August marked the final month of the season for us aboard GOOD DAY here at Marina Pez Vela Costa Rica. We always get the season started on 1st November, fish as much as we can through to the end of April, take a mid season break in May for 2-3 weeks and then get after it again June, July, August. We mostly keep September & October free for boat maintenance & holidays before getting started again 1st November.
Although not a peak travel month, thankfully August proved to be a super busy month for us this year with 27 days at sea. The weather starts to get more unsettled at this time of year as we enter the peak of the rainy season in September & October. We postponed 1 day due to weather and on 3 more trips the weather was not great with rain & bumpy seas but the rest of the month we were super lucky and enjoyed mostly great weather and some great fishing, with just a few slow days mixed in.
We seen Sailfish on most Offshore trips, Yellow Fin Tuna were around in numbers for most of the month but some days real finicky and almost impossible to catch as they feasted on micro sized latern fish, a tiny red deep water baitfish with large eyes & a wierd elongated jaw.
We seen Dorados on maybe half of our trips, caught a few good ones and lost a couple of monsters! Some of the other boats had some cracking Marlin days catching 4-5 Marlin in a day, typically off a big old tree trunk or man made FAD full of bait. During the month we caught a few Blue Marlin mostly around 200lb and a couple of stunning Striped Marlin. Brenda & John had a blast on 22 August, with Brenda catching a Grand Slam with a Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin & 7 Sailfish, epic day!
Catch Report - August
1st - 1 for 1 Sailfish, slow day
2nd - 2 for 3 Sailfish, 2 Tuna 30-40lb, 1 Dorado, 1 Shark
3rd - A 50lb Tuna & 1 Dorado
4th - 1 for 2 Sailfish, 1 Tuna, lost a 20lb Dorado
5th - 5 Tuna, 2 nice Dorado, missed/lost 2 Sailfish
6th - 1 for 1 Sailfish, slow day
7th - 1 Sailfish, 4 Dorado
8th - released 2 Sailfish, lost 2 Blue Marlin & missed a 3rd Marlin
9th - 2 for 3 Sailfish, 4 Tuna, lost a 50+ plus Bull Dorado at the gaff. 1 broken rod on a Tuna
10th - 2 for 2 Sailfish & lost a Tuna
11th - released 2 Sailfish, missed a Blue Marlin, caught 2 tuna 60lb & 35lb
12th - caught zero but one of those days where you fish your socks off! At the time we should have been going home (late afternoon) we were running towards Hawaii (out into the abyss!) chasing a tuna school. Hooked 2 Tuna but both came off, one a real nice fish broke the leader after 20 mins. Lost a Dorado too. Can’t win em all!
13th - 2 for 3 Sailfish
14th - 1 for 3 Sailfish, a 20lb dorado, 1 Jack, 1 Shark
15th - lost a Sailfish next to the boat, missed another & lost a tuna. Tough day & caught zero. That made it 5 days this season we got skunked (never caught a fish). 98% success rate out of 230 days fishing.
16th - 4 for 7 Sailfish, lost one on Fly
17th - 2 for 3 Sailfish, caught 1 on Fly. 3 Tuna to 40lb plus a Dorado
18th - 3 for 6 Sailfish, 1 Striped Marlin, 2 Tuna 50-60lb
19th - 1 for 1 Sailfish, 3 Tuna up to 45lb
20th - 2 for 3 Sailfish (raised 6)
21st - 1 Sailfish, missed a Marlin, caught 3 Dorado and a nice Roosterfish
22nd - GRAND SLAM - 200lb Blue Marlin, 130lb Striped Marlin & 7 Sailfish (raised 15 Sailfish)
23rd - 0 for 2 Sailfish, caught 4 Nice Tuna
24th - 1 for 2 blue Marlin (200lbs) & 1 Sailfish
25th - bad weather, postponed this one
26th - 2 for 3 Sailfish, 2 Dorados, lost a big bull Dorado
27th - 1 Sailfish, 1 Tuna, missed a Dorado
A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that Fished with us during August & the season in general. Last November when the season was just starting we had no idea how things would turn out with lockdowns, travel restrictions, US election etc so we are very grateful that we got a normalish season under our belts and got back on our feet again.
We have a few weeks down time in October and then can’t wait to get started again in November, my favorite month of the year when the Dorados are usually going crazy and the Marlin fishing can be red hot too!
We would love to hear from you if you would like to start planning a trip of your own!