Offshore Costa Rica Fly Fishing

Marlin, Sailfish, Dorado, Tuna, Wahoo, Tarpon

Costa Rica is known for an unbelievable experience when it comes to the opportunity fly fisherman get.  Chasing billfish offshore with a fly rod has got be one of the most thrilling experiences any fishermen could ever encounter. Imagine a 100+ pound sailfish or even a 300-400+ blue marlin light up with its neon blue lights at the transom, as hungry as a back yard bull dog that has had nothing to eat for a week. Sailfish are caught 6-15 times on a normal day and twice that on a good day. Quite often they come into the teasers in pairs or more. I have seen many times 4, 6, 8 or more immediately behind the boat in casting range. One day in particular we witnessed 90+ sailfish around the boat. Many times we had all fly rods hooked up; we were once fighting 3 and had 2 more jumping, biting at the teasers off of the outriggers as they were slapping the water at the side of the boat.   We managed to land 12 that day, all on fly rods.

Sailfish are a lot easier to hook than marlin because they just aren't quite as smart as a marlin. Sailfish are much more plentiful than marlin and normally come to the teaser in numbers. You may get 2 or 3 shots at a sailfish compared to one at a marlin in Costa Rica.

Blue marlin average between 300-500 pounds, and I have seen them up to 900 lbs. The black marlin will run 400-1000 lbs. You might see a few marlin every day out fishing in Costa Rica. Fishing with Bobby McGuiness a few years ago we raised 17 blue marlin to the boat and in a 4 day trip landed 9 of them on conventional gear.

In addition to billfish offshore we quite often catch dorado and tuna with our fly rods. We have landed many Dorado over 50 lbs with fly rods and as many as 12 under 1 single sheet of plywood without putting the engine back in gear.

Tuna is another great fish to throw flies to. You may come along a school of Tuna from 5-20 lbs and just watch them go crazy over your flies. I have awesome little tube flies they love to chase. I have seen many times where we will land 20+ tuna in a few minutes on our fly rods.

Inshore Costa Rica Fly Fishing

Roosterfish, Snapper, Tuna, Yellow Tail, Horse Eye Trevally , Mackeral, Snook, Wahoo

Roosterfish is most likely going to be your main target, but while chasing Roosterfish with the fly anything may show up. Seeing a roosterfish attack a fly on the surface is one of a fly fisherman's greatest rewards, They light up all different colors, their long comb on top stands up and there bucket type mouth goes into a furious attack mode; they just terrorize the baitfish along with your fly.

Fly Fishing - Caribbean

Tarpon - Snook

You will be fishing in Costa Rica with the famous captain Eddy Brown, as he grew up on the Rio Colorado river and has spent 40+ years chasing and building clients for Tarpon and Snook. I don't believe anyone could understand them better then Eddy. While fishing for Tarpon here in Costa Rica we use a fairly large type tube fly.

On our last trip over in November, it wasn't a matter of trying to get them biting but it was a matter of landing them. Many times we had 2-3 on at once, even had one take our fly alongside the boat. We managed to land 26 in one day.

Equipment and Flies

I personally keep 25-30 fly rods and reels available here in Costa Rica at all times. I would enjoy very much hosting a trip for you and your family, fishing buddies, or whom ever. I love to see the look on someone's face the first time during a magnificent fish attack on there fly on the surface.

If you choose to bring your own gear, that great. But bring the best you can find as I have seen many clients go home only with pieces remaining. Flies should be in the 4-13" size, I recommend tube flies and lots of sharp hooks. I do have a very good supply of flies here as all my flies for Costa Rica are tied here in Costa Rica. For rods a good 8-10 wt for inshore fishing and a 10-12 wt for dorado and tuna. For sails, a 12-13 wt is great and of course for Marlin a big gun- 14-16 wt rod is  highly recommended.  300-400 yds of backing on all these and a good supply of 40,60, and 80 lbs leader tippet material is necessary.