SportFishing and Charters Forum - Bad Costa Rica Charter

Ok, we all see the articles, pictures, and post about Costa Rican sportfishing.
So as many in this sport I get by, by working my ass off to put fuel in the boat and on my first vacation in 3 years I pay a lot of money to fish in Costa Rica.

Our group is my best friend, his wife, and my girlfriend. We are not big shots or anything just people that like to fish. We are staying in Nosara Costa Rica. After asking around we find out about Fishing Nosara. We talk to them and they are knowledgeable and everything looks like it is on the up and up...

While filling out the paperwork and paying CASH (our mistake) we inform and WRITE down that we want to go offshore for Marlin and if slow inshore for bottom fishing. The first sign that something is wrong is they have a tournament coming up and everyone of their boats are taken for practice but they recommend a boat the Aimee Marie a 32 Rampage express.

Keep in mind they recommended and took payment...

So we get to the boat it is a typical charter boat, beat to death, wires hanging out and in a general state of disrepair. I get it Costa Rica, blah blah blah.

So we are running out, excited when the captain stops 9 miles off even though the 40/40 is another 10 miles and then as all of the other boats pass us. He says "saw somthign on my sounder". Again keep in mind the sounder was stolen along with all of the electronics before the charter (we dont know when exactly).

Somehow we managed to raise some fish but it was like watching clowns in a circus. I mean we had horse ballyhoo and tackle that made the stuff int he back of the garage look new. As you could guess we didnt hook anything. The captain upon my inquisition says we are trolling out but for some reason the land is getting closer.

Then we are inshore with about 1.5hrs left on the charter. I am like OK bottom fishing, Well the captain has no Bottom Machine or plotter so we are basically heading in. At this point we threw away $800.

Now we get back and confront Fishing Nosara and they are sympathetic and offer a charter after the tournament. Again as you could guess we had to go home and pay for this whole fiasco. And at this point they mentioned they had problems with this boat and wont be using it but cannot return the money because it is already at the captain. So we said look we dont want a total refund just partial. As we only fished halfway. This is when I ge tthe whole well our offshore is 4 miles out... No offshore fishing is fishing where the fish are not where you save fuel.

In the end they offered a reduced next trip or a discount on a house rental. While this is great we are not going back. Offshore fishing is expensive, travelling is expensive. Next time if I travel and want to fish we will go to a real fishing destination and have a actual experience.

On a side note the exact same thing happened on a different boat (Cowboy) with a friend who ran a 61 Viking and runs boats in tournaments.

Moral of this story, charter fishing better fix itself or else people will stop doing it. Times are tough and while Wall Street is making money the rest of us save to fish.

well put, sorry for the mishaps, my next fishing destination trip is going to be tropic star lodge, those guys are known by every fisherman in the world as a top world class operation. Its a shame they put you on a busted ass boat with no electronics, just a compass and a dream that captain had.

It really is a shame. Was a great trip besides this. The surf was perfect, the house was great and the weather was perfect too. I have learned a lot. While I work as a mate on private boats and fish offshore out of NJ, people can be out to get you. I have a feeling with fuel prices like this there are a lot of stories like this.

Sorry to hear about your bad trip, very unfortunate.

Out of curiosity, how'd you manage to bring your girlfriend and your wife?

Our group is my best friend, his wife, my girlfriend and my wife.

Sorry to hear about your bad trip, very unfortunate.

Out of curiosity, how'd you manage to bring your girlfriend and your wife?
haha beat me to it, damn it!

I have been seeing better reports in Panama. I have been to Los Suenos in Costa Rica and caught nothing but sailfish. I really wanted some nice size Tuna or possibly a Marlin. The facility is really nice but I think fishing looks better in Panama.

Sorry to hear about your bad trip, very unfortunate.

Out of curiosity, how'd you manage to bring your girlfriend and your wife?
Sorry about the trip, but pls opine on the girlfriend and wife?:thumbsup:

Haha. my bad. Meant to say my best friend, HIS wife, and my girlfriend. My girlfriend is a surgeon, I piss her off I will wake up missing parts.

For the record I fixed it. LOL.

I fished with them 2 times but on a smaller boat 20' mako with Capt Edwardo. He was great and we caught fish big dorado and 30 lb YFT non stop. I booked the 1st 5 hour trip thru Fishing Nosaro at 385$ for 5 hours but the capt said to book thru him directly for 250 for 5 hours. I was fishing alone so I chose the small boat. Tackle was Ok but thats it. Bottom line we caught lots of fish.

Yeah, the Fishing Nosara boats did good and caught fish. My main problem is dont recommend a boat you dont know about. We originally had more people on the charter but 3 backed out at the last minute. That is why we used the bigger boat.

U fixed it alright and left the wife at home I bet LOL, JK sucks about your fishing trip. We did one in Mexico a couple years ago and had a good trip.

If you want tuna and marlin then yeah Panama is usually the better option.

That said there are many excellent charters out of Costa Rica in Los Suenos, a few in Quepos, and my favorite Golfito which has a few of the best charters I have ever fished with (Golfito also has some bad charters so like anywhere, choose your captain wisely). I was down there 2 weeks ago and we released 3 blues and broke a forth off, plus lots of sails.

I have been seeing better reports in Panama. I have a been to Los Suenos in Costa Rica and caught nothing but sailfish. I really wanted nice size Tuna or possibly a Marlin. The facility in really nice but I think fishing looks better in Panama.

Costa Rica is not generally known as a yft destination. The best time and place to target them in CR is in northern CR in the winter. The downside is that it is generally rough offshore in that area in the winter.

There are YF Tuna here, but you have to go with someone who has a radar and when they are here. Usually you can just call and ask if the Tuna are here and any good company will just tell you. Also, there are quite a few blacks here, in the last year we've gotten 53....but your right, there are a lot more sailfish. I hear tropic star is really something for the big blacks though, and I've heard some good stuff about that pariaso lodge on Coiba. If I were going to Panama, it would be between those two....I've always wanted to fish for the cubera on the Zane Grey or the Hannibal banks...One day...
http://www.queposfishadventure.com/Feb2012Marlin.jpg

John,

Hope your charter venture is going well. Last year we were in Manuel Antonio and were able to book a last minute full day charter for two on the Cowboy Jr.

We bagged a few sailfish, on a slow day, and it was a memorable experience. I love small boat fishing and it was awesome being that far offshore in a small boat.

Hope you and your wife and kids are doing well.

there definitely is a wide range of quality and consistency among charter boats here in CR (and everywhere is suppose).
I think most people (especially no boat owning tourists) don't realize that and assume all boats/ crews / operations are created equal.
it is a hard business to make money and lots of them are tight budget operation.

I see people come here and book boats moored in the bay rather than in the marina, ( I realize in many parts of CR there are no marinas, an only moorings) because to save a few hundred bucks all the time. but you definitely get what you pay for. if they don't want to pay for a marina slip it because they are cheap, or are doing thing totally legal.
to keep a boat in the marina here is expensive and they are very strict on us about our legal and safety requirements.
that alone is worth a few hundred bucks to me. it shows that the operation is at least somewhat serious, legit, and professional.
you would expect such an operations to spend the money it takes to maintain boat, and have good working electronics,quality tackle, bilingual crew, decent food and drinks

on the other end of the spectrum you get operations that serve crappy food. (I run my own boat and like to have decent food and a variety of drinks) dig discarded line out of the marina trash to spool their reels. buy cheap quality tackle ( if they buy anything, or just have hand me downs)
having good electronics, a wide variety of quality gear and well maintained tackle often makes a difference between catching allot, and almost catching something.


it is sad to see people spend their hard earned money to fish a day or 2 in on there vacation, in a exotic spot the might never visit again, and not get the results they want or their moneys worth. it is fishing and everyone can have a slow day every now and then, but if the choice was between spending $800 on a half ass operation that might catch something of $1200 on a professional operation that will do everthing possible to put you on the most fish, and has a reputation of catching. I would spend the $1200 rather than waste $800


the red tide was a big factor here CR, especially here in the central pacific (Los Suenos, Jaco, & Quepos) though Febuary, .
I don't see it killing off fish and them washing ashore like i have seen in the gulf of mexico, but it definitely is no good for fishing.
out of Los Suenos/ Jaco any decent billfish bite through february and march was been 45-55 miles offshore. red tide out 30+miles.
there are few charter boats that can or will go that distance to put customers on fish.
we usually only need to run 20 to 25 for good action.
it is expensive in fuel and lots of boats with 20kt or slower cruise can't make it in a reasonable amount of time anyways.
I do, and I see the maverick / fly Boats, stay in costa rica's sonny one, the costa rica dreams boats, macusula and tres amigos out there.
any one else i would be cautious of and investigate well before handing out dollars
thank God it has cleared up and now we can fish at 20 miles again

I highly recommend anyone looking to book a trip, to get recommendations from other anglers who have fished where you are going & too really communicate directly with the potential boat's crew, so you can feel them out if they really are professional, serious, passionate and knowledgable, about what you want to do/catch. ask them detailed questions about what techniques they do, what tackle they use.
check out american captain owner /operators- as most of them will be the most passionate about there work and most willing to give it their all. it is not a 9 to 5 for them, and there is less red tape with a boss to answer to, getting in the way of them making it happen.

also if going fishing for anything that requires live bait- such as rooster fish or live baiting for big yellowfins, make sure they have a bait pen, preferably with some bait in it.
it would be a good indicator of how serious they are about it. it can be very difficult and time consuming to catch bait here sometimes, and there is no on selling goggle eyes like in south Fl. it is expensive to catch and keep your own as well, the sabikis($8), spoons($5), leads ($4), and fuel ($5.76/ gallon) add up fast, I would say each blue runner is easily worth $10-20 here (if they were for sale), especially when you don't have any to use. and then when you do, you have to deal with other people stealing your bait out of you pens.- and no charter boat that is not an owner operator lets their crew take the boat out for hours to catch bait, burn fuel and break sabikis and leads off on the rocks.

I see people charter a boat to catch the trophy rooster they have been wanting and planning for months, and spend all day trying to catch bait (it is not always easy) rather than fishing catch roosters.
I will admit i have 3 bait pens, and sometimes they are empty, but they are stocked up whenever I have the opportunity to do so- but at least it shows how serious I am about catching, and keeping bait

and Costa Rica is an excellent place to catch yellowfin tunas, especially if you come in peak tuna season which runs May-Oct. here in the central pacific. the rest of the year they may show up out of the blue if you find a pod of spinner dolphins with birds.june - august is a get time to target them as the weather is still good and we typically find them everyday. most traveling with the spinners, average 50-100, but we catch 100+ pounder regularly and fish up to 300lb on occasion. but once again find someone serious and passionate about it and who has the right gear- fluorocarbon, spectra , popping rods
I love popper fishing for them, and live baiting for the monsters

but if you just book some boat though a tour agency on the street, that they say is good, then good luck, you will need it.
they might put some cedar plugs in and catch you some 30lbers.

we also have excellent marlin fishing. Panama may be better spot to live bait for a very large black on the reef, but overall the best boats in Costa catch more higher numbers of billfish, marlin included.
you may not catch 5 a day but somedays it is very possible. I have caught 8 marlin= 5 stripeys, 3 blues, + one sail in a single day (document by a tournament observer) the same day Let it ride was 18 for 24 on marlin (also with a tournament observer aboard), I have had several of 20+ billfish days over the past few years.
you rarely hear of panama boats releasing 10 + billfish a day from one boat, but in costa (provided you fish with a good crew) that is a good day, not an incredible one
But fish do swim around and fishing goes through cycles and you can't always control what bites your hook, just because you want a marlin, or a huge tuna.
what funny is whenever we are in the middle of an epic billfish bite on a charter, seeing a fish every few minutes while doing figure 8's over the same spot
some always asks "can we catch a dorado now?"

La Vida - In defense of us Quepos mooring guys, and I have just as much gear as anybody in the marina (25kw Furuno radar with 6 foot array, Furuno 585 sounder, Penn Gear, extinguishers, lifejackets, 8 large tuna tubes, I fish floro for everything, got poppers too). I think every boat owner is different and because I don't spend a ton of money (it's 1400 a month) on a slip, I have more money for fishing toys. But Quepos is different than Los Suenos. Speaking of toys...I'm saving up right now for one of those new chirps by simrad. i was thinking the new HD lss2 structure scan would be great for the bottom fishing as well, will put up screen shots soon. Maybe Quepos is different though because there is a dock with water, and a river when it gets rough. Obviously I agree with fishing with American owner operators though :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNLe2ZH5Zmg

fleigenfischer - Awesome! so glad you had fun. I actually just bought a new 23 foot boat and I'm building it now. It's going to have a small cummins and should be a little faster and better fish raiser than the cowboy jr, when I get it finished you'll have to come out and try it out! When I switched my big boat from outboards to diesel, I started to raise twice as many fish, so I'm seeing if that works for smaller boats as well. Going to use the same captain because he is a lucky sucker! Thanks a ton!

La Vida - I'm on a mooring, and I have just as much gear as anybody in the marina (25kw Furuno radar with 6 foot array, Furuno 585 sounder, Penn Gear, extinguishers, lifejackets, 8 large tuna tubes, I fish floro for everything, got poppers too). I think every boat owner is different and because I don't spend a ton of money (it's 1400 a month) on a slip, I have more money for fishing toys. Saving up right now for one of those new chirps by simrad. i was thinking the new HD lss2 structure scan would be great for the bottom fishing as well, will put up screen shots soon. Maybe Quepos is different though because there is a dock with water, and a river when it gets rough. Obviously I agree with fishing with American owner operators though :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNLe2ZH5Zmg

fleigenfischer - Awesome! so glad you had fun. I actually just bought a new 23 foot boat and I'm building it now. It's going to have a small cummins and should be a little faster and better fish raiser than the cowboy jr, when I get it finished you'll have to come out and try it out! When I switched my big boat from outboards to diesel, I started to raise twice as many fish, so I'm seeing if that works for smaller boats as well. Going to use the same captain because he is a lucky sucker! Thanks a ton!


Sailfish, I was not referring to you, I have actually recommended you to several people. I would expect that you are an exception in your area as well
I was speaking more of the Los Suenos, Heredurra situation. I know quepos is a bit different as the marina is quite newer and it has always a mooring based market, until just recently.where Los Suenos has been around for a Decade, Like I said I realize most places in CR don't have any marina and as you stated you have a much better loading situation than most locales with moorings.I saw the quepos market is a bit softer too, when I was looking into buying the Frenzy II( I bought the 33 L&H instead)
around here you get many tourists, many who are not serious fishermen, who book a trip based on price or a slick sales person, and wonder why all the caught is a mackerel and a Jack.
another thing that should be mentioned is booking a boat through these agencies- when boats take trips from a booking agent/ agency(in costa rica), such as fishing nosara- the standard commission here is 20%. that often is about a 50/50 split of what the boat makes after daily operating costs, especially in times with escalating fuel costs.
some of the people working the desk at bigger places actually want a little extra kickback for them as well for recommending you boat.
many of these places don't actually even have any boats themselves and have no liability or accountability for your experience knowing most people may only visit once. most are only commission collecting machines.
I receive very few trips from booking agents because I have mentioned the truth before, here and on some other forums. but I don't care for most of them anyways.
but the fact is most operations don't take the initiative to try to do the business themselves and end up slaves to these guys. these brokers rely on the fact it is allot of work to promote yourself and your business, and handle bookings, etc, especially if you are on a boat 10 hours a day 100-200 days a year
the fact you ( sailfish quepos) and I are on these forums trying to connect directly with potential clients, really shows our passion for what we do.

Sorry, didn't mean to come off like that, it's hard to put tone on a forum. I try to put the smiley faces to show I'm not so serious, but again...

Yeah, I don't work with agents either. They are slimy and will tell the customer anything to sell a trip. I did three agent trips when I first came here (and have done none since), and I spent more time looking for the agents after the trip (to get paid) than I did on the fishing trips. Also, the first agent trip I had people looking for YF Tuna, and they were mad at me when I told them there were only sailfish and Marlin out. The customers said Tuna and the office just made up stories about huge school of YF, that just weren't there at the moment. Now, I make sure to tell everybody what I think we will catch, and even if it doesn't work out exactly how I thought, at least they knew what we are after.

Love to come out and see your boat sometime, next time I'm in Los Suenos I'll stop by and see if you are out on the dock. I still think you should have bought the Frenzy! :)

Sorry to hear about your trip. Next time inspect what you expect before the cash is exchanged. There are quite a few shady charter operators especially down here and it's too bad that you got ripped. Any outfit that puts it to you like that should be ashamed.

It pisses me off every time I get undercut pricewise by another charter captain and the people decide to go soley based on price but I'm not trying to be the cheapest. I try to be the best I can by taking meticulous care of my boats and equipment and not scimping on things such a gas, food, and tackle. I want the customer to get tight, and catch, more than the customer does!

If you want tuna and marlin then yeah Panama is usually the better option.

I agree! Right now is the time for the YFTs! Acres and acres chasing all the squid and spawning baitfish up in the Gulf of Chiriqui right now. Up till the end of may or so and the big schools will move offshore out of the gulf. The BIG tunas usually stick around till about August and hang near Isla Montuosa and Hannibal Bank. Also alot of Blacks and Blues now hunting around the tunas. Come on down!

I am glad you got the L&H I think you made a great choice, even though I did like the Frenzy.

John is probably sick of hearing me say it on 2cool, but if you have clients that are going to fish down in Golfito send them to http://www.captainjohnbrennan.com/, he taught me how to fish down there, or http://www.fishgolfito.com/.

I'll be down a couple of times next year to fish Golfito and if I can make it work Id love to fish with you in Los Suenos and John in Quepos on one of the trips. I'll be in touch once we get our dates firmed up.

John

Great thread, gives me something to think about! We're heading to Los Suenos the end of July.

I have fished Costa Rica many times, from Quepos to Los Suenos and couple other spots. I have fished some of the big vikings running out of Suenos and was not impressed.
The best by far was a boat run out of Quepos called the "Carib Sea"....it was a single screw slower boat with a badass crew. I could care less about sailfish after sailfish and these guys put us on the Cubera, AJ's, and other bottom fish. We also put Mahi and wahoo in the boat. They rigged tackle like pro's and did exactly whatever you wanted to do. I don't even know if they are still around or in operation but they were awesome.

Some of the glitz and glamor crap in Suenos drives me up the wall.

Makes you want to cross Fishing Nosara off any list for future trips south!

I have fished Costa Rica many times, from Quepos to Los Suenos and couple other spots. I have fished some of the big vikings running out of Suenos and was not impressed.
The best by far was a boat run out of Quepos called the "Carib Sea"....it was a single screw slower boat with a badass crew. I could care less about sailfish after sailfish and these guys put us on the Cubera, AJ's, and other bottom fish. We also put Mahi and wahoo in the boat. They rigged tackle like pro's and did exactly whatever you wanted to do. I don't even know if they are still around or in operation but they were awesome.

Some of the glitz and glamor crap in Suenos drives me up the wall.

there is much more to do than just catch sailfish here in Los Suenos
If you go out on big sport fishes, or even charter a mid sized express that you don't investigate, 95% of the time all you will do is troll- that is what they are built and equipped for. that is what the crews of them like to do and train to do
I run a 57' bertram on the private side, and that is what is is best suited for

but there are a few good small boats on the charter dock, such as Jeff Dry aboard Wingman ,or myself aboard La Vida, a 31 contender on the charter dock that I also run, that do an excellent job specialty fishing-Jigging, poppers, live baiting etc. inshore and offshore. that are great for anglers who actually like to get involved and do something other than just watch a crew fish and hand them a rod to reel a pre- hooked fish in.
you just have to go with the right people.

Hey Michael, glad to see you still out there :)
Pm sent, email sent!

I would like to thank everyone for putting input on this. A little background on me; I am a captain but mostly work as a freelance mate in Beach Haven, NJ for several boats. Over the past three years I have worked on a 42 Henriques express from PR to NY and a lot of time in FL (Family in Palm Beach and best friend winters in Islamorada). I was also the purchasing manager for Atlantic Marine Electronics (owned by Viking), own my own install business and are starting a new business to be named on May 21st.

First off I am by NO MEANS a professional mate and or captain as I do not get out as much as most. But, to say the least I know my way around a boat. We took a lot of recommendations before goign to fishing Nosara and they were highly recommended and THEY recommended the boat.

It is a shame for one main reason I do not have a Pacific sail under my best and my best friend does (we have a running contest to get all of the species).

I believe there a lot of good boats out there and a lot of good crews but remember I am out there doing this imagine what they do to newbies or people that barely get out...

In the end I probably wont be back to Nosara but I am planning a trip just to fish, probably Panama. We will see. Next though is finishing the boat for the summer (38 Ocean, Henriques was sold by the owner) and trying to figure out how to make 70 mile canyon runs at $4 per gallon.

I see people charter a boat to catch the trophy rooster they have been wanting and planning for months, and spend all day trying to catch bait (it is not always easy) rather than fishing catch roosters

this is exactly what happened to us with one of the moored boats with 30 year old tackle, huge ridiculous knots on 80lb test with snap swivels and barrel swivels everywhere, spending 3 hours of a 5 hour charter to try and catch 3 or 4 bonito for bait.

it was a pathetic disaster, imho.

i probably won't fish CR again unless the opportunity is really tempting.

and i definitely wont hire any old charter. i'll roll the dice and spend a few more bucks next time. i left feeling jipped.

I hate to see John and Michael keep having to defend the fishing in Costa Rica so I have been trying to help on this thread. As a CLIENT, here is how I see it in addition to my comments I have already made here on this thread.

Pretty much all of the complaints I see about fishing in Costa Rica come from people that do not book their fishing in advance. As of right now I am going down to CR twice next year - once in February and once in April - and I have already booked the boat for those dates. The best boats fill quickly. Golfito had a great marlin bite in January last year and pretty much all of the clients turned around and rebooked for next year while they were still down there. the boats I know of do not have a single day open that month.

I've had a 39 sailfish day in Golfito with only 3 anglers on the boat, one of which was a novice (needed at least one more angler). We broke off/jumped off another 30 or so fish that day. Released 77 that trip in 3 days. I admit that trip was special . . . but on other trips down to Golfito we have averaged right at 18 sails a day, with a marlin about every third day. This year about 2 weeks ago, we got 3 marlin and broke off a fourth in 4 days but the sailfsihing was slower than usual and we never hit double digits in a day and it seems that the whole season was slower as well. Our worst 2 days down there in the last 5 years we only caught 4 sails in a day. I always recommend to people to fish 2 days in a row at least and I prefer at least 3 as the bite can vary pretty good one day to the next.

The only place in the world to average better numbers of sails than CR is Guatemala. There is also not as much to do there, and at times CR has better numbers too. Isla Mujeres can at times go off but can be spotty too (like anywhere) and it is very rough there much of the time.

Sorry, I also meant to mention that all of the above fishing is done by the clients . . . the boats use 2 mates but they are only there to re-rig, clear lines, and release the fish. They don't drop back, pitch, or hook any of the fish.

It is my opinion that the fishing is better in Golfito than Quepos and I haven't fished Los Suenos enough to have an opinion. I am talking strictly sailfish.

From what I have read about John and Michael I wouldn't hesitate to fish with them as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Tropic Star Is Beautiful, and the fishing is unreal,....we moored in the Lodges Cove for a week,...and Down there OFFSHORE is 2 miles,...we caught Yellowfin in the whitewater of the beach!

Sorry, I also meant to mention that all of the above fishing is done by the clients . . . the boats use 2 mates but they are only there to re-rig, clear lines, and release the fish. They don't drop back, pitch, or hook any of the fish.

It is my opinion that the fishing is better in Golfito than Quepos and I haven't fished Los Suenos enough to have an opinion. I am talking strictly sailfish.

From what I have read about John and Michael I wouldn't hesitate to fish with them as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Golfito has had some spectacular fishing this year too. the owners of the Tribute Typhoon have been putting fads out in front of Golfo Dulce and I have heard some incredible reports from jan-march of people fishing them ( capt Bobby McGuennis on the charter boat Cazador is name I hear often) catching 15-20 marlin and a buch of sails off them in a single day fishing. (not every day).
fish do move, it can have slow spells like everywhere else too. sometimes the fishing is better here. and Los Suenos has allot more to offer the wives& family, whereas golfito is pretty remote and rustic, it may not be for everybody. I don't think I would want to live there.


the Typhoon is owned buy the family heirs to the founders of Dow Jones. (i forget the name. they have been doing allot towards conservation of marine resources in that area.
they purchased just about all the commercial shrimping permits for the golfo dulce so there are no shrimpers dragging the bottom and destroying the natural habitat. they also ran a successful campaign against the tuna farms which were trying to get permits to be opened there. and my friend Parker is working with them on a snook farm project / breeding program around puerto jimenez.

and you are right about booking in advance, if you are a serious angler-look into operations online or through others recommendations.and do your research & contact them and talk to them months in advance. In season I am booked solid 2-3 weeks ahead. and it is often very difficult for me to find a good boat to fill in if i can't do it. especially the inshore stuff- roosters and cuberas-which is much more difficult than offshore trolling.
the only person in Los Suenos I very recommend for inshore other than my self is Jeff Dry on WingMan, but he gets booked up too

This might sum it all up. Nosara is a surfing town not really a fishing town. If you want to fish on a high quality offshore fishing boat you might want another place. Fishing in Nosara is like a side trip for tourist coming there for other reasons. I think very few come for just the fishing. It does not have a marina or gas station. It does have some good local fisherman like Edwardo that knows the water and what it takes to catch fish. The water is very fishy the time I fished there. He knows the bottom/ reefs/ humps by his handheld GPS on the little boat I fished with no sonar. I was impressed at what we accomplished, fish wise, with the set up we were using. He is just a local with 3 kids trying to make a living. He took me out for 5 hour for 250$. Cleaned all the fish, like 5 tuna's and 15 big dorado's for that price. I took the fish back to friends that live down there he took some to back to his family. Nosara does have great beaches and surf. Lots of nice houses and restaurants to just take a vacation at. A lot a Americans settled in that town.

You guy's are killing me....my boat, a 32' Topaz,( as you know SailFishQuepos) named SeaQuester5, was sold and taken to Los Suenos, then Quepos, as I now understand. I surely wish I had the opportunity to fish her down there where you fellas are, to experience the fishery you have and the typically calm water you fish in !!!! I have to tell you, word of mouth is everything when you are this far away from where y'all fish, treat the customer well, fish hard, and he/she will be your best advocate!!! Mine was a good boat, but, the captain and crew make the memories. I hate to say I am back in a 25' Center Console and a single 4 stroke looking for a sail or two out of South Florida!!!

Yeah, i haven't seen the seaquester move since February. Alot of the boats in the Marina Pez Vela are private boats, and they only go out a couple of times a year. I don't think the seaquester is charter. I've got the camera ready though, and as soon as I see it out there I'll get you those pictures I promised!

Also, I hate to defend Nosara, but there are some pretty awesome boats up there. I know the gamefisher 2 is up there and they kill the Marlin. i went up there and fished the RhinoCharger and it was great too. The thing with fishing up there is you have to go when there isn't any wind, from like May-September. The only problem is it is usually raining during that time, but at least it's flat. If you go when the wind is up there, you'll be stuck just trying to hold on. A friend of mine tried to run some charters up there in early May last year, and the boat landed on two of the 4 sailfish they hooked up, I guess they at least got to keep the bills.... that was all that was left...

The Carib-Sea is a really nice boat, but the captain you enjoyed so much, is named Erapa, and is now on a different boat called the fast-trac. He's the man though, really knows his stuff.. The mate took over the Carib Sea and he's cool too...

Never fished Golfito. Went down there when I was checking out the country, and I swear, I was getting gas not 10 feet from the over armed guard at the only gas station in the middle of town in the middle of the day. Up walks a seriously intoxicated young guy, pulls a gun and robs me. The only time in my life I have ever been robbed, except for a couple times in Mexico by the police. I'll never ever go back there. I complained to the guard afterwards, and he said he was only there for the gas station. Been everywhere else in this country and never had any problems....

I didn't realize that was a Tribute. Just wow. What a beautiful boat.

I think you are being kind by calling Golfito rustic :). I really wouldn't recommend it to someone I didn't know unless they were looking for a place to just go fishing. The town itself has almost nothing of note, but I do like hanging at Banana Bay marina to eat and drink and there is a great little dive seafood restaurant called Marisco's. However, the newish hotel Casa Roland is badass. Absolutely beautiful and although smaller, it would fit right in among the nicer hotels in Manuel Antonio. They just completed a full spa so now at least wives/girlfriends have that, not to mention a huge, pretty pool. And while it takes a little more effort down there, most of the typical Costa Rican tours are available. The one real drawback is that there is no beach there and you need to take a boat/water taxi to access one.

I had heard about the FAD's back in early winter when there was also a great rip inshore of there most days producing a bunch of marlin too. Most of the people I know down there have taken to calling those old shrimp boats "grouper boats" as that is what they see to be bringing in to the dock now. Nice to hear about the conservation efforts down there, we did fish near one longliner one day but I generally haven't seen them in numbers there like I used to in Quepos.

Damn John I have never read that story from you. We've never had problems there but we do not wander around town . . . just go from the hotel to the Banana Bay to hang or meet the boat and back, occasionally hitting the good little restaurant.

I do know they have been having major problems with people stealing lower units off outboards but that was the worst I heard. Sort of like the water heaters you see locked in cages everywhere :)

First time I've put that up anywhere. Probably just a one time thing. Kind of strange, I knew something was going down when the guy walked over to me, but I was like 10 foot from the security guy with the shotgun, so I thought I was ok. Kind of like getting robbed in a bank... I only lost 10 bucks, so I can't complain too much, but still....

Yeah, those FADS were nuts, 90 miles from us, but I heard some crazy stories. I heard the commercial boats found them though, don't know if that's true. Probably so, I heard the coordinates about 20 times over the radio, they really should've kept those things quiet. I've got some new plans for this offseason though....

I don't know what happened to all the commercial boats, but I haven't seen a long line since December. I wonder if they passed some new law? Probably just a big population of sharks somewhere else and they're out there collecting all the fins...

Hey John:

Am I on for the Cowboy in late May? I'm not going to spend all day catching bait, am I? :)

Dave

John, still seeing longlines up here in the cratersn and onshore the corner.

everybody else- Golfito is cool to experience once and a while or just once. it is more than rustic, it is the jungle and a little bit of the wild west. stays green year round. lots of paramilitary police around there too, mainly anti- drug smuggling task forces as it is a short crossing to the border and it is wild thick forest, and the funny thing is, down here the police never seem to cross there exact job description. if you get robbed in front of a transit police officer he won't stop it. if you go fishtailing your car 100km/hr drunk past a public fuerza officer they won't do anything about it.
casa roland is nice. but the whole area just doesn't have the tourist friendly feel that the central pacific does. none of the amenities or conveniences, or restaurant choices, or nightlife options
if the "marinas" were more like lodges without the surrounding town it would feel very tropic star- esque. it would be cooler if it was a real village than an old port town.
but if you really want to experience a little utopia, take a trip to the end of the road and visit Pavones a hour or so past golfito

it does have some good inshore fishing in the golfo dulce area though too- snook snappers rooster corvina

Hey John:

Am I on for the Cowboy in late May? I'm not going to spend all day catching bait, am I? :)

Dave

Shoot no, I have a smaller 18 foot boat that fishes bait for me at night with leds! :thumbsup:

All this is great feedback. We understand Nosara is a surfing town as we are all surfers and fisherman. The house was great, food was great, surf was off of the charts. The day we fished was glass calm, would have been a banner day on a good boat.

AVOID THE AIMEE MARIE. Next trip we would like to go to Cabo and get Striped Marlin off of the list.

We did our second charter with John out of Quepos late January. John, you may recall I sent you some video of swimming with the sailfish as well as a few pictures. Anyway, I highly recommend anyone visiting the Quepos area to fish with John assuming he is available. I was a little bummed we did not hook up with any yf tuna while we were there but for sure will fish with him and his crew again once we setup another trip! I probably will forsake the Nosara area for now unless I really do some homework in advance. Thanks for all the info in this post and am sincerely sorry to hear about the bad experience that Canyonkeeper ended up having!

All this is great feedback. We understand Nosara is a surfing town as we are all surfers and fisherman. The house was great, food was great, surf was off of the charts. The day we fished was glass calm, would have been a banner day on a good boat.

AVOID THE AIMEE MARIE. Next trip we would like to go to Cabo and get Striped Marlin off of the list.

Canyonkeeper, I looked at Fishing Nosara web page and dont see any of the boats you mentioned. Is it possible there are 2 fishing outfitters in Nosara? Here is the link to the guys I used.

http://fishingnosara.com/boats-captains.php

We did our second charter with John out of Quepos late January. John, you may recall I sent you some video of swimming with the sailfish as well as a few pictures. Anyway, I highly recommend anyone visiting the Quepos area to fish with John assuming he is available. I was a little bummed we did not hook up with any yf tuna while we were there but for sure will fish with him and his crew again once we setup another trip! I probably will forsake the Nosara area for now unless I really do some homework in advance. Thanks for all the info in this post and am sincerely sorry to hear about the bad experience that Canyonkeeper ended up having!

Yeah, that was crazy, you went down deep with that sailfish, made for some cool video. I still have it on the computer, haven't had any days off since you were here, but as soon as I do i plan on putting that up on the site. Glad you had fun!

My brothers and some friends will be in guanatasco next week. Not sure how to spell town. There will be 9 of us. We r interested in 1/2 charter with 2 boats. Can u recommend any body. Also how is the fishing now and what is being caught. John new York

I like Rick with the Rhino Charger at www.Rhinocharger.com ...

Yeah, that was me! Glad u r busy but that sounds too busy to me! Anyway, cool, looking forward to seeing it up on your website, thanks again!

Canyonkeeper, I looked at Fishing Nosara web page and dont see any of the boats you mentioned. Is it possible there are 2 fishing outfitters in Nosara? Here is the link to the guys I used.

http://fishingnosara.com/boats-captains.php

They told us they took it off of there site because of MULTIPLE problems with this charter. Apparently they are good guys with very good equipment on their boats. If they told us they were full and cannot recommend and boats I would have respect for them.

Fishing Nosara is the main one and they are working to build a reputation.

They told us they took it off of there site because of MULTIPLE problems with this charter. Apparently they are good guys with very good equipment on their boats. If they told us they were full and cannot recommend and boats I would have respect for them.

Fishing Nosara is the main one and they are working to build a reputation.

That sucked they did it like they did. I know the 1st day I booked thru them and they were trying to persuade me to fish with another guy when I had told them I wanted to fish with Eduardo. My girlfriend had fish with Eduardo about 2 years before and had a blast. They tried 2 or 3 time in the 20 min I was there to go with I dont even remember who but I held fast to fishing with Eduardo. I had my girlfriend and her young daughter with me and her daughter had not been feeling well so that is why I chose the small boat and fish by myself for a 5 hour trip. I booked the next 5 hour trip directly with Eduadro for a big savings.

I too had a not so great time in CR - Quepos. It was the first week in December, '12. I forget the name of the boat, but it was a red Dawson. SailfishQuepos was book - I tried. The boat was nice, electronics never turned on, and it seemed we just went on a long jerk job. We never made to the dozen or so other boats we saw on the horizon. The next day, we went to a reef and caught nothing. I'm not sure if it was a poor Captain, bad or bad luck. I just know the fishing sucked.

I too had a not so great time in CR - Quepos. It was the first week in December, '12. I forget the name of the boat, but it was a red Dawson. SailfishQuepos was book - I tried. The boat was nice, electronics never turned on, and it seemed we just went on a long jerk job. We never made to the dozen or so other boats we saw on the horizon. The next day, we went to a reef and caught nothing. I'm not sure if it was a poor Captain, bad or bad luck. I just know the fishing sucked.

Sounds like you got jerked around for sure. We've fished with the Good Day team for 3 years (January time frame), and our slowest single day of trolling happened this past January with 5 sailfish released and a few missed. Slow by previous years standards...but never seen anything that slow.

I've heard of a lot of ppl getting jerked around in Los Suenos, but not too many in Quepos (speaking from mine and friends experience only of course). Hate you went through that.

I too had a not so great time in CR - Quepos. It was the first week in December, '12. I forget the name of the boat, but it was a red Dawson. SailfishQuepos was book - I tried. The boat was nice, electronics never turned on, and it seemed we just went on a long jerk job. We never made to the dozen or so other boats we saw on the horizon. The next day, we went to a reef and caught nothing. I'm not sure if it was a poor Captain, bad or bad luck. I just know the fishing sucked.

Dang, that stinks. That boat is called the Pez Espada, but they usually do really well with the sailfish. They have a problem with the radar (which they just bought in November, they bought that Raymarine when they should have bought a Furuno), and that's why that wasn't on. They usually do pretty good on the top water stuff. The bottom fishing is harder though without a ton of electronics, they probably shouldn't have tried that... Either way, they fired the captain at the end of the season...

and Dec '12 hasn't come yet!!! :)

Damn, you guys are getting me fired up!!! I may have to put one of these trips on the bucket list.

A little over two weeks and I'll be down there!!! John is booked but I'm going on the Cowboy at his recommendation (same charter group I gather). I can't wait. I love fishing. I'm not so good at catching, but I love fishing. :) Now if I can just get the wife to join me instead of spending the day at the spa. Yeah, good luck with that.

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A bad charter trip on Maui.
Do I go with the guy who has the nice booth set up and the pretty boats or do I book with the guy who built his out of scrap lumber and a pretty well used 33' Boston Whaler. I should have went with my first instinct.
I knew I had made a mistake when we were the last ones to pull out of the harbor at 6:15AM due to the deck hand over sleeping.Then as we pulled away from the dock, then came the rules; no one is allowed to get out of their seat, no standing up unless you ask for permission, no one allowed in the back of the boat or on the bridge, no touching the fishing equipment and do as you are told. I could understand if it was rough out but it was flat as a pancake and everyone on board was a seasoned fisherman and actually owned boats bigger than the one we on. I was wondering if we would be allowed to play and reel in a fish or if we were going to be spectators. We stopped after about 45 minutes so we could jig for live mackerel for bait, but remained in our seats as the captain and deck hand did the jigging and bragging about how they were gods gift to the charter industry. We new these guys were full of BS when they tried to convince us that the Garmin 2010 MFD costs them $8000.00 and was the best fish finder on the market. When one guy mentioned he preferred Furuno they said we do not buy that jap crap. After about an hour and 3 live mackerel we began trolling 5 lines out the back of the boat. It was about an hour and a half on the troll when the starboard rod on the out rigger went off and the deck hand played it for about fifteen minutes. After the first leap we new it was a marlin and I was signaled to the back of the boat. I was in a pissed off mood and could hardly wait to get back to the dock so I told the guy sitting next to me to go for it. He was a 75 year old man who had been wanting to catch a marlin his whole life and had never caught one before and figured I still had time in my lifetime to achieve catching one myself. His son in law got up to take a picture of his father-in-law playing the fish and was scolded like a child told to get back in his seat. I was getting extremely agitated and grabbed the guys camera and stepped to the back of the boat and snapped a couple of photos to record the event and you would have thought I had committed a murder. After about 45 minutes he was able to get the fish to the boat. He wanted to take a quick picture of the fish and re-lease it but the captain was having none of that. They needed a fish to hang up at their pretty booth to drum up business as there had been no marlin caught in the last 2 weeks. In fact the whole time we were out fishing the captain complained that marlin fishing has been declining at a rapid rate over the past 5 years (I wonder why). It was a complete circle jerk watching the captain and deck hand try and land that fish. By the time they got it in the boat it looked like a piece of swiss cheese from the gaffs and meat hooks being continually stabbed into the fish to land it. The fish was a 175# white marlin. Buy the time we got out to the FLB's to fish for Mahi Mahi with the live bait the captain and deck hand lost their enthusiasm and were more concerned about getting back to the dock to show off the fish to drum up more business rather than keep fishing The fish literally baked in the sun in the back of the boat for 2 hrs on the way in. When we finally docked, they had their hand out for a tip and were surprised when we told them that it was the worst fishing trip we had ever been on. The captain copped an attitude and we all just walked right on by him with that FU look on our faces. I went to the booth and told them I was not paying for this charter along with the 4 guys and left. I called my credit card company and disputed the charge and was refunded the money. The only good part of the whole trip was that the Gus got to cross an item off his bucket list (his words not mine). The charter that my instincts told me to take had listed on their chalk board (nailed to their scrap lumber booth) no marlin but had one hooked for about 2 hrs that they estimated to be over 500#. They did come in with14 Mahi Mahi and a the biggest was 58# the smallest was 20#. They also caught plus some Blue Fin Trevely, Ono. We ran into 2 of the 4 guys that went on that trip in the bar and their boat left at 4am and were back to the dock at 11:00. We told them about our ship wreck of a trip and they had heard negative things about the charter we went on. They told us they had a blast and w/o the BS. The captain and deck hand even supplied beer, pop and food left over from a Luau the night before.
Moral to the story, looks can sometimes give the wrong impression.

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So how is all this rain going to affect the fishing in a couple weeks? Obviously The nearshore water will be a bit cloudy, but will it affect the offshore fishing?

Man, the inshore fishing has been really good lately. We are putting in a new motor right now, but last week we were getting 4-5 good Roosterfish bites in a half day. Offshore has been hit or miss. We actually had a pair of days last week where we had 12 sailfish released in one day, and then only had 2 bites the next...

Just remember the WetAss 2, lots of fish and good time, and a panga ride out to boat is better than zip lining to a fisherman. Costa Rica is still fishing, some good days some bad days. And for $800 everyone is disappointed anyway. There's not enough at $800for bait crew beer lunch and new electronis. I pick beer and bait only $800.
But $1200 you can have what need and go home with good pictures.
Pura Vida

Just remember the WetAss 2, lots of fish and good time, and a panga ride out to boat is better than zip lining to a fisherman. Costa Rica is still fishing, some good days some bad days. And for $800 everyone is disappointed anyway. There's not enough at $800for bait crew beer lunch and new electronis. I pick beer and bait only $800.
But $1200 you can have what need and go home with good pictures.
Pura Vida

My boat the Stress Reeliever 1 goes for 800 a day offshore, has the 25KW bird radar by furuno (the biggest one they make), brand new furuno sonar and will catch fish. We just fish alot and don't need a big margin everyday.

I too had a not so great time in CR - Quepos. It was the first week in December, '12. I forget the name of the boat, but it was a red Dawson. SailfishQuepos was book - I tried. The boat was nice, electronics never turned on, and it seemed we just went on a long jerk job. We never made to the dozen or so other boats we saw on the horizon. The next day, we went to a reef and caught nothing. I'm not sure if it was a poor Captain, bad or bad luck. I just know the fishing sucked.


We got taken for a ride in July '11 on the Moonwalker out of Quepos.
Naturally, I was not the one who booked the charter, but upon arrival, politely let the Captain know that we were interested in trying to find sails and/or mariln.

So what did we do? Spent 3/4 of the day bottom fishing around a few commercial boats, catching nothing but AJ's...
The crew immediately boated and cleaned every single fish we cranked up, and when the fish box started to get full, they FINALLY broke out TWO (2) ballywhoo and began trolling home!

End Result:
$950 for the boat and $100 each for the mates = A couple hundred pounds of AJ(for the crew), one mullet snapper and a 10lb +/- mahi.

Should have waited to get home before going fishing...Would have been less expensive and way more productive!

Yeah, the Fishing Nosara boats did good and caught fish. My main problem is dont recommend a boat you dont know about. We originally had more people on the charter but 3 backed out at the last minute. That is why we used the bigger boat.

The easy way to solve this is do your homework ahead of time. I've fished costa and Guatemala numerous times, always with small "owner operator" outfits, and never had a bad time. Get online, trip advisor, Facebook, hell ask on here.

Panama is next stop for me. im not a big vacationer, but my wife loves to travel, so we compromise and go places where the bite is hot.

Sounds like you might've just gotten unlucky with the fleet tied up in a tournament, either way that sucks.

We got taken for a ride in July '11 on the Moonwalker out of Quepos.
Naturally, I was not the one who booked the charter, but upon arrival, politely let the Captain know that we were interested in trying to find sails and/or mariln.

So what did we do? Spent 3/4 of the day bottom fishing around a few commercial boats, catching nothing but AJ's...
The crew immediately boated and cleaned every single fish we cranked up, and when the fish box started to get full, they FINALLY broke out TWO (2) ballywhoo and began trolling home!

End Result:
$950 for the boat and $100 each for the mates = A couple hundred pounds of AJ(for the crew), one mullet snapper and a 10lb +/- mahi.

Should have waited to get home before going fishing...Would have been less expensive and way more productive!

Yeah, the moonwalker had a problem a year back where the captain was selling the AJ's to try to make some extra cash. They fired that guy though, and the new captain is named Rafa and he's really good and much more serious about looking for billfish. Or you could have went with me!!! :grin:

Seriously though, the fishing here is usually pretty good, I'm surprised so many people have had crummy trips. If you want to come billfishing, let the crew know you aren't interested in bottom fishing. I would never take people bottom fishing that were looking for billfish, and if you ask for billfish and they are chasing amberjacks, something is wrong.

On the red boat, that boat is called the Pez Espada. They are really good at top water, they don't have a sounder though, so bottom fishing probably wasn't the best idea. it's a nice boat though, they usually do pretty good, sounds like an off day...

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Yeah, the moonwalker had a problem a year back where the captain was selling the AJ's to try to make some extra cash. They fired that guy though, and the new captain is named Rafa and he's really good and much more serious about looking for billfish. Or you could have went with me!!! :grin:

Seriously though, the fishing here is usually pretty good, I'm surprised so many people have had crummy trips. If you want to come billfishing, let the crew know you aren't interested in bottom fishing. I would never take people bottom fishing that were looking for billfish, and if you ask for billfish and they are chasing amberjacks, something is wrong.

On the red boat, that boat is called the Pez Espada. They are really good at top water, they don't have a sounder though, so bottom fishing probably wasn't the best idea. it's a nice boat though, they usually do pretty good, sounds like an off day...

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

I figured something was up, but did not want to make a big deal about it since a friend works for the owners of the boat and got us a great deal on the house we stayed in.

Good news is we might be coming back this summer!

If we do, I will give you a call to ensure we actually catch what we're looking for.

I figured something was up, but did not want to make a big deal about it since a friend works for the owners of the boat and got us a great deal on the house we stayed in.

Good news is we might be coming back this summer!

If we do, I will give you a call to ensure we actually catch what we're looking for.

Love to have you, let me know!

Every single boat in the fleet gets skunked more often then you think, That's Fishing! TV Shows and internet marketing lead us to believe otherwise.

I have Fished with Jerry on The Cowboy and Cowboy Jr out of Quepos 6 times and this guy busts his ass to put you on the fish, My best day on the Cowboy was two Marlin and four monster sails, a day of fishing I will never forget.

Every single boat in the fleet gets skunked more often then you think, That's Fishing! TV Shows and internet marketing lead us to believe otherwise.

I have Fished with Jerry on The Cowboy and Cowboy Jr out of Quepos 6 times and this guy busts his ass to put you on the fish, My best day on the Cowboy was two Marlin and four monster sails, a day of fishing I will never forget.

I don't agree on the skunks, we get skunked less than once a month. There are guys that do circles in 15 miles when the fishing is further out, and they get skunked more. The red boat and the moonwalker aren't in those categories though.

Jerry is an awesome guy, I actually paid him to teach me how to fish when I first got here. He was my mate for the first year while I was here as well. I actually manage his boats here now. He just built a new Cowboy, here are some pics! The old Bertram Cowboy that he used to drive we are fixing up this off season, putting a nice new single in it (diesel is around 5.50 a gallon and rising, so the double detroits have to go), I'm hoping to have the Bertram cowboy ready to go for next December...

Here's some current pics of Jerry's rigs:
http://www.queposfishadventure.com/cowboy.jpg
http://www.queposfishadventure.com/cowboyjr.jpg

Sorry to hear about your charter! I fished with Captain Michael Alligood,Reel Intense Adventures, Los Suenos and I can't say enough good things about him, his boat, crew...he really made our trip. Having said that we also ran into a scam artist in Los Suenos , wanted cash before we seen the boat, different boat than advertised, and did not fish for the target species! Lesson learned!



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Captain Michael Alligood
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Reel Intense Adventures Costa Rica
EPIC Sportfishing, Los Suenos CR
call direct from USA@561-459-5355(no additional charges)
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