I write this last report of my 2009-10 Costa Rica 5 month fishing adventure as I wait in the airport for the flight to take me back to Long Island and a new Striped Bass season.

As I look forward to getting back out on the Black Rock I recount all the great trips and adventures I had this year in Costa Rica. December produced a classic Dorado (Mahi-Mahi) run, with Gregg and I filling the chill bag to the top with 15-20 fish each timeout. George from Yo-Zuri with the help of Frank, or maybe it was the other way around, landed a 120.7 lb Yellowfin and busted a few more bigger ones off.

A special treat, my friends and fellow charter boat captains from CT, Jay Bird and Preston topped off a great year with their first visit this past week. The recount of the trip may sound like I dreamed it, but it went like this: we pulled out of the Lodge before the sun had made it over the mountains four sabiki bait rods rigged and a boat load of charter captains aboard, the wise cracks were already starting and we hadn’t even made it to the river mouth.

Luckily Jay brought Leanne, his sweat heart girlfriend. Luck in that she went on to catch most of the live bait three and four at a time and then rand the bell hard, finessing 6 Roosterfish, 4 Jack Crevalle (corel in Spanish), an African Pompano, Spanish Mackerel and a super tasty 10 lb Rainbow Runner. This was all in the morning. The guys had decided to make a day of the inshore fishing and it was a great choice. The water color turquoise green and a great surfer’s swell made for the ultimate inshore conditions and by 11 am we left the fish biting, which was hard to do as we were hooking up every time we passed the big rock. Leanne, affectionately called Lee, which reminds this captain of old sweet memories of years past, was flawless as our hook up and land/release rate was 100%. Not a single fish lost.

But having a perfect morning we left the shoreline’s palm trees and misty surf to drop on some Grouper and Snapper with dropper rigs, New England style, tied up by my fellow caps. The only phrase that comes to mind is hammer job. When the smoke cleared the cooler was full. Jay named them ”Red Heads”, the Margarita Snappers for their bright red heads and we accompanied them with Grouper, Corvina (white sea bass), Canejos (tilefish) and Mancho Red Snapper. Hitting the tide perfectly, we caught double headers, rarely reeling in with out a fish. Now telling the story a bit out of sequence I must share with you how later the chef Shirley grilled one of each of these sweet fish and laid them out on the table for the Captain’s Feast.

Once again, leaving the bottom fish biting we took one more shot at a monster Cubera Snapper. Live Blue Runners, bridled behind the boat passing them over the volcanic humps seemed to be fruitless as we had no bites. Just as we were to head for the Lodge, Jay-Bird’s reel now in free spool started dumping line. As the circle hook found its way to the corner of the mouth and Jay put the wood to him, a fifteen minute battle brought our best Rooster of the day a 30 lber alongside the boat.

As I headed for the dock with my friends I reflected on how great a season it had been, both on and off the water. Should I always be so lucky.

See you in Orient Point

And enjoy the photos

Capt Sloan

February 10, 2010

It was five o’clock, the sunset was touching down on the Osa Peninsula, the surf crashing on the beach and I was zipping along Playa Zancudo, Costa Rica on my ATV. The hum of the motor, wind in my hair, the soft ride on the sand and not a person in sight always puts me into a relaxing daze. So when I saw him, it was as if I awakened. Water up to his shorts in the surf, his ten foot rod bent over, not naturally part of the scenery, he stood out among the scattered coconuts on the beach.

His name is Pierce and as his wife tells it he thought to go play horseshoes but decided to fish instead (not a really hard decision when you think about it). Using a Yo-Zuri popper that looked like a Boston Mackerel, you’d think he was fishing Striped Bass in Orient Point. The rod was all of ten feet and the reel top of the line Shimano Stella spooled with 50# braid. It was the perfect setup to try and land this trophy fish.

When I pulled up behind him on my ATV I saw right away it was a big Rooster, its crest sliced through the front side of the first wave about forty feet out. As the fish darted down the beach Pierce ran through the wash keeping his angle and not loosing line. At the time I didn’t know him, but I saw he was a seasoned angler and made all the right moves. As a captain I spend my days watching people fish and while I watched this guy battle what I knew was a fish of a lifetime I quickly realized he knew it too.

Each time he pulled the fish from that first wave the undertow would grab the fish back and peel off the little he gained. In the Jack family, Roosters are tremendous fighters and with their tall body and mighty fins the current was not in Piers’ favor. But bending his back, running from side to side and at times pointing his rod parallel to the shore to keep the 90 degree angle on the fish, he pulled it into the shallow eight inch water. Once there the Rooster had no water to work on and the battle was won.

As was the fish, Pierce was exhausted, mostly from adrenaline rush of his excitement and joy. He held the fish in the water as I pulled the trebles from the side of its mouth and his wife took some quick photos. I quickly suggested that they release this great fish, but as I found out, he is an accomplished fly fisherman from England and releases all he catches.

Crouched over, he rushed the Rooster back out into the surf, wiggling it as he went. The fish surprisingly docile seemed dead and I thought that maybe due to the longer than normal battle of surf fishing with its heavy backwash versus that on a boat it may have died, when suddenly it pulled away from his grasp and shot back out into the waves with a big splash.

Only then I got to shake his hand and ask his wife to email the photos so I could share them with you.

Enjoy,

Capt Sloan

Dr. Craig Stemmer came to the lodge carrying his medicine bag full of the tools of the trade, that is for a fly fisherman. Filled with all the best fly fishing gear, he and Capt Javier had plans to head out the Golfo Dulce on his first day of his 4 day fishing vacation. Having met the good Doc last year, I had looked forward to his return and now enjoyed our conversations at the bar which were filled with his excited anticipation.

His travel bag consisted of a 12 wt, 2-14 wts, and a 16 wt. For those not in the know yet, these are fly rods with the 16 wt being the strongest of the set. At the bar he went over and over the possible scenarios; “what if a big sail comes up, which rod should I use?”, “what if a Dorado comes up, What should I use?”, and of course the ultimate day dream: “what if a Blue Marlin comes up?”. The answer to the latter would be easy, the toughest setup you have and then expect the Blue Marlin to blow it up, snap it in two, or watch the fish take all the line you have.

Leaving the dock at 6 am I was right behind Javier both boats pulling out of our private river marina, up on plane making 25 knots. Not needing live bait as they were on the fly, Javier headed out the gulf, 3 miles from the beach, to where the big bait balls were, while we stopped at the river mouth to catch a tank full of live bait. Making bait came easy and we charged out to the grounds now only 20 minutes behind Javier and the Doc. As we came up on them, their boat was stopped drifting in the current, and we saw it, Doc’s rod bent over all the way. The hook up of a lifetime, sought after by many but accomplished by few, a Blue Marlin on the fly.

Two and a half hours later the whole fleet watched Javier’s boat step up on plane and head for the Lodge. The 250 lb Blue Marlin had been brought alongside the boat and released clean and healthy. It was only later in the afternoon at the bar with the sun setting that the doc told me how it went. Even after all his years of dreaming, “what if” planning, and mental preparation, when his Old Man and the Sea Blue Marlin first came up behind the boat it all turned out for naught as he grabbed the lightest rod in the rack, the 12 wt. Well, all the more to relish in as he landed this great trophy on super light tackle, his dream and by his account it was the angling challenge of his life with much pain and muscle cramping during the battle.
Congratulations to the good Doc, well deserved. Check out the photos.

With an act like that hard to follow, John Reeves came down from Long Island and he and I had a good bite as he landed/released two nice Sailfish and two more big bull Dorados. Jody and his band of brothers, it’s a band for sure with a group of eight, put a beating on the Yellow Fin Tuna. Jody’s weighed in at 110 lbs and the total count was ten, none under 50 lbs. What a day! Honorable mention goes to Seth for his Yellow Fin which luckily didn’t top Jody’s as we would have never heard the end of it.

Enjoy the Photos
Capt Sloan

I got back last Friday from the Zancudo lodge in Costa Rica. This was my third trip down to Zancudo Lodge in the last 18 months; the first was a inshore bonanza, the second was a sailfish slam and this was a Dorado catching clinic. I went down with three of my friends and we had an absolutely great time (two of the guys had never caught Dorado before).

As usual we made all connections and arrived on time to the lodge to greet a hot breakfast with my favorite food… bacon. I don’t know what it is about their pork product but it is the best I’ve ever had (we had chops as well a couple of nights for dinner). We ate Dorado and Tuna just about every night as well. Greg and the staff really took care of us as usual and the other guests at the lodge were great to be around as well.

I could keep talking about the food, service and poolside cocktails and the 88 degrees but the fishing was the real story… it was spectacular. I fished five days; four offshore and one inshore. I lost count of the Dorado we caught every day as we released most but we kept a few to eat. We raised and hooked several Sailfish but I couldn’t keep them on the line. My friends had the same success and raised several Marlin as well but couldn’t get them to buckle up. We did have some good success with the Tuna. One of my friends caught one about 80 lbs and the other close to 100 lbs. My buddy and I got into them pretty good hooking three to four at a pop as we chased around the dophins. Most were football size and like albacore it was a bloody frenzy. It was an absolute blast. I also learned a good lesson as on the first day I didn’t wear a belt/rod holder when fighting fish and had about 19 circular purple bruises on my waste and legs (maybe that is how I could have counted my catch). That fighting belt sure felt good the next morning with my first hook up.

I spent my last day inshore fishing hooking many species; snapper, roosterfish, mackeral, Jack’s (too many species to name) and my rooster was around 30 lbs. I ended up heading in a bit early after some quality catching to get some pool time and cocktails in (I didn’t fall out of the hammock this trip which was a major victory for me).

I had a late flight out of San Jose the next day and I managed to get a surf session in the morning of my departure, which was a bonus for me sitting in water that was 87 degrees.

I celebrated my 46th birthday while I was there and was surprised with a big chocolate cake and candle by Greg. I would have likely never found the Zancudo Lodge if it were not for the Coastside crew… thank you for the introduction. Quality people here and there!

I count my blessings that I have a job, supporting wife and great friends that allow me to make these trips.

Tight lines to all of you,

Wes

Ken & I flew down to Zancudo Lodge, with our prize voucher from the Yellowtail Shootout 2009 victory! What an awesome place to spend the Christmas/New Years week. Lets get down to business-

Day 1- Went with Javier at 6am. Left the Lodge after breakfast for a quick bait making session, then off to a reef about 2 miles from the lodge. Within a hour, I had a 60+lb Roosterfish on the deck of Javiers sweet CC. After a few more roosters & cubera snappers in the 15 to 20lb class, we told Javier that we have always wanted to catch some Amberjack. He says “I know just the spot we should go try.” We shoot down to the border of Panama, 22 miles at about 30 knots. I’m tellin ya its a sweet Center console. 1st bait down yields a 30+lb Amberjack. All I can think is “Wow, this Javier guy delivers”.

Spent the rest of the day reef hopping, pulling on inshore snapper, roosterfish, amberjack & jack crevalle all the way back to the lodge.

Day 2- Went offshore trying for marlin, sailfish, dorado & tuna. Didn’t see any size able tuna so we focused on the others. Landed 1 sailfish (Raised 2 or 3), hooked a marlin that ripped line off for a couple of min before coming unbuttoned & gaffed 4 dorado in the 15 to 25lb class. Ken & I got the urge for some more roosters & made the call to head back inshore. Finished the day pulling on more of the same inshore roosters, amberjack, etc.

Day 3- Took our ladies with us on one of Zancudos 36′ Twin Vee cruisers. Headed offshore at 6am, caught & gaffed 4 nice dorado offshore. Raised 2 sailfish, no solid hook-ups on the bills. At 10 am, Ken looked at me and we both said “Lets go after the inshore species for our last round!” Off we went to the rock off the southern point of the Oso Penninsula. That’s when it happened for my buddy Ken. 9th inning, 2 outs, & homey hits it out of the park (as he always does). He lands a 80+lb roosterfish. The fish of a life time with pictures to prove it! (Ken is a big dude at 6′-8″, so keep that in mind)

I wanna send a huge shout-out to Ali, Jason, The BD Team for putting on the Yellowtail Shootout & a HUGE thanks to Gregg, Javier & The Zancudo Lodge Staff for making this a trip we will never forget.

Check out “The Zancudo Lodge” on the web. Gregg makes sure that the transfers are seamless from air to ground travel. Excellent accommodations & plenty of stuff to keep the wives happy while you go have fun! This place is a world class fishery, you gotta check it out.

-Chud

-Team Hula Girl

On The Fly in Zancudo

Gary and his teenage son Max hopped across the pond, fly rods in hand to have a “go at it”. If you read the last report you too know the bite has been red hot with Dorados 20-30 lbs ten per boat per day, Marlin, Sailfish and Roosters. Including the great fishing by Trey and Bill who during their five days of fantasy fishing caught among many other fish, over 30 Dorado, fought 6 Blue Marlin and landed and released one each.

Well the pond Gary and Max crossed to get to the Lodge was the Big Pond as they made their way from England for a two week stay of nonstop fishing. And although Max’s mom and grandma probably knew they liked fishing, I don’t think either of them had any idea they had that same fever as yours truly and could fish from morning until sundown for two weeks straight and revel in the telling of it from diner time until pillow time. I caught up with Mom and Grandma as they anxiously awaited the boys’ return from their first day of offshore fishing. They too came on this Costa Rican vacation, I thought to just enjoy the beach and pool, but when I saw their eyes wide with anticipation, what at first seemed like patient waiting under the tiki hut at the dock, I realized they too were struck by the father and son fly fishing duo’s excitement. It had probably been the talk of the dinner table back home for many weeks leading up to this great trip.

The boat pulled up to the dock, we tied it tight and Gary tells of his first Sailfish he caught on a fly, something he had only heard about before this day. They had eight Sailfish up, lost three and released one. That was their first day and Gary said he couldn’t believe it and that he wasn’t used to fly fishing like this. I told him he would get used to it and better at. He did, as:

Over the next two weeks Gary and Max fished from boat, beach and dock, catching thirty different species. Max released his first Sail on the fly, caught his first Roosterfish and released a Snook he landed on the fly right off our own dock. They had countless releases on Dorado, a swing and a miss on a Blue Marlin and landed a big Jack Cravelle in the surf on the beach in front of the Lodge’s swimming pool. There is too much to list, but for sure Gary’s wife and mother, Max’s mom and grandma, now know of their men’s love for fishing. Whether they understand it like us diehards do , we’ll never know.

Enjoy the photos

Capt Sloan

The season officially kicked off, or should I say peeled off as reeled screamed with jumping Dorado and deep diving Tunas.

Harry brought his group in from Oregon and Art and his fishing partner Susan(who is also his wife, lucky guy) caught the first Blue Marlin of the season a horse at an estimated 500 lbs (five hundred). Captain Elvis at the wheel. Lynn and his wife Jenne, who always seemed to be smiling, had multiples on Roosterfish. Captain Luis rang the bell two days ago with 21 big Dorado 20-30 lbers and three 40 lb class Yellow Fin Tuna to put on top.

I had the Yo-Zuri tackle team out on my first off shore trip of the new season made up of George and Frank. Just the day before they caught the complete mixed bag of inshore species: Jack Crevalle, Nurse Shark (8’), Horse-eye Jack, Roosterfish, Blue Trevally, Scorpion Grouper, Warsaw Grouper, Marquesa Snapper, Yellowtail Snapper, Pargo (Common Red Snapper), Triggerfish, Houndfish, and Bonito . We were making a full day of lots of 30 lb Dorados (Mahi-Mahi) and a 6 lb Triple Tail when we gave it one more toss of a live bait at the school of boiling Tuna. Sure enough as all the boats passed us on their way to the dock Frank tells George he thinks he is getting a bite on his live Blue Runner. George debates this with him momentarily and then agrees as the 50 SW two-speed gold International starts dumping line at wide open, thumb burning speeds. Frank, the Friendly Goliath Angler at an easy 6’ 3” headed for the chair, it was 2:30 in the afternoon and we just hooked up a very fresh, energetic big Yellow Fin Tuna, it was to make for a late return to the lodge.

The battle was unique as the fish came close to the boat 3 times in the first 20 minutes, unfortunately just out of reach of my sharp gaff. Without sounding (going deep), it lead us East then North while the big school seemed to follow us around. I was tempted to throw a popper into the passing school, but knew we had our hands full as it was. Then the fish went down, straight down peeling off line as it pleased, Frank struggled hard just to hold on. Watching the sun head for the horizon, Frank’s battle reached the first hour mark as darkness was on its way. I thought to take the chance, without much else to do, to push the drag past the strike mark which was risky as the stealthy, thin 80 lb Yo-Zuri Floro leader worried me. Not knowing where the hook set was, left it a mystery as to if the line was being chaffed by the small but very sharp Tuna’s teeth. I took the chance and pushed it forward, the rod bent over harder, bending what seemed to be all the way and the line held tight. As it seemed the fish would never come up Frank just held on like a prize fighter in the 15th round up against the ropes.

Well, all the waiting and battling payed-off as it sometimes does. The fish found its way to the top, came along side the boat and 2 gaffs found its side. In the boat, into the brine fish bag, and then with a slice under the gill and at the tail to bleed it out it headed home with us. Charging home with just the slightest bit of civil twilight to make our way, I radioed on the VHF to Gregg on the Lodge’s home base VHF. With its 100 foot antenna tower he heard me loud and clear. Get the digital scale fired up and keep our dinner warm.

We hit the dock at 7pm, greeted by a large crowd under the lights, weighed our trophy catch at 120.7 lbs, took a few photos and left Paulino to do the filleting. Shirley the chef would turn it into sushi and grilled tuna steaks the following night.

What a great way to start the season.

Enjoy the photos

Capt Sloan

With December fast approaching; yesterday’s bite is the reason why I enjoy fishing so much this time of year. We had a late start due to the fact that we had some travel agents checking out the lodge. One of our boats from the previous day found a school of porpoises and was able to catch 3 tuna in the 30lb range and one dorado.

Louis was our captain we also had on board Ryan who works at the lodge as one of our bartenders and my friend Barry. We headed 20 miles due west. On our way out we came across some floating logs with birds diving. A large school of dorado were feeding. We started working the area with live bait. They had no interest what so ever in our baits so we started trolling. We hooked a double right away. I ran to the front of the boat and started throwing a popper with my spinning rod. A few seconds, hook up. It was 8:30am and we already had dinner on board. We trolled around and caught 3 more fish. Our mission was to catch tuna so we decided to leave the bite. Which was hard to do. We ran another 4 miles and came across a small school of porpoises. As we approached the most amazing spectacle of 100lb+ tuna were breaching the water they were chasing bait ahead of the porpoise school. At this time I got very excited today might be the day that I catch my first 200lb+ tuna. We stopped short and put our baits in. The tuna were down the porpoises were very skittish and would not let us get close to them. This made it very hard to hook a tuna. We worked the area for a while hoping that the tuna would come up. Unfortunately they did not. So we pulled up our lines and went out in search of another school. After a 20-minute run we came across a school of spinner porpoises. Spinners are the best for catching tuna since they are not boat shy. We started working the area every ten minutes or so the tuna would come up to feed. After a few tries with live bait Ryan start casting a Yo-Zuri popper and hooked a nice 60lb tuna. He fought it for 45 minute and had it to the surface. This was Ryan’s first tuna. We stayed with the school for another 45 minutes and decided to go back to where we caught our dorado’s ealier. We found the spot there were many bird circling and feeding. We started trolling and after 5 minutes a small marlin was in the spread he hit the lure on the corner of the boat. I grabbed the rod and pulled the hook. The Marlin started to run but after a few minutes he was off. We continued work the area and caught a sailfish and two nice sized dorado’s.

What a great day of fishing. We sill have plenty of room in December so give me a call if you are interested in coming down.

Open Sky beach party 2009

Zancudo Beach Resort invites you of two nights of DJs, the best music, videos, lightings and modeling.

December 12 & 13, 2009

Two nights of… Beach, Pool and lot of fun.

Featuring:

Saturday Night: DJ Bubu, Costa Rica. Power Hits 80s, 90s and House music.

Sunday Night: VJ Vix, Costa Rica. #1 VideoMix in Latino América

Plus we have great fishing year round.

Below is a review I just found on Trip advisor. We still have a few opening in January, February and March.

A notch above the rest, a great lodge. This is now the Zancudo Lodge. If you are thinking about heading to the Golfito area, there is no other choice. It isn’t a “spa resort”, but that wasn’t what we wanted or needed out of our vacation. It was our honeymoon, and we just wanted to get away from things and fish (however, I think there is internet service). Low-key, intimate and friendly atmosphere that helps you see the true beauty of Costa Rica and the people, that’s what we wanted. Expectations exceeded. Its not about the big things, it is about the little things, someone is always there if you need anything. The staff at the Zancudo lodge makes you feel like you live there. From the bartenders, cooks and manager – they went above and beyond taking care of their guests, – treat them with respect! The Zancudo lodge can also take care of all of your travel arrangements within Costa Rica – every detail was executed with class. Let them know what you want out of your stay – and they will help you all of the way!

We went specifically for fishing sails on the fly – and we were not let down. If you want to catch a sail on the fly – the Zancudo Lodge has the BEST GUIDES to help you do it – but bring your own rod/reel. The center console boats are well equipped with all conventional gear. The guides were amazing – they know the waters and how to get you the fish – the rest is up to you. Great rooms (all double beds I think), hot showers, air conditioning AND daily laundry service – pack light! Beautiful grounds and gardens with sunset views that are in your dreams. A pool to cool off in after a long day. The beach is right at your doorstep. Next trip – we’ll stay longer and take advantage of the non-fishing rates so we can explore the area – they also have kayaks and can take you into the mangroves, snorkeling trips and so much more.

There is something for everyone at the Zancudo Lodge. Wow!