By Thomas Jones • Bahia Rica Fishing & Kayak Lodge
The fishing inshore has slowed a little as the clearer water has moved into the area. This makes catching bait a little more challenging. Still we are catching roosterfish but not on every trip.
Just recently there has been a nice surge of sardine schools moving in and hungry tunas, jacks, mackerels and other predators are having a fiesta.
For the next couple of months, we expect more and more sardines to make their way into the gulf and along the coast. This drags with it a host of predators like snappers, seabass (corvina), rainbow runners, skipjack tuna, mackerel, jacks and roosterfish. This makes for excellent top water action. The jigging on the rocks usually picks up with jacks, seabass, snappers and amberjack making up most of the catch. The roosterfish are scarcer but it is the time of the year when the big boys are caught. The key is having good bait.
Offshore has been on and off with great days and slow days. Sailfish have been around in better numbers than the last two years so this is looking positive. We are also getting some big mahis on most trips. Marlin are around but have been playing a lot with. We have raised some good ones, but most have not been willing to eat. We are expecting the bite to be good a little closer to shore as the water clears. Sails should be showing up a little more consistently with a few marlin in the mix. Big mahis and tunas when the schools are around are expected to be nice additions to the billfish.
The roosterfish have been around but in less numbers than normal for this time of year. The mahi mahi have been on fire with some days letting you catch all you can handle, mostly on topwater. The offshore has been good when we could get out with marlin, mahi, some tuna and a few sails in the mix.
As the water clears and the dry season sets in, more sardines are expected to move in bringing jacks, mackerels, seabass, snappers and small tunas towards the gulf islands. This makes for fun fishing on light gear as most of the fish are not giant but they make up for it in numbers. Casting into schools is very effective and also light jigging is a good bet. The roosters will be close to the schools, eating sardines, jacks and tunas. Live bait is the easiest but when there are lots of fish boils, they can be taken on topwater as well.
The offshore should really heat up as the sails start to migrate and the marlin action will also be good. The mahis are still around and will continue to show offshore and the tunas should also show up more often. All this makes for some of the best offshore action in the world!
Thomas Jones is a marine biologist with an extreme passion for sport fishing. Born in Norway, Thomas have been fishing since the age of 6. His fishing experience encompasses fly fishing, trolling, popping, jigging and bait fishing. Currently Thomas is the owner of Bahia Rica Fishing and Kayak Lodge on the Nicoya Peninsula. Contact Thomas at post@bahiarica.com or visit www.bahiarica.com