March 2018 – Costa Rica Fishing Report

New Video: Check Out this AMAZING Orca Experience some of our guests had this past week at Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica!

Costa Rica Fishing Marlin

Crocodile Bay Fishing Report March 2018 by Captain Allan Smith – It has been another good month of fishing at Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica.

We are fully in the dry season now and the weather has been spectacular. Clear sunny days and light offshore breezes. The sailfish are here in good numbers. The last couple of weeks we have had some very good days on billfish and though things slowed a little this week, that is not uncommon for this time of the year. Typically, the sailfish begin to enter their spawning cycle, and concentrate on the opposite sex instead of feeding.  It can be a little frustrating when you see a school of six sailfish swimming around in a circle and cast a bait into the middle of them only to have it ignored.  But even on the days when they are not feeding aggressively, the boats are still seeing plenty of free jumping sailfish or fish cruising on the surface. As more sailfish begin to come out of the spawn, they will go back to feeding again and some great fishing lies ahead.  

Costa Rica MarlinA few marlin have stuck around and we are seeing one or two every day. Tuna though not normally prevalent this time of the year, have been keeping a few rods bent, including several caught on fly last week and the nice one pictured, caught by Ray Froud on 25lb test yesterday. Dorado are still here and though, not in the numbers we saw in January. We are landing a couple almost every day. Yesterday, Mr. Van Der Knaap and his son from the Netherlands landed a beautiful 54 pound bull.

 

Inshore, the roosterfish took a week long vacation, but they are back. We have been seeing more and bigger rooster fish coming in lately and I expect that to continue into March. The “usual suspects” of  jacks, African pompano, Bluefin trevally and snappers have been around for those wishing to target them and I saw a nice broomtail grouper brought in by Mr. Bill Mullin and his son that made for a memorable family dinner.    

Costa Rica Sailfish

For those of you who don’t know him, one of our long time captains and good friends German Bustos was very sick at the beginning of the season and had to have an operation. We were unsure of his recovery time, and told all of German’s clients that they probably would not be able to fish with him this season. German however, who lives to fish,  made a rapid recovery and we were able to get him back on the water in February.  Vern Larsen, who is one of our long time clients  was just here last week and is one of German’s regulars.  It was a real pleasure for me to surprise Mr. Larsen with long time friend and captain German. Fishing has many rewards, but sometimes just watching two old friends reunited for a day on the water,  is reward enough.

Summer is  right around the corner and a great time for families to spend time together and experience fishing or expeditions on Costa Rica’s South Pacific Coast. Check out this great article by Todd Staley about taking the family fishing at Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica.

Tight lines,
Capt Allan Smith
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenenz, Osa Peninsula
Costa Rica

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Sportfishing Calendar

January

Tuna, marlin and dorado taper off. Number of sailfish begins to increase.

February

Prime time for sailfish. Occassional marlin, tuna or dorado.

March

Prime time for sailfish.

April

Sailfish numbers drop mid-April and some marlin begin to appear.

May

Slower for billfish. Typically we start seeing schools of spinner dolphins with yellowfin tuna.

June

Slower for billfish. Spinner dolphins with yellowfin tuna.

July

Marlin begin to appear. A chance for black marlin as well as blues and striped marlin. A chance for tuna.

August

Marlin and tuna.

September

Slower for billfish. A chance for tuna and dorado.

October

Dorado begin to appear in numbers with marlin close behind.

November

A mixed bag of dorado, marlin and some big tuna.

December

Marlin, dorado, tuna and sailfish are all possibilities.