Sailfish Season Taking Off in Los Suenos Costa Rica

Report Date: February 1, 2016

Our sailfish numbers have really improved through January. We have gone from struggling with five bites per day in early December, to once again to getting 20 to 30 sailfish bites per day - our seasonal norm again. We have been releasing 10 to 20 sailfish an average per day and should continue to do so over the next several months. There will be many days when getting many more bites (and releases) is very possible if you are in the right spot. Days of 50 to 80 bites per day with 30 releases or more, will be very possible if it is anything like last season.

Now is the perfect opportunity for you to get hands-on and learn how to keep a keen eye in the spread and watch for billfish rising on the baits and teasers, and learn to hook them yourself circle hook style. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you have never caught a sail reeling in a few that someone hooks and hands to you is neat and fun, BUT the real fun of billfishing is learning how to play the game, clear your mind, pay attention, and beat the fish to the bait, controlling the bite (keeping them from eating the bait), and hooking your own fish. Reeling them in is the easy part.

This is what my mate Mariano and I on the EPIC excel at - teaching people to get involved and learn the game, once you do you will be hooked.

Marlin have been pretty uncommon and inconsistent as expected this time of year. Since the very good run we had in November. But the inconsistency can play in your favor, there are scattered blues and stripes out there and even a rare black. Always be prepared and ready. Any day could turn into a great one and have a few marlin bites. There have been Februarys when we have had several marlin bites in a single day, even releasing 8 marlin in a single day in February a few years back.

Mahi-mahi have been strangely absent so far this season. They usually rapidly move in a big numbers peaking in October & November, and we often have a few weeks of catching 10 to 20 a day, before the numbers start to decline in December and Continiue through April. But this year they never showed in any big numbers - weird. Not sure why, maybe EL Nino and the light rains we had this green season? Maybe getting netted somewhere else before they get here? maybe they will show really late.

On the positive side, the unexpected bonus this year are yellowfin tuna. It has been very good fishing for them over the past few months, which is odd because it has been several years since we have seen them in any numbers after November, but so far this high season the have been very common and seem to be several schools of yellowfin tunas traveling around with pods of spinner dolphins offshore. They have been almost everyday day catches, they have been somewhere out there pretty much every day if you can find them. Spinner dolphins with a bunch of birds are a dead giveaway of tunas nearby.

The 25-35 pound schoolies have been very easy to catch, trolling and jigging small cedar plugs or bullet lures around the perimeter of the porpoises. There are some bigger ones around often 100 pounds or bigger, the trick is how to get them the live bait, which has been the hard part.

Our blue runner populations have vanished, so we are limited to using live bonitos, which are great bait that everything likes but are kind of delicate and can only be kept alive a few hours at best using special "tuna tubes" which flow water through their gills, since they need to be constantly moving in order to breathe. And usually, we can't find the bonito we need in a convenient spot next to a pod of hungry tunas. But sometimes we do get lucky and have the right bait ready to go, and hooking up to a 100+ pound yellowfin is easy.

EPIC Sportfishing Costa Rica
[email protected]
USA call: 561-459-5355
CR call: 011-506-8718-2357

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