I Just returned for Los Suenos Resort near Jaco Costa Rica. We fished Capt Dana Thomas’ “Who’s Your Daddy” two days for sails. We fished a third day on his other boat, “Who’s UP” for inshore stuff. The seas were calm with enough current to make some very nice rips, with great dry season weather. I’d give the fishing a grade of “B”.
Day one…. I asked Capt. Dana if there was a spot to bottom drop on the way to the sails, since he said the morning sail bite was off. He and the other boats had a spot about 20 miles SW west of the port. It t reminded me of fishing one of our artificial reefs since there were 3 boats drifting with us. We boated 4 AJs in the 30 lb range along with 3 “Mullet Snapper”, all in the upper twentys. I also boated an estimated 35lb (no scale) Cubera Snapper, and invited him home for dinner. We left the hump about noon and started our search for sails. We went 6 for 7 on the sails that afternoon with one double header.
Day two…We went for sails all day with the final score being 5 for 6, with about 6 other knock downs.
Day three…This was going to be our Rooster fish day. We combed the beached in search of sardines only to find schools of sardines that would not eat the home made sabiki rigs. (Note to self, pack a few Walmart sabakis next time.) There was no little feather on these, just a series of small hooks. Other boats were pounding the bait schools with the same results. Plan B was implemented, so off we went after trolling up some live bait with small spoons. We dropped on that hump until were out of bait with my brother catching us another 30lb plus Cubera. We got that along with a bunch of AJs before we ran out of bait. We headed deeper to troll up some more bait. Capt. Kevin put out some naked ballyhoos and some ballyhoos with skirts, just in case. We could not find small baits, bit we did keep some 3-4 lb bonitos for later and we boated 2 nice sails. We headed back to the rocks to see if we could get a rooster to eat one of the big bonitos. All but one died in the tuna tubes. My brother got the live one, while we slow trolled butter-flied bonitos. The live bone head got slammed and after a 10 minute battle, my brother (a newbee to saltwater fishing) boated the biggest rooster I have seen. Capt. Kevin said it was about 45-50lbs. What a way to end the day!
I had a great time fishing with my brother and another good friend Brian, while the wives shopped and did some touring. We also did the rain forest tours and the National Park tours. We saw our fair share of monkeys, iguanas, and toucans. The rain forests are very interesting. I bet they are spectacular at the end of the rainy season. There are no big water falls in the middle of the dry season. The resort is “top shelf” with some very good but expensive food. As I said in the beginning of this report, I’d give the fishing a “B”. I think there is too much fishing pressure; Los Suenos has a big marina with a lot of fishing being done every day. There was a big 3 day tournament just before we fished. There were just over 50 boats that released about 480 sails and maybe 9 marlin in addition to the regular charters. It’s just north of Quepos, so when you add in some of that fleet, the sails are getting harassed on a daily basis. I’m not bitching about the fishing, but I do want to give a realistic report, in case some of you are thinking of going. It’s well worth the trip, great fun, and a beautiful country, just don’t expect 20 sails per day.
Day one…. I asked Capt. Dana if there was a spot to bottom drop on the way to the sails, since he said the morning sail bite was off. He and the other boats had a spot about 20 miles SW west of the port. It t reminded me of fishing one of our artificial reefs since there were 3 boats drifting with us. We boated 4 AJs in the 30 lb range along with 3 “Mullet Snapper”, all in the upper twentys. I also boated an estimated 35lb (no scale) Cubera Snapper, and invited him home for dinner. We left the hump about noon and started our search for sails. We went 6 for 7 on the sails that afternoon with one double header.
Day two…We went for sails all day with the final score being 5 for 6, with about 6 other knock downs.
Day three…This was going to be our Rooster fish day. We combed the beached in search of sardines only to find schools of sardines that would not eat the home made sabiki rigs. (Note to self, pack a few Walmart sabakis next time.) There was no little feather on these, just a series of small hooks. Other boats were pounding the bait schools with the same results. Plan B was implemented, so off we went after trolling up some live bait with small spoons. We dropped on that hump until were out of bait with my brother catching us another 30lb plus Cubera. We got that along with a bunch of AJs before we ran out of bait. We headed deeper to troll up some more bait. Capt. Kevin put out some naked ballyhoos and some ballyhoos with skirts, just in case. We could not find small baits, bit we did keep some 3-4 lb bonitos for later and we boated 2 nice sails. We headed back to the rocks to see if we could get a rooster to eat one of the big bonitos. All but one died in the tuna tubes. My brother got the live one, while we slow trolled butter-flied bonitos. The live bone head got slammed and after a 10 minute battle, my brother (a newbee to saltwater fishing) boated the biggest rooster I have seen. Capt. Kevin said it was about 45-50lbs. What a way to end the day!
I had a great time fishing with my brother and another good friend Brian, while the wives shopped and did some touring. We also did the rain forest tours and the National Park tours. We saw our fair share of monkeys, iguanas, and toucans. The rain forests are very interesting. I bet they are spectacular at the end of the rainy season. There are no big water falls in the middle of the dry season. The resort is “top shelf” with some very good but expensive food. As I said in the beginning of this report, I’d give the fishing a “B”. I think there is too much fishing pressure; Los Suenos has a big marina with a lot of fishing being done every day. There was a big 3 day tournament just before we fished. There were just over 50 boats that released about 480 sails and maybe 9 marlin in addition to the regular charters. It’s just north of Quepos, so when you add in some of that fleet, the sails are getting harassed on a daily basis. I’m not bitching about the fishing, but I do want to give a realistic report, in case some of you are thinking of going. It’s well worth the trip, great fun, and a beautiful country, just don’t expect 20 sails per day.