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January 2022 – Costa Rica Fishing Report

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Costa Rica Fishing Report – Report on the Action in December 2021

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope 2022 blesses you with lots of joy, happiness, and of course, many fish! I have to start by saying how impressive the marlin fishing has been over the past month.
For as long as I have been fishing in this area, this has been some of the most productive marlin action I have ever seen here at Crocodile Bay Resort; and the fleet’s captains agree with me! The fishing has been impressive and unbelievable to our fishing crews and anglers, as we have had days where one boat raised 12 marlin. These numbers are usually more common fishing near or around the FADs (fish aggregating devices, man-made objects used to attract ocean going fish such as marlin, tuna and dorado) but the marlin seem to be coming a lot closer to shore, where our captains have found them as close as 7 miles to shore, giving our anglers the opportunity to come back inshore, land a marlin; and bag up a few snappers for dinner on the way back to the dock.

This month we raised well over 250 marlin overall, releasing over 100 of them, which was probably the best month for marlin fishing in Crocodile Bays history. Our anglers had the opportunity to not only land one– but multiple nice size marlin.

Kevin Beach from the Mexican Gulf Fishing Company and Diego Camacho (fishing director)

A remarkable mention goes to Mr. Sangle, who visited us early in December on the hunt for blue marlin. Not only was he able to land plenty of fish but also he had incredible days for marlin fishing. One day they raised 10 marlin and released 5, with one of them weighing in at over 400 lbs, as well as a mix of yellow fin tuna, sailfish and dorados. Another honorable mention goes to Mr. Billarant who came looking to land a billfish on the fly and did great for the first time fly-fishing. He landed a few good size dorados but the highlight of his trip was casting, hooking and landing a 250 lbs blue marlin on the fly!

We had another important visitor this month: We had the great honor to host Captain Kevin Beach from the Mexican Gulf Fishing Company. These are total fishing pros based in Venice Marina. Him and his family had so much fun fishing our waters.

Sailfish are starting to peak their bills in our spread as we approach the sailfish season, which I think will be very good months for sailfish. We had days where the captains raised anywhere between 5 and 17 sailfish in one day which is definitely a great start to the season, so I’m sure January will bring a lot of action. We are still seeing dorados coming up on all the good currents out there letting our anglers bag up a few filets for dinner. Last but not least: our captains are still bumping into the spinner dolphins, which are running with some really nice sized tunas, and our anglers landed a few 100 lbs plus tunas and were able to enjoy fantastic fresh sashimi for dinner.

The roosterfish are growing up from babies into large adults here in the Gulfo Dulce and even though we have had slower days for roosters, we have seen some very good size pez gallo this month.

There was a few 50 lbs plus caught this month.

The rooster bite on the Osa Peninsula is always consistent and landing 3 to 5 roosters is considered a slow day. We are normally used to seeing between 7 to 15 roosters landed per boat. Lots of African pompano and plenty of snapper are still around with the smaller ones making a great dinner. We try to release the big breeder fish and we have released 30 to 45 lbs cubera snapper lately. Cubera is one of my favorites because the odds are in favor of the fish. If you don’t turn them fast, they will escape into a rocky cave and it is over.

I can already tell January its going to be a great month for fishing with the change of temperature in the waters and all the good currents coming from the south we should be seeing a mixed bag of sailfish, dorado, tuna and marlin. So pack your bags and come down to Crocodile Bay and experience some of the best fishing in the world!