Zancudo Beach Resort, Zancudo Sport Fishing

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