bait balls which were now bunched up and being tormented by mackerels, jacks and roosters. First cast across the school with a popper in hopes of teasing up something for the fly and a jack inhaled my popper. Taking the hooks off a lure is a foreign concept for a Costa Rican, but Roy and his mate Rudy quickly got into the game and enjoyed watching fish try to eat the hookless plug. They also got an education on how many fish that a good fly caster can catch. A lot of firsts this week. Good stuff.
If you are driving around the coast of Costa Rica this week, watch out for the crabs. Giant red land crabs have descended upon the coast from the mountains to spawn in the surf. Maybe it was the rain the other night or the darkening moon, but two nights ago, they invaded. The road between Jaco and Hermosa is now paved with the crushed carcasses of crabs, making the road dangerous.....from eco-tourists swerving and weaving trying to avoid crunching crabs.
Offshore report remains slow.......averaging about 4 sails/day for the last week.
I hopped aboard Capt. Roy's panga with a single fly angler fishing out of Quepos. Since I had last fished with Capt. Roy, he adopted some of the tarpon/cobia tricks that we had talked about, unlocking some new doors...... The day before, Roy had landed 18 snook up to 25 pounds and he wanted to show me what he was doing.....so despite our fly angler's desire to catch a fish in Costa Rica on the fly......we started the day snook fishing....which is not conducive for fly fishing. It was good.
We had 10 bites, catching 5 snook in the 7-10 pound range, jumping off a monster and catching a nice corvina (Costa Rica sea trout) that was about 8 pounds. You know that you are fishing with a good captain when you show them a new trick and they improve upon it......no, I can't tell you what the trick is.....he swore me to secrecy.....and unfortunately, my tricks won't work from the beach where I am still yet to catch a snook this year.
After leaving the snook bite, we went back to the sardine bait balls which were now bunched up and being tormented by mackerels, jacks and roosters. First cast across the school with a popper in hopes of teasing up something for the fly and a jack inhaled my popper. Taking the hooks off a lure is a foreign concept for a Costa Rican, but Roy and his mate Rudy quickly got into the game and enjoyed watching fish try to eat the hookless plug. They also got an education on how many fish that a good fly caster can catch. A lot of firsts this week. Good stuff.
If you are driving around the coast of Costa Rica this week, watch out for the crabs. Giant red land crabs have descended upon the coast from the mountains to spawn in the surf. Maybe it was the rain the other night or the darkening moon, but two nights ago, they invaded. The road between Jaco and Hermosa is now paved with the crushed carcasses of crabs, making the road dangerous.....from eco-tourists swerving and weaving trying to avoid crunching crabs.
Offshore report remains slow.......averaging about 4 sails/day for the last week.
posted by Capt. George Beckwith at
9:58 PM
