settling in and digging out

The last group that I left in Costa Rica did OK without me, 56 sails, 4 dolphin and a marlin in 3 days. A litttle slower on their 4th day inshore, a few snapper, grouper and a handful of jacks.

Fishing should be great for the groups arriving in April. On the homefront, things are a little slow to heat up, although Capt. Mark Hoff did have a great day with the speks on Saturday.

Anna and I are back in NC, hey what did you guys do with the sun? After digging out of 3 months of mail, we'll be on the road this week, but we will have the phones/computer with us. Keep an eye out for the spring newsletter or drop us a line to receive a copy.

one more time......

Thanks to Lee and David Haddock at Haddock's shooting preserve, for taking the girls on one more hunt. At this age, everytime that Ruby goes, it may be her last time.

We will be booking Capt. Lee and Capt. David Haddock on the Roanoke River this year. Capt. Lee is great with the fly and Capt. David is an excellent bait fisherman, catching live shad every day.

I lost my marlin again.

Dad and I headed out before sunrise this morning to take advantage of the morning bite of a full, but waning moon.

At about 15 miles the sun cleared the rainforest topped mountains off our left shoulder. Neither words nor photo can describe the panoramic glory of God's creation on this Easter morning.

All of the blades of the rainbow were present. Oranges, reds and yellows of the sunrise, lush tropical greens of the mountains, whites and grays of distant towering thunderheads. Off our starboard, violets and purples of Cabo Blanco and the mountains of the Nicoya; ahead, the blues of clear skies and deep ocean.

A 15 knot breeze pushed us into a long swell topped with white caps. At 25 miles the depth finder lit up with bait and the few birds traveling with us turned into thousands. Capt. James pulled the throttles back and put out the right rigger, leaving the left rigger up so dad could have plenty of room to cast the fly.

The picking birds were picking and the diving birds were diving over a huge area. Too much bait and not enough fish. As we get to the edge of all the life we see a free-jumping sailfish.

Although our intention was to catch sailfish on the fly, Alberto was rigging a bonita just in case a nice marlin came into the spread. It didn't take long.

About the time that we got to where we saw the free jumper the right long teaser pops out of the clip. I get the short right teaser out of the way and Alberto takes away the hook-less swimming ballyhoo. (For the technical guys, the left teaser was run from the chair to the top of the vertical left rigger, out of the way for left handed fly casting. We also pull a shotgun swimming ballyhoo with a hook from the bridge, also out of the way, but still available to catch those sails that may fade away or are missed on the fly. )

Chela was bringing the fish to us as it shadowed the teaser and then it was gone. When it reappeared, suddenly crashing the teaser we realized that it was a really nice marlin. As Alberto went for his freshly rigged bonito, Dad put his fly in the water and James had to make a decision; either pull the boat out of gear and let Dad cast the fly or keep going and take a shot with the better suited 50 Tiagra and the pitch bait. He did both.

First, James pulled the boat out of gear, Chela snatched the teaser away and Alberto's bonita hit the water. When the teaser disappeared, the marlin first saw dad's fly, but it was distracted by the splash of Alberto's bonito. When the marlin turned on the bonito, James put it back in gear which made dad's fly "pop".

(For the die hard fly fishers, trolling a fly may not be defined as fly fishing, nor is catching spots on a two-hook bottom rig with an 8 wt. My dad also used to enjoy catching 15 pound stripers on the Roanoke with a live river herring, a circle hook and a 10 wt. Fly fishing is fun, but so is catching fish on a fly rod.....at least he was using a fly instead of a ballyhoo.)

The allure of a foot long bonito was too much for the marlin and he engulfed it. I took the rod away from Alberto and that's where I went wrong. I gave the fish another second and shoved the lever forward and everything came tight, just not tight enough. I got two jumps out of her, but on the third leap she came unglued, throwing the bait......and hook.....out of her mouth.

Alberto and Chela later told me that they didn't see what I did wrong because I wouldn't let them get near the rod. They also said that they had not missed a marlin this year on that hook. (We're using an Eagle Claw L2405M 18/0 circle hook and have not yet missed a marlin that bit the bait....until today).

In four hours we ended up raising 10 more sails, catching 4 on bait and getting two very cool bites on the fly, but we couldn't keep them connected.

Got to run.

Thank you Jesus

Happy Easter

albino sailfish......

......well maybe not an albino. The eyes were pinkish, not pink, and there was some pigmentation....a Palmetto Sailfish perhaps? Either way, Capt. James and I did a double take when it came up on the left short.

Whale Shark right teaser!!!! Anna would have been in the water in 2 seconds. A young whale shark? 20+ feet long and very curious. He swam within a rod tip of the transom.

Lucky Larry with a nice little blue. Circle hook in the corner, quick shot and release. This fish was in good shape. We try to limit one "glory shot" per customer.

Fantastic day on the water. Back in the office tomorrow.........

Spring is in the air....

Capt. Lee sends a pic of Ruby and says that the pines have pollen all over everything. Ruby is resting from her daily walks to the post office. She would be proud of Shamrock who is an iguana's worst nightmare. Every few days he escapes the compound and makes his way to the Hotel Cocal to terrorize the toucans.

This pic is from Capt. Joe Ward who is catching some really nice speks.

....and a photo from Capt. Gary who is catching plenty of speks and says that the pups are starting to bite. He is also doing some shad fishing up the Neuse.

Capt. Ray made it out this week and in a couple of hours caught two easy limits of speks.

After stealing my blue marlin, Anna has been busy getting things together for this year. Some things that we're working on:

Book NOW for 2008 The peak seasons are getting full. If you have already booked a day, keep an eye out for an invoice for a confirmation deposit.

Book NOW for Costa Rica 2009 There is very little availablity on the FLY boats for 2009 peak season.

Book NOW for ARGENTINA June 21-28 or June 26-July 3. We still have room for up to 6 people on this first class trip. There will be a dramatic increase in prices for 2009, do not put this off another year!!!!

Book NOW for Silver King Lodge Oct. 1-5 or Oct. 4-8. Also available sailfish/tarpon combo.

Look for the e-version of our newsletter. We're skipping the snail mail for this edition, drop us an e mail to receive.

Be sure to check out our discounted Costa Rica trips for the green season, coming soon.

marlin...stolen

The sailfish bite is holding a good average through March. One day will be a little slow with 4-6 releases, but the next day, 20+ releases.

The second leg of the Los Suenos tournament began today. We are not fishing the tournament and had a rare day open so we headed out to look around and try and steer the guys on the Spanish Fly to the meat.

We found it, catching 8 sails and what could have been my first blue marlin......until Anna threatened to beat me with the rod unless I gave it to her.

Congratulations Anna, love you.

steady pick

The fishing has been really good, plenty of sailfish with average double digit days and an occasional marlin.

Fishing Reports Archives