The offshore action continues at Crocodile Bay Resort. The weather has been fantastic with clear skies and light offshore breezes. An abundance of bait has been holding in the blue water for weeks now and the sailfish along with the marlin have been taking advantage.  Most days the bite has been early and late in the day, but there were several “wide open” days when the dolphins, sailfish and tuna all moved in on the bait and the action was non stop.  

 

Yesterday was one such day, with the Saxten group landing twelve tuna including three caught on the fly. The bait was so thick that at one point a bait ball tried to hide under one of our Boston Whalers. The captain was able to take his bait net and scoop bait from in between the outboards and fill his live well. He did this while tuna were slapping the side of the boat, eating the bait, and trying frantically to hide.

 

There have been a few dorado around as well. Though it is not really dorado season right now, there have been some very big bulls landed in the 40-60 pound class. Always a nice surprise when working the billfish to hook into a big mahi-mahi. They are prolific jumpers and fight harder than most sailfish twice their size. When a mahi-mahi takes the hook, its colors are brilliant blue and silver dappled with yellow. If you land one of these big boys, you will have the gratitude of the chef, not to mention your fellow anglers.

 

Inshore, the big roosterfish have been around, but we have had to work for them. I saw three fish caught in the last two weeks that were over fifty pounds and several others in the thirty to forty range. It can be a long day when you are looking for the big bite, but if you stay patient you will be rewarded. Roosterfish are one of the most sought after fish caught in Costa Rica. These are true fighting fish and they don’t want to be caught. Battles can take over one hour.  

 

As we move into April, conditions offshore begin to change. April is generally a cooler month than March with more cloud cover and occasional showers in the evening. With the cooler conditions, we often get a run of marlin around mid-April that can produce some fantastic fishing. I can remember years with multiple current lines offshore that were loaded with small dorado. Considering the amount of bait that is presently offshore, things could get very interesting in the next few weeks.