August Report - September & October Fishing Forecast

Report Date: August 20, 2016

Welcome to the August report, and the September & October fishing forecast for Jaco, Los Suenos, Herredura.

Over the past few months we have had excellent and consistent fishing for yellowfin tuna they have been almost every day catches for over a year. We're finding pods of spinner dolphin offshore loaded with have been almost daily. Some days several pods found in different directions, some days just one out there , but they are out there.

Our billfish numbers offshore have been a bit low and spotty since May, but it is to be expected this time of year. There have been a few sailfish and some Marlin if you wander around looking for pods of spinner dolphins, or floating debris. You will get a few bites as troll around in open water searching; plus you will likely find the spinner dolphins and tunas at some point in your search you will have great action and fill the cooler with fresh sashimi.

On scattered days through the month, the bite turns on around the corner, the 400 ft. edge of a bank that sticks out 24 miles offshore from Los Suenos. If you stay in and just focus on billfish and work around the edge, you may wind up getting double digit bites from sailfish and an occasion marlin.

The highlight of August was the great run of black marlin we found early in the month live baiting the reef inshore. Black marlin are truly the most coveted of all fish to catch here and pretty much anywhere. They are the rarest of the Marlin species we typically encounter here, but 2016 has actually been a banner year for them, I have brought a few offshore trolling where they typically would be about 1% of the marlin we catch but it has also been feasible to target them on a few inshore spots, live baiting with skipjacks or small yellowfin. This month we released 5 blacks and 1 blue in 5 days of trying to target them on the reef. Our first day we were 2 for 3 on black marlin releases in about 3 hours fishing. We had most days we only spend 3 or 4 hours of trying before doing something else. We also released a slam one day with a black on the reef and a blue and a sail offshore along with several yellowfin tunas.

We also have had good steady inshore action for roosterfish, snappers and amberjack's. The deep dropping for grouper and silky snapper has been a bit slower than last year which was absolutely great from May - December.

The Forecast:

September and October is often the start of the arrival of large numbers of mahi-mahi/dorado in this area which tend to be peak in October and November and taper off late December.

Last year (2015), we had a very poor showing of mahi-mahi/dorado, but 2014, 2013 & 2012 it was common to be able to catch 10-20 gaffer sized mahi in a few hours along color changes and trash lines just a few miles (8-15) offshore.

In 2015, we had a pretty dry October rainless and did not have the color changes and trash lines. Hopefully we get rain to provide conditions for great mahi fishing soon.

Yellowfin tuna should remain common, and it is often one of the best times a year to see larger yellowfin tuna up to 200 pounds - if you can be in the right spot at the right time with a live bonito.

Sailfish numbers will likely remain mediocre 2-8 bites a until they start showing up in better numbers in November.

But we expect a good run of blue and striped marlin starting sometime around Sept. - Oct. and continuing into December.

Inshore fishing will remain good for roosterfish, snappers, mackerel, jacks and more, which are available year-round.

Captain Michael MJ Alligood
EPIC Sportfishing Costa Rica
www.epicfishingcostarica.com
[email protected]
USA call: 561-459-5355
CR call: 011-506-8718-2357

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