Roosterfish and a Pair of Pargo: Golfito
G. Martin Lively
I had heard of good sailfishing out of Golfito and it was time for a steam bath anyway so out of the temperate Avacado Mountains and south to the former banana port and current free market town of Golfito, Costa Rica
The drive down was uneventfull, cool and foggy at the crest, the area known as the Cerro de la Muerte; called that not because of the landfalls which often reduce the two lane road to less than one with deadly dropoffs, but because it gets so cold that stranded travelers sometimes died from hypothermia. Trucks and curves make transit slow but soon we dropped down to the coast and into the grubby port town of Golfito.
The travel guide Costa Rica by Christopher Baker, a Moon Handbook (our favorite for Costa Rica) gave the Hotel y Restaurante el Gran Ceibo a good write-up and, since it was the first lodging we came to we checked in and immediately hit the pool. http://www.1-costaricalink.com/hotels_puntarenas_costa_rica/hotel_el_gran_ceibo_costa_rica.htm
An early dinner at the Banana Bay Marina put me in touch with Skipper Bobby McGuiness. He had a charter the next day who was looking for another fisherman. Don wanted to flyfish and I wanted to see that. We agreed to meet there at the Banana Bay Marina at dawn the next day.
McGuiness knows the waters well, we stopped at the mouth of the bay to catch bait and then turned south, trolling just beyond the waves and stopping to cast to rocky outcroppings. Each of us picked up a couple of small pargo, but nothing to brag about. http://www.fishcostarica.com/bobby_mcguinness.html
We headed further south and were almost into Panamanian waters when the skipper was able to triangulate a spot in the ocean from two landmarks. He threw two netsfull of baitfish out from the stern and soon the water exploded. We were over an undersea mountain that made it almost to the surface, miles from sea it was a gaterhing place for baitfish, rockfish and marauding predators. As the skipper circled the mount don cast a huge white streamer fly and I tossed a hooked baitfish. We circled, cast, hooked and caught lots of fish over the next hour or so. Don and I each took a pair of dogtooth snappers and each released a good size roosterfish or Pez Gallo.
Our fishing was interrupted by a storm and we ran directly into it forever. The small bimini top provided no protection from the horizontal rain and we were drenched completely. I leaned back against the drivers bench and white knuckle gripped the stainless steel uprights as the small walk around, center console pounded its way back to port.
Sailfishing is what Golfito is most known for and both out of Banana Bay Marina and the Sailfish Rancho across the bay one can charter experts at both conventional and fly fishing. Hope to write about that later.
G. Martin Lively
I had heard of good sailfishing out of Golfito and it was time for a steam bath anyway so out of the temperate Avacado Mountains and south to the former banana port and current free market town of Golfito, Costa Rica
The drive down was uneventfull, cool and foggy at the crest, the area known as the Cerro de la Muerte; called that not because of the landfalls which often reduce the two lane road to less than one with deadly dropoffs, but because it gets so cold that stranded travelers sometimes died from hypothermia. Trucks and curves make transit slow but soon we dropped down to the coast and into the grubby port town of Golfito.
The travel guide Costa Rica by Christopher Baker, a Moon Handbook (our favorite for Costa Rica) gave the Hotel y Restaurante el Gran Ceibo a good write-up and, since it was the first lodging we came to we checked in and immediately hit the pool. http://www.1-costaricalink.com/hotels_puntarenas_costa_rica/hotel_el_gran_ceibo_costa_rica.htm
An early dinner at the Banana Bay Marina put me in touch with Skipper Bobby McGuiness. He had a charter the next day who was looking for another fisherman. Don wanted to flyfish and I wanted to see that. We agreed to meet there at the Banana Bay Marina at dawn the next day.
McGuiness knows the waters well, we stopped at the mouth of the bay to catch bait and then turned south, trolling just beyond the waves and stopping to cast to rocky outcroppings. Each of us picked up a couple of small pargo, but nothing to brag about. http://www.fishcostarica.com/bobby_mcguinness.html
We headed further south and were almost into Panamanian waters when the skipper was able to triangulate a spot in the ocean from two landmarks. He threw two netsfull of baitfish out from the stern and soon the water exploded. We were over an undersea mountain that made it almost to the surface, miles from sea it was a gaterhing place for baitfish, rockfish and marauding predators. As the skipper circled the mount don cast a huge white streamer fly and I tossed a hooked baitfish. We circled, cast, hooked and caught lots of fish over the next hour or so. Don and I each took a pair of dogtooth snappers and each released a good size roosterfish or Pez Gallo.
Our fishing was interrupted by a storm and we ran directly into it forever. The small bimini top provided no protection from the horizontal rain and we were drenched completely. I leaned back against the drivers bench and white knuckle gripped the stainless steel uprights as the small walk around, center console pounded its way back to port.
Sailfishing is what Golfito is most known for and both out of Banana Bay Marina and the Sailfish Rancho across the bay one can charter experts at both conventional and fly fishing. Hope to write about that later.
