Costa Rica Fishing Report – February, 2015 by Todd Staley – Congratulations to an old friend Dr. Bruce Pratt who along with 23 friends and family passed his 88th birthday here at Crocodile Bay Resort. Bruce has been a fly fishing enthusiast for many years and set a goal to catch 150 sails on a fly. He is an “old school” type of fisherman and doesn’t chase the fish down with the boat just to get numbers.
I was lucky enough to accompany him when sailfish #149 came into the spread. The fish sat under the fly for what 
seemed like an eternity and he had to re-cast three times before the fish engulfed the fly. It was a huge sail, weighing an easy 120 lbs and took off like a greyhound after a stuffed rabbit.
It finally broke water 300 or so yards behind the boat and even at that distance it looked huge. For over an hour sweat poured from his brow, while he played the fish perfectly for the release. Number #150 eluded the Doc and he already made plans for his return trip.
Gray Taxidermy tagging research
We have become part of the Gray team and began tagging fish for their research program. Different than most types of tagging programs, this one is interactive and anyone can go online and see what and where fish are being tagged. We have already captured a roosterfish that crossed the gulf after it was tagged and a fish that we tagged was recaptured by a neighboring operation. Ask about tagging your own fish and naming it while you are here.
Fishing hasn’t been so bad as of late. There are lots of fish out there although some days they are finicky. We have seen plenty of double digit days in the spread and other days, free jumpers that don’t care to play. The marlin have hung around all season so far. We don’t see big numbers of fish but we are still catching them. Inshore has been steady.
A 65 lb roosterfish has been the top dog of late caught by Bret and Duane Swanson. Snapper and amberjacks have come from the reefs and a few nice big African pompano have made some nice ceviche.
Update 2/26– We released two blue marlin yesterday, one at 500lbs.
Todd Staley,
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
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