Fish that can be caught if you visit COSTA RICA
DORADO: This interesting fish or mahi mahi, the dorado is one of the most amaizing fishes to catch on light tackle in costa rica fishing seas. This wonderful colorful fish is an extremely fast swimmer. It has been estimated that they can reach speeds of 50 mph in short bursts. You can find plenty of them, from late May to November when the seasonal rains flood the rivers, carrying out debris that forms trash lines close inshore that like to lie under. Schools of dorado can become a nuisance for anglers looking for the larger billfish lurking below the school. The dorado fish is a delicious food fish. The beautiful colour of this elongate compressed fish is prodominately metallic blue green, often with orange or golden flecks and blotches. The fins are dusky though the anal could be golden. Colour changes are possible where silvery blue normally indicates a feeding phase, whereas yellow could indicate stress or capture shock.
MARLIN: Blue and black species can easily approximate 2000 pounds and because of the power, size and persistence each fish is one of the most quite prized by all anglers. Marlin can be found from the southern part of Costa Rica in the Golfito area all the way up to the North Pacific Coast. Top Marlin spots in Costa Rica include Golfito and Drake's Bay in the South, Quepos in the fishing Central Pacific and Guanamar, Tamarindo and Flamingo in the North West. It is regularly agreed that Marlin Fishing is the best in the southern and Central zones during December to April and the North Pacific from May to November. Black marlin tend to show up most during April and May off of Tamarindo (near Flamingo). The little striped marlin is caught year-round. This is possibly the most common marlin of them all in South Africa. Although tuna and bonito are favoured food, this fast predator will eat virtually any fish, especially kingfish, dolphinfish, rainbow runner, yellowtail and squid. The marlin utilizes it is rough bill to slash or impale it's prey. It is mainly a solitary fish wit it more often been caught at depths ranging from 400m to 1000m.
SAILFISH: Perhaps the most acrobatic of all blue water fish, the sailfish has impressed Costa Rica fishing on every international angler's wish list. There is no wonder why some of the world's most esteemed billfish tournaments are held in Costa Rica. The tournaments are often during June and July but there is not really a particular season regarding sails. The beautiful fish, spending more time in the air than in the water during the fight is not as powerful as the marlin, but always spectacular. Double and triple hookups are not uncommon. Quepos is considered to the be the center of the action, from December to March, with February being the key month with the highest concentration of sailfish and the possibility of 20 or 30 hookups a day. Sailfish often abound throughout fishing Costa Rica's Pacific from the emerging southern port of Golfito to the northern ports of Guanamar, Tamarindo and Flamingo. Year round availability of Sailfish makes it a costa rican leader for angler.
ROOSTERFISH: The name of this fish comes from the dorsal fin with its fanlike array. It is an inshore species, always found in the surf, over sandy bottoms and often in moderate depths. The all-tackle world record is 114 pounds caught off of Baja, Mexico but many international fishing people speculate that the conditions are right for the next record to come from Costa Rica. An hostile predator, the roosterfish is always exciting when hooked. The Roosterfishes are available all year, but there are more caught in the Fishing Papagayo Bay zone from November through March. Many boats in the northernmost area of this region are fishing inshore during those windy months, and the roosters like the structure of the shoreline and islands where they are found in 50 to 60 feet of the sea.
SNAPPER: Costa Rica has many species of snapper. Each fish is a shallow water fish preferring a rocky bottom structure that gives bait fish and protection. The cubera is the biggest of the snappers, often going beyond 100 pounds. The dog snapper is the largest of the Pacific snappers with the world record of 78 pounds held by a resort in Costa Rica. Each species will be a tough fighter, particularly on light tackle and although all snapper are delicious eating the flesh of the larger fish can become course.
WAHOO: This fish is a loner and when traveling with other wahoo it is often only a school of five or six. The Wahoo fish can be found everywhere in the Costa Rican Ocean but does seem to concentrate during the summer off of Costa Rica's Fishing Pacific Coast. The first showing starts about the time the rains start in May, peaking in July and August. Most are caught around the rocky points and islands, but you will pick one up occasionally fishing offshore. It isknown as salt water's finest delicacies. Fishes Experts speculate that the wahoo fish is the fastest fish in the ocean and it is no wonder that the first scorching run can burn out the drag on some reels.
YELLOWFIN TUNA: The Yellowfin Tuna fish are often around the size of a football but can reach up to 300 pounds and begin one of an anglers most spectacular fights. A tuna fish must often swim and is one giant muscle. Yellowfin fish are common from January until June and July but look for the larger fish off of Tamarindo and Flamingo during spring and early summer. This strong, torpedo-shaped fish has a depressed head. The upper body is blue-green, but seperated from the silvery flanks by a broad yellow or bronze band which stretches from the snout through the eye and along the entire length of the body. The abdomen is white and the fins are dusky or yellow. The true brilliance of these colours, particularly the bronze band and yellow tail, is only evident in live specimans. These yellowfin fishes can attain a length of 150 cm but fish of 100 cm are more common.
SNOOK: The Big snook often peak from March through May and again September through the end of November, but those fishes are always the months of the heaviest rain and as the water becomes cloudy the fishing becomes more difficult, the snook preferring rivers, estuaries and back lagoons. Although considered an Atlantic fish, snook do appear in the Pacific coast. The fat snook or calva as it is known in Costa Rica is a very popular species of snook that has emerged for light tackle anglers, maximum size about 10 pounds. Peak from mid-November through late January, but often make an appearance much earlier.
TARPON: A fishing inshore and offshore, tarpon fish is one of the first saltwater species to be declared a gamefish, and anglers come from every corner of the world looking for Costa Rica's Caribbean Tarpon fish action. The bony mouth and muscular, acrobatic fights make this fighter one of the most difficult and exciting prizes a fisherman can get. The tarpon fish action is not seasonal but is affected by the heavy rains on the Caribbean and sometimes the ability of boats to get out into the ocean. It is not a food fish and always is released.
GUAPOTE: The guapote is the closest thing that Costa Rica has that approximates a bass so the visiting.