September marks the final month in our long season, it is always a fairly quiet month with not many visitors in our area and we were glad to get out for a few trips fishing in quepos before we focus on the boat maintenance in October.
On our first trip of the month on September 3rd we got off to a flyer catching 62 fish & 10 species! We lost a nice Marlin that day also which would have really made it special! We did 3 days Fly Fishing for Roosterfish during September. We raised 8 Roosterfish, catching 1 on the Fly, losing another at the net and had a few very near misses with Roosterfish literally chewing on the tail of our Fly but just not getting the hookup! Fly Fishing for Roosters is certainly not for everyone and just looking at our numbers, 1 fish caught from the 8 opportunities we had at Roosterfish, certainly demonstrates the difficulty factor. On one of the Fly Fishing trips we had some excellent variety with multiple shots on Roosterfish, Dorado & Sailfish all in the same day. There is certainly no grand slam for that species combination but catching each of them in a day on Fly would be pretty cool!
Tim, Chris & crew from Texas fished with us for 3 days 20-23 September. The 1st day got off to a flyer when we caught & released 2 nice Cubera Snappers of around 22lb & 18lb. We finally caught a 25lb Roosterfish after incredibly losing another 6 Roosterfish throughout the day, one of those days when the hooks kept pulling mid fight!
As the month progressed and rains intensified the build up of trees, branches & debris on our current lines increased the number of Dorado in the area. We seen Dorado on most trips during the month and a few boats in the fleet had bumper Dorado days with many good sized fish landed.
September – Trip Summary:
3 September 1 Sailfish, 3 Tuna, lost a Marlin, 13 Grouper, 3 Snapper, 2 Tilefish & a ton of other bottom species
11 September Inshore Fly Fishing – We raised 5 Roosterfish on the Fly today & came super close on 2 fish but narrowly missed out. We found a big school of Milkfish & patiently tried putting algae flies on their noses without success. It was a productive day with 12 fish raised altogether, mainly Roosterfish & good sized Mackerel but as Fly Fishing often goes, we did not get a fish to the boat today!
12 September Inshore/Offshore Fly Fishing – 1 for 3 on Roosterfish, 0 for 2 on Dorado, 0 for 3 on Sailfish – great day with a lot of variety, there are not many places in the world you can cast a Fly at Roosterfish, Sailfish & Dorado in the same trip but we did this day!
19 September Fly Fishing – Started out Fly fishing for Roosterfish but none raised today. Worked our way Offshore & went 0 for 3 on good sized Dorado, super close to catching one on Fly!
20 September 2 Cubera Snappers (both released), 1 for 7 on Roosterfish (unlucky day with lots of lost Roosters!), 2 Silky Snappers, 3 Grouper + other bottom species
22 September 1 for 2 on Dorado, o for 1 on Sailfish,
23 September 1 for 2 on Sailfish whilst livebaiting the Reef for Marlin
24 September 6 Tuna, 1 Dorado, 1 Big Eyed Jack
We took GOOD DAY out of the water on 26th September and are now in the midst of 5 weeks of annual maintenance to get her ready to go again for high season which begins for us on 1st November. We are currently working on Engine maintenance, Painting, Wood work, Fibreglass, Outriggers, Propeller, upgrade of all Safety equipment & lots of other small improvements.
Our peak fishing season is November to April and we have various options available including Inshore/Offshore fishing out of Quepos, multi-day Fishing trips around the OSA Peninsula, perfect for the Jigging & Popping enthusiast, Bluewater Fly Fishing trips & the opportunity to fish for Tarpon on our Caribbean Coast with our friends at Tarponville.
We would love to hear from you if you are interested in your own Fishing adventure in Costa Rica.
Tight Lines!