Not until the early 1990s did sailfishing off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast attract major international attention, and by the turn of the century, Costa Rica was billing itself as the “sailfish capital of the world.” Just after that, however, sailfish numbers began to take a major hit, and many anglers ended up more disappointed than excited. But thanks to the adoption of regulations limiting the commercial exploitation of sailfish about 10 years ago, sailfish populations have rebounded and remain strong enough to justify the country’s self-anointed title.

The month started off with a bang, especially inshore when some boats were catching as many as 20 roosterfish a day, above the average of a good day of fishing. Mark Davis was here the first week of the month to film yet another episode of Bigwater Adventures and came out of the gate with a nice blue marlin to start the show.

January starts and ends with a Bang! New Year’s Eve is the only day of the year you will find a traffic jam in Puerto Jimenez. Yet, thanks to a generous neighbor, this small beach town has one of the largest, most spectacular NYE fireworks display in all of Costa Rica. Local people come from all over the peninsula to enjoy the lit-up sky.

A circle hook is a fishing hook manufactured so that the point is turned perpendicularly back to the hook shank to form a generally circular, or oval, shape. It has become widely used among anglers in recent years because the hook typically catches more fish and is rarely swallowed. Since the circle hook catches the fish on the lips at the corner of its mouth, it usually decreases the mortality rates of released fish.

The month of December, and especially our Christmas week, is family time here at Crocodile Bay Resort in Costa Rica and our staff, along with the fishing crews, always look forward to this time of the year. Many repeat guests have become more like friends than clients over the years as they bring their families to enjoy the holidays at our activity-based resort in the warmer climate. The staff’s dedication to customer service earned Crocodile Bay the distinction of the second-best destination in the world to take a family fishing vacation by Sport Fishing Magazine.

Did you know the picture above is now illegal in Costa Rica? Ten years ago a regulation made it illegal for the sports fishing sector to take a billfish, sailfish and marlin, out of the water for a “hero shot” photo of their prized catch. The web is full of photos that could potentially bring a 2 million colones fine ($3,250) to the offender who pulls a billfish out of the water. To date, I don’t know of anyone who has ever been arrested or prosecuted on this. In fact, after all these years, many still claim they don’t know about the law.

It has been a while since I’ve done a fishing report, so I hope I am not too rusty. There are some changes in the fishing department at Crocodile Bay.

Roosterfish, or Nematistius Pectoralis as their Latin name goes, is a hard-fighting and widely sought after gamefish here in Costa Rica. Anglers come from all over the world to Crocodile Bay Resort in search of this prized species. And almost all of our guests have roosterfish at the top of their wish list.In Central America, the roosterfish can only be found on the Pacific side, and they range from southern California down to Peru.

The fishing charter website “FishingBooker” has named Costa Rica as the fourth-best billfish destination in the world.The list — based entirely on customer preferences and reviews, according to a FishingBooker spokesperson — ranked Costa Rica ahead of the Florida Keys, calling the country’s Pacific Coast “nothing short of paradise.”

Twenty-five years ago, Costa Rica was known as the sailfish capital of the world.This was quite an accomplishment, as the sport fishing industry was still relatively new here. Quepos was the epicenter, and names like Larry Hustler, Jeanette Perez, John Cory, Bill Cannon, and Harry Gray and their crews had put Costa Rica on the world fishing map. Days of 20-plus sailfish per boat were common. Marsha Bennett was opening the Gran Escape, which became the place to be for fishermen when not on the water.