By Benn Gilmour • Jackpot Sport Fishing
It’s Tuna time here in the Quepos area! May sees the start of the seasonal afternoon rains which will start to bring water temperatures back down, which will make way for some spectacular meat fishing. May and June is always a great time to fish for tuna here and large pods of spinner dolphins can regularly be found just 20 or so miles offshore from Quepos. Tuna average in the 20-40lb range but larger 50lb-200lb fish are caught frequently. Most of the larger tuna prefer a live bonito, blue runner or goggle eye, however, bouncing an artificial Flying Fish or Squidnation Fat Daddy Squid just behind your boat can produce some great sized fish also.
Expect more dorado in May/June than we have seen for the past several months, which is always a welcome addition to any charter. This time last year saw lots of small to mid sized dorado being caught along the entire length of the coast and it will be interesting to see if they return in similar numbers again this year.
Anglers heading to our offshore reefs will be in with a chance of catching some nice sized wahoo with May through November being the peak time to fish for wahoo when our water temperatures are coolest.
There should be some great blue marlin fishing to be had during day trips over the coming months and May sees the start of the peak Marlin FAD/Seamount season which is perhaps the number one place in the world to fish for blue marlin where double digit marlin bites are possible when the bite is on. We are so lucky to have such a fishery here in our own backyard. Be sure to check it out if you can!
The next few months will be the peak time to ‘deep drop’ bottom fish at our offshore reefs and target species are snowy grouper, silky snapper, tilefish & more.
Our inshore fishery along the rocks, islands and rivermouths close to Quepos should also produce some fantastic fishing. Roosterfish, snook, corvina, snapper, mackerel, jacks, tripletal and more can all be targeted during half or full day inshore charters. We catch some of our largest roosterfish and snook of the year during the next few months so anglers looking for a bucket list fish should definitely try their luck. The Naranjo rocks are always a favorite spot for a big rooster whilst the Parrita and Savegre Rivermouths are a great choice for targeting snook.
Be sure to check out the Charter Directory for some of the great boats available here at the Marina Pez Vela ready to take you fishing.
Tight lines & good luck out there!
Benn Gilmour runs Jackpot Sport Fishing out of the beautiful Marina Pez Vela in Quepos. His boat Good Day is a Costa Rican custom built 31-foot Sport Fisher. Jackpot Sport Fishing specializes in offshore, inshore & fly fishing. They cater to serious anglers who come to fish with them for a week, as well as families and honeymooners looking for a day on the water during their vacation in Quepos/Manuel Antonio. Benn says hello to you if you are down at the Marina Pez Vela. Look for the British guy! Contact Benn at info@jackpotsportfishing.com or visit www.jackpotsportfishing.com