www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I just got through reading that thread about the hellish trip one member had with the Angry Marlin charters and I thought I should post a little report on the trip I had Last year down in Playa Herradura that was a ton of fun.

This trip was on January 21st of this year. I was staying at the Hotel Del Rey and the girl at the front made all the arrangements for me (she was awesome!). I wasn't sure if I could fit a fishing trip in during that visit so everything was kinda rushed at the end. I also wasn't too interested in sharing a charter with some strangers as I really wanted a day to myself on the sea. I had a lot of stuff happening in my life and it was my desire to just loose myself for a day and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. So, since I wasn't splitting the cost with anyone else, price was a bit of an issue. I really couldn't afford a $1500 all-day charter. The girl at the desk came through for me though! She got me a 25 footer for the whole day in Playa Harradura (just North of Jaco) for only $500. And she also arranged for one of their drivers to take me there and drive me back for only $80 more.

I'm sorry but I can't remember the owner of the boat, but the captain was a Nicaraguan named Mike. His first mate was named Raphael. Capt. Mike's email address is capmike66@yahoo.com. And his contact phone #'s are 8311-7992 and 8883-4929. This info is a year old, so I hope it's still good.

So at 6am sharp, I hopped in the cab out front of HDR and started the 2 hour(ish) drive there. The cab driver was a nice guy who spoke so-so English and had information about every place we drove by. Sorta like a mini-tour-bus trip I tried practicing my Spanglish on him. We had a bit of trouble finding the boat though as we mistakenly went into the marina for the "rich" folk Some pretty large houses and fancy boats in that area! But in just a short time, we got better directions and found the boat moored offshore at a public launch just up the beach. Captain Mike was waiting with a water taxi and we proceeded right out to the boat.

Damned if I can remember the name of the boat. I know it was a 25 footer and fairly "used" looking. No fancy radar or entertainment systems on this one, that's for sure. But it was sound and in good mechanical shape and had all the necessities I needed (Beer cooler - check! - Live Well - Check! - Fish Finder - Check! - Lots of Bait and Rods - Check!) We wasted no time in heading West offshore. I think we went out about 27 miles off the coast of Playa Herradura. The weather was just amazing. I had some fruit and a sandwich for breakfast and Mike offered me some beer or juice, but I stuck to the juice and told him I didn't plan on drinking until we had caught something. Eventually, we get to the deep water and set up 5 lines in the water. I ask Mike how the sailfish have been and he tells me they have been a little slow this year so far. From where we are, i can see maybe 4 other boats out as well. None real close though. Well, the first couple of hours not a hell of a lot happened. Those beers were looking real good after 2 hours under the hot Pacific sun, but I held out and stuck to the juice! Mike gets us moving over to a new area and we spot a sailfish on the surface and i try and entice it with one of our lines, but it just doesn't seem to be interested. Finally after another hour of nothing, I sit down and decide I need a drink, so out comes a beer and not a word of a lie, as soon as I popped the can open, we get hits on two of our lines. Mike sits me down in one of the chairs and hands me one of the lines while he works the second. His mate asks me if I want the harness and belt set up and I tell him no, I'm fine right now (big he man no need belt to hold little fish!... LOL)

Well my first real deep water fish on line was a 45 pound male Mahi-Mahi. I'd never caught anything larger then a barracuda (the year before in the Bahamas) so it was quite the eye opener for me. I struggled with it for about 5 mins and then Mike showed me how to make quick drag adjustments and how to use my gloved hand to control the line when the drag was slipping. I got the hang of it and after about 20 mins I had the fish close enough to see pretty clearly. He was a beaut! It was funny though, it seemed that everytime I worked to get him reasonably close to the boat, he would jump and then sprint off, releasing the drag and running a bunch of line out and I would have to work to get him back again. It was only after the second time that this happened that I noticed my rather playful Captain was turning the boat in a circle towards the fish everytime I got it close, so that the line would slacken off and he would get a fresh breath and jump and run on me. This was great for the Captain trying to take a picture, but not so fun for someone who had never deep-sea fished before and who's arms felt like they were going to fall off soon! The next time I fought him back in, I rather sternly ordered the Captain to hold the boat steady and then the mate hooked him and pulled it in. From what Mike told me, this was a rather large Dolphin fish. He sure did put up a nice fight!

Here's a PIC of the first of three Mahi-Mahi I caught that day.
(it's funny... i showed a friend this pic and he asked me if I caught the thing or did i just beat it into submission - ok, it was still a bit lively when we brought it on board and it needed a few jabs to die )

Well, the whole time that I was fighting this monster, the mate had been nursing the second fish along and when I tiredly reset the rod after catching the first fish, he hands me the second rod with a smile. OK, time to go to work again, lol! Luckily this fish wasn't as big as the first because I don't know if my arms would have held up. I rather sheepishly ask for the belt so I can rest an arm at a time and then I sit down and nurse this fish in (still no harness though... i have my standards!). The second mahi-mahi was a 30 lb female and didn't fight as hard as the male but was still a pretty fun fight. I got that one into the boat in about 20 mins.

After we clean up and reset the lines, Mike and his mate ask me what I want to do with the fish. Well, I am not going to worry about trying to get a 45 pound dolphin fish back to Canada and I know that Mike works for only $50 from the boat owner and his mate is working just for tips, so I tell them they can have it, but I want to try it out. So they quickly gut and clean both fish and slice them into fillets. Mike pulls out some soya sauce and some spices and we have a little sushi lunch right on the water... can't get much better then that! It was delicious!! All told, those two fish alone provided probably 30 lbs of nice meat for Mike, Raphael and their families.

We start trolling again and I sit down to relax a bit and crack open another beer and, wouldn't you believe it, we get a hit just as I open my beer again! It was another mahi-mahi but this one was pretty small. Less then 20 lbs anyhow. The crew preps it and adds it to the other fillets. We start heading back towards shore around this time as we have a good 2 hours to get back to port and after about another 30 mins or so, we catch a small tuna, about 15 pounds. We just release this baby.

So that was it for the fish action of the day. Even though I never got a sailfish, I was still happy with my 3 dolphin fish and the tuna. Also, while we were traveling back to port and I was relaxing at the bow with my cerveza fria, I was treated to a pod of real dolphins swimming alongside our boat. I even got to touch a couple of them as they jumped and swam in the bow wake. that was pretty cool and a perfect end to a great relaxing fishing trip!

Another thing I remember was that just offshore of PH we pulled alongside a larger, fancier charter with 5 gringos on board and rode alongside them to the moorings. We all ended up in the same water taxi and they looked pretty unhappy so I asked them how their fishing was. Well, apparently these 5 paid over $1100 for their charter and two crew, but they only had one hit all day and that was a really small sailfish. They were not happy campers since only one guy got anything. I felt real bad when I told them we caught 4... really, I did!

My cab driver was waiting for me when we pulled up to the beach and it was just getting dark by the time I got back to the HDR. Just enough time to have a quick nap and then get showered up and refreshed for another night at the KL

So I would highly recommend Captain Mike for anyone who wants a fun fishing trip on the West Coast. Here's his contact info again. i just wish i had time to take in another trip when i am down next month. You can also try at the travel desk of HDR and ask if they have info on Capt Mike or the operator he might work for usually.

Capt. Mike's email address is capmike66@yahoo.com.
contact phone #'s are 8311-7992 and 8883-4929.
(This is off his card, but it's a year old.)

Here's a PIC of Mike (at the stern) and his mate Raphael (at the wheel).