By Captain Skeet Warren • “Bushwacker Sportfishing”
November and December will begin the winter marlin season in the Guanacaste area. November is always nice because the Papagayo winds are not blowing yet and everything is still green from the rainy season, which is just finishing up. The winds start blowing a little more in December, which means we have to run a little farther south. The taller mountains block the winds to the south and we can have a nice calm day of fishing.
The Papagayo winds are the reason why I recommend that clients book as early in their stay as possible in the winter. Then I can work around bad weather or slow fishing by moving the fishing days around if I have availability. Transdermal Scop patches work well for anyone that may be inclined to sea sickness. They are only available in the US and by prescription so bring them with you.
November-December normally brings blue marlin, striped marlin as well as a few black marlin. There should be an offshore tuna and wahoo bite as well. The bigger wahoo show up in the winter. The mahi seem to be around more than not so a good time for a mixed bag. Should be some decent inshore fishing until the wind starts blowing so hard that the water gets dirty.
As of this writing we are in the rainy season. Thankfully Guanacaste does not get a lot of rain, so we can still fish and have some pleasant days. But when it does decide to rain, we just pull out our Pelagic rain gear and keep going. And the fish don’t really care because they are wet anyway. There are still plenty of days in October that we can fish but unfortunately most people don’t realize that about the Guanacaste area. There are marlin, sailfish and tuna offshore now but nobody here to catch them…..
November and December can be some really good fishing and a good excuse to get away from the cold weather up north. The best day that I ever had in Costa Rica on blue marlin was in December so book a boat and give it a shot. It could be your trip of a lifetime.
Captain Skeet Warren owns and operates the Bushwacker, a 42’ Bertram out of Flamingo, Costa Rica. After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1980 he captained boats, fishing extensively, including Hawaii, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Australia, New Zealand, Madeira and Bermuda. He won the 2013 Top Tagging Captain in the Pacific Ocean for Sailfish. Some other notable catches include 13 blue and black marlin over 1000 lbs., 51 giant bluefin tuna in one day and 53 sailfish in one day. Contact Skeet at captskeet@bushwackercr.com or visit www.bushwackerCR.com