Hello to you!
Judith has inspired me to broaden my Blog and to be more attentive to it. So I will start recording non-fishing events and stories here too.
Email notice of a new post is being sent to a few folks right now, please email me (gmlively@gmail.com) if you would like to get an email when I post a new entry.
-m-
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Tarpon Quest Twenty Ten
Tarpon Quest Twenty Ten
First Tarpon Catch and Release
50th Annual Fishing Tournament
Rio San Juan, Nicaragua
September 13, 14, 2010
by G. Martin Lively
The tripI have described the trip from here to and from El Castillo, Nicaragua before, so I won’t go into detail. You drive to Los Chiles, Costa Rica, take a boat from there to San Carlos, Nicaragua and from there another boat to El Castillo. It is a jungle view adventure worth the trip even if you do not fish, I have taken Jean and Terry there just for the scenery.
Roberto, Geoff & Dennis
Hotel Victoria
After you get off the boat at El Castillo walk to the street fronting it and turn left. At the end of the trail, and it really is a trail, no cars only carts, is the Hotel Victoria and the smiling faces of Julia, Nena and their crew. It is like coming home to your aunt’s place in the country. You will be ushered to the rear deck restaurant and handed a bottle of ice cold Tonya beer, much needed after a long boat ride and the the more than warm walk to the hotel. Nothing fancy here, but it is spotless and air conditioned and $35 a night single $50 double with breakfast on the deck. Slow Internet is available in the lobby. ( photos of the hotel and more of El Castillo are available at http://picasaweb.google.com/gmlively )
Fishing
TarponQuest Twenty Ten was the 50th year of this tournament on the San Juan River between El Castillo and the Solentiname Islands. In addition to the pre-historic tarpon, megalops atlanticus, the contest includes snook, machaca, guapote and roncador. This year the tributory rivers were muddy and the lesser fish were caught up near San Carlos, that is to say we near El Castillo caught NONE of them; and the shore lunch of just caught snook was a highlight of the last two trips.
Same guides and deck hands as last year, but unfortunately two of the four were still drunk from the party last night kicking off the tournament, one was half drunk and the fourth was from up river. But the fishing is quite simple, troll a Rapala Shad Rap in fire tiger or white with red head around the river mouths of tributaries and hang on. The river moves swiftly and hooking a tarpon is like snagging a side of beef in that current. (I have a broken road as proof.) When those smaller rivers are clear one can troll up and down them using a Rapala Far Rap or Big O in the same colors as the tarpon lures. Roberto had one strike, Dennis none, I fought a 120 pounder for 22 minutes before another boat came too close and caused my tarpon to jet downstream. My drag failed and SNAP.
El Castillo Our boats at El Castillo dock
Geoff’s fish
On day two Geoff hooked into another 120+ lb fish. It ran and jumped many times and the rod holder belt we brought along came in handy as Geoff worked the fish for over an hour. Hooked well in the upper jaw the fish managed to surface for a gulp of air and energy every fifteen minutes or so and forced us downriver and over the rapids. In the calmer water below the rapids the fight continued for another half hour until finally the leader came back onto the rod and Geoff brought it to the side of our boat. Published rules for catch and release had been changed and had we known the ‘new rules’ his fish would have qualified for catch and release when the leader touched the tod tip. Next year we will file for catch and release status! Anyway, the guide was too anxious and botched the lip gaffing and the leader to lure knot gave way. It may have been a prize winner and we all sulked for some time.
Geoff’s fish’s first jump ...and over the rapids
120 lbs + almost to the boat
San Carlos Awards Ceremony and Fiesta
November 16 is Nicaraguan Independence Day and the week from the 12th to the 17th is a huge party at the dock in San Carlos. November 14 is the tournament awards ceremony and fisherman’s dinner and we enjoyed mingling with the fisherman and hundreds of spectators and fiesteros.
Drive back, Ceci’s
From San Carlos the day after the Fiesta we hired the Monte Christo launch, twice the price and less than half the time and we could leave before the 2pm waterbus.
November 16 is Nicaraguan Independence Day and the week from the 12th to the 17th is a huge party at the dock in San Carlos. November 14 is the tournament awards ceremony and fisherman’s dinner and we enjoyed mingling with the fisherman and hundreds of spectators and fiesteros.
Drive back, Ceci’s
From San Carlos the day after the Fiesta we hired the Monte Christo launch, twice the price and less than half the time and we could leave before the 2pm waterbus.
Just before Zarcero is a favorite restaurant, Ceci’s. If we drive that way going we stop for hot chocolate and chorreadas, this lunch stop called for Beef Stroganoff, Sauteed Pork Chops and Onions, Lomito Suizo, and Grilled Chicken with Mushrooms. I tried them all and can’t wait to get back to any dish there.
PS Applications for “Tarpon Heaven Twenty Eleven” being taken at gmlively@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Trolling and Reef fishing out of Sierpe
Aldea del Rio Charters, Sierpe, Costa Rica
I’ll bet it was the first time in 30 years that the three of us had fished together. It was a good day for fishing and getting together with sons George and Geoff who will be back soon to give Dad another excuse to fish. Chris Gardes who grew up in McLean with my sons came along too.
Brian of the Rio Lindo Resort in Dominical had told me of Aldea del Rio Charters in Sierpe and I booked a day offshore with them. We did not go to far out, maybe ten miles, before we found a huge school of small, six to eight pounds, tuna. The boat was a 27 foot, center console, full bimini top sportfisher with a 150 horsepower outboard. We cruised swiftly down the river for about an hour, ran the potato patch at the mouth and turned south for about an hour. From nine to eleven it was non-stop action with one or the other of us fighting a tuna. We trolled surface splashing plugs on two outriggers and two stern rigs. In addition to the yellow fins, which are great eating, we caught black tuna or skipjack which we kept for later bait.
The overcast burned off and the sea was calm; a perfect day. But no sails, dorado or marlin showed and when the tuna quit, we turned North to a sea mount Jay knew of. His GPS guided us there and the depthfinder showed the bottom rising to 60 feet below the surface. Large blips on the screen at about 40 feet meant big fish were available.
We rigged with heavy leader, a two ounce weight and a big circle hook. A fillet of skipjack is hooked once and then dangled down to the fifty foot level with the reel in free spool. Lots of little tugs from fish too small to get the big fillet in their mouths had to be resisted, as did the big tug and run, for a few seconds that is. A circle hook works by being pulled slowly towards the corner of the fish's mouth as it pulls away taking line. After a few seconds the drag is engaged and the hook digs in, no strike necessary. We drifted over the seamount and then motored back up current to do another drift. Over the next few hours we fought, caught and lost many kinds of fish: trigger fish, red snapper, green snapper, rooster fish, big eye jack, amberjack and white tipped reef shark. The amberjack weighed 23 pounds and the shark was between five and six feet long. The shark stayed in the water, but the rest joined the tuna in a large cooler as we headed for shore.
Jay had wasabi and soy and so the first yellow fin fillet was cut into thin bite sized slices and right after a swift dip in the soy and horseradish sauce was enjoyed by everyone on the dock.
More photos of the trip at http://picasaweb.google.com/gmlively/SierpeJune172010#
Aldea del Rio website is http://www.aldeadelrio.com/
I’m eager for another trip, and if you are too, you can email me gmlively@gmail.com and we can arrange a charter.
-gml-
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Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Tarpon Safari 2008
Rio San Juan Tarpon Tournament 2008
Not a lot of tarpon were caught, but a lot were hooked and lost. I didn’t even see the two sides of beef whose initial strike and run broke my too light rod, and then next my too light line. But son Geoffrey’s fish made it to the boat, made it to the scales and made it into the record books as the third largest fish of the event!
Five of us drove from Atenas up to Los Chiles in Rick Mazza’s Mahindra King Kong Kab. What a truck! Smooth, fast and used very little fuel. We went through the border crossing and boat trip to
John had flown in from Virginia where only in the last few years he had started to fish with a neighbor there in Vienna. Roberto lives in Atenas and, like me, fishing is his passion. Especially ice fishing in
At 5:30am on September 13 the contest began as two boats with the five of us shoved off from the dock at our lodge. After a ten minute run the trolling began. We used large, medium diving Rapalas in grey and silver and firetiger colors. The basic technique is to work the deep run out in front of El Castillo and each of the river mouths, alternating with trolling trips up the several smaller rivers feeding the Rio San Juan. In the rivers we caught snook and machaca. Circling the river mouths was best for tarpon. All but one of us had them say hello, several were hooked and were on long enough for an initial run and a few jumps. Tarpon are strong, primitive fish with very tough mouths and the difficulty of setting the hook combined with violent head shakes in the air makes for easy un-hooking.
During the first morning Roberto boated a couple of snook over
We went to Cofalito’s restaurant for lunch. Cofalito was our lead guide and is one of few licensed guides in El Castillo. Piña, also licensed, and Hamilton and Beto were our other guides. All of them are serious fisherman and very knowledgeable of the river and how to fish it. Cofalito and Piña debated locations and techniques all day and teased the hell out of each other if the final destination did not produce. This Heckel and Jeckel pair was a delight and kept us entertained when the fish were not paying attention. While at lunch a center console walk-around pulled up to the dock just below the restaurant and unloaded the largest fish I have ever seen caught in fresh water,
The afternoon was a boat ride. Hot, then rain, then troll, troll, troll. My back began to ache and Rick napped, hands still locked to rod and reel. He awoke and I sat up camera in hand as Geoff yelled “I got one!”, and he DID. A head the size of a small keg of beer came out of the water followed by a matching mirror sided body. It was so huge that it failed to clear the water rising to three quarters of its body at best before splashing back like the fat kid at the pool doing belly flops.
Leaps became fewer and further between, and runs became shorter but still powerful as the fight between Geoff and His Sablao continued. The first half hour went like it was five minutes but then time began to drag and Geoff began to tire and I began to fear that the hook would straighten or the line would break or the lure would dislodge during a jump, or… The guys were all like boxing ring attendants, giving Geoff bottles of water, handing him a lit cigarette or a towel and always words of encouragement. Deep dives close to the boat were the most threatening. The line could foul on the engine. Cofalito worked the boat away when the fish approached as Piña, gaff in hand, sat at Geoff’s feet giving instructions to both Geoff and Cofalito. Another half hour passed. Then during the final half hour the fish tired and began to only roll near the surface and could no longer resist the constant pressure Geoff had skillfully applied. After two near misses right at the boat Piña gaffed the lower jaw and we had our tarpon. The fight had taken us so far down river that the dock and weigh station were only a couple of hundred yards away and we dragged the fish alongside right up to the dock.
The crowd and tournament officials gathered as Geoff’s catch was dragged up the boarding steps of the dock and over to the scales. The closest guy to the fish was the man whose fish was so far largest. He was as elated as Geoff was disappointed when the scale read 104. That disappointment faded fast as Geoff grinned for the photographers. Everyone wanted a photo and I had to elbow my way into the paparazzi to get my shots in.Geoffrey Stiles, Sabalo, 104#,
5:am on the 14th, Cofalito wanted to work the
We took a couple more snook in another little river, and then when trolling it’s confluence with the Rio San Juan Rick well hooked what looked like a 60 or
We went Direct to the central, official weight tally. Geoff had been pushed down to third by a 114 pounder caught late afternoon of the second and final day. A 104 taken after Geoff’s finished fourth. A commercial cooler full of beer for the entrants gave us our first beer of the festival. The town square was rimmed with food and beer tents and a high stage where the Victoria Girls, think Budweiser girls only hotter, tried to shake their scanty costumes off all night. In addition to the contestants everybody from within a hundred miles was there, hundreds and hundreds of beer-in-hand guys and families and groups of teenagers. The restaurant tents were jammed and we stood in a light rain eating vigaron and waiting for the award presentation.
Finally someone came to the microphone at the biggest elevated stage and called for the officials: the event coordinator, the head of the tourist bureau, the mayor of San Carlos, the candidates for the next election, and a bunch more – each made a fifteen minute speech, except for the woman from the tourist bureau who spoke for almost 45 minutes. The light rain continued.
Finally the tournament official started the prizes, but not for fishing; it was a raffle of door prizes using our entry numbers. Backpacks and tackle boxes and fishing rods, I thought it would never end. When the announcer called out JEFF, our ears perked up and Rick and Roberto shoved Geoff to the stage where he accepted a raffle won backpack. When JEFF was called again we listened closer and the number was not Geoff’s, it was some Canadian fellow – Geoff had snatched somebody else’s prize and was known thereafter as “Geoff de Canada”
Most snook, biggest snook, most guapote, biggest guapote, biggiest drum, the awards trolled on. Then 4th largest tarpon and the photographers crowded in as formal portraits of winner and officials was taken by the tournament photographer. When Geoff was called out again, it was Geoff Lively and he mounted the stage to accept third place in the Sabalo Real category. He got a huge trophy, a beautiful carving of a local fish, a quart of Flor de Cana 18 year old rum and a certificate. We all cheered and he and the other winners stood on stage grinning.
It was so late that we all slept on the floor of the Sabalo Lodge’s office in San Carlos rather than risk the night run back down the Rio San Juan to the Lodge itself.
Up at dawn and the return trip by boat, boat, boat and car to Atenas. Ready for 2009!
G. Martin Lively
2 August 2009
Monday, October 6, 2008
Berries and Blood
Ripe, red coffee and blood on the deck
The not-so-nice scent of rotting fruit from the nearby Coopeatenas coffee processing plant, the Benificio Diamonte, let me know that harvest had begun. Not in a big time way yet, jut small amounts selectively picked as bushes with a little too much sun for this altitude ripened. But it has to be picked; green to yellow to orangish to red and then brown and down on the ground and lost. Don Ramon and young David had picked the little ripened fruit on Finca Zacatal, only two cajuelas – maybe forty pounds. But like a Beaujolais Nouveau, the first fruit of the season carries a certain excitement.
I was just putting the half-full sack in the back of my Montero when a huge Ford pickup pulled into Casi el Cielo. My fishing companion stuck his head out the window and yelled “Come on, let’s go: it’s time to put the Montauk in the water.” He had added a smaller boat to his adventure armada, a 17 foot , center console, walk around Boston Whaler. So the coffee moved from my car to his and then to the
Beneficio San Isidro, where, after Jose and I shared lots of fishing stories with Rolando Rojas, it began the fermentation, cleaning, drying, husk removal, pre-roasting, roasting and packaging that puts in on our shelves.
Puntarenas and the
Jowen taught me the instruments and controls and the channels and obstructions as we high propped out to deeper water, but soon we were on plane and zipping toward the fishing grounds. Working birds disclosed fish feeding at the surface and we slowed, stopped and cast metal jigs at the diminishing boil. As fast as the fish showed they departed. I was so excited being back on the water that I cannot tell you how long the run to the Negritas took, but it wasn’t long, and a few minutes after getting there we switched to white, red head, five inch Rapalas and were trolling around the island just off the rocks. We were in the Pacific; the little chain of islands including Tortugero and the Negritas is where the blue ocean and the brownish green Gulf of Nicoya
Roosterfish, pargo, grouper, dorado, sierra mackerel, jurel or jack and even the occasional wahoo or sailfish were possibilities. Rod holders had not been installed so it was only possible to fish one rod at a time, so under the guise of wanting to test the boat and all components (but really more interested in my getting a fish) we steered clear of the rocks and slow trolled keeping an eye on the fish finder for water depth and for the
small and larger blips on the screen indicating baitfish and under them – game fish. Each time we passed over schools of baitfish the skipper would then see larger fish images and command, “Two hands tight on that gear Martin, that’s a thousand dollars you are holding and there are fish down there capable of ripping it overboard.” White knuckled I waited while the end of the G. Loomis rod vibrated the Rapala dance. Rainy season. Too many previous moonlit nights. Middle of the day. Quien sabé? But a couple of hours of trolling produced only one small Spanish Mackerel, a beautiful little fish, and the one which christened the deck with its bright red blood. The dock boys would enjoy this fish for dinner. It fought well but was no match for the gold anodized Calcutta
I had taken the helm after clearing port on the way out, but was tired from the constant movement of the boat and the toll that that takes on your legs as you stand bent kneed and bowlegged struggling for balance, so Jowen “drove” back. He loves this little boat and pushed it to the limits as we flew over the slight chop and in between the winter wood in the water.
In the center of the Gulf, Birds! We stopped as the few birds of earlier had grown to hundreds and the surface was broken in bands thirty feet by thirty yards as some unknown predators slashed at baitfish driven to the surface. Again metal was tossed to them and this time we were both hooked up to the hard fighting Jack known locally as Jurel. Ten/twelve pounds each they were a good fight and there were thousand of them within casting distance. We cast, hooked up, fought and landed or released as many as we had the arm and leg strength for. The school would veer away, break up and then re-group as we fought the hooked ones. A short run to where they resurfaced and we were hooked up again. It was the largest school of feeding game fish I have ever seen and what fun. Four went into the ice chest and the rest swim to grow and wait for our return.
Over spicy lemon shrimp soup and beers at Restaurante Leda in Mata Limon we exchanged views of photos on our digital cameras and told stories of fishing past and future.
From coffee harvest to café con leche at sunset at the beach, with singing reels and pounding waves in between – just another average day in Costa Rica
g. martin lively
Friday, August 8, 2008
Fish here like you fish at home
There is nothing really complicated about fishing in Costa Rica. Just fish here as you do back home. That is, the trolling rigs you use for bluefish on the East Coast or salmon on the west coast will work in the Pacific for tuna, dorado, wahoo, sierra mackeral and more. Surface skipping lures for larger fish including sailfish and marline are easy to find in the few good fishing tackle shops.
In fresh water lakes and streams use the same gear and lures that you use for largemouth and smallmouth bass - here you will catch guapote and guapatillo. Popping bugs on a flyrod like you use for bream, bluegill, pumpkinseeds and the like will drive the mojarra wild too. They are like bluegills on steroids and are really fun. Another fish that takes surface lures or flies is the machaca or sabalito, little tarpon. It looks like a small tarpon, leaps like all tarpon but be careful it has teeth like a pirana which is uses to eat fruit and nuts as they fall into the water. Lake Arenal and the rivers feeding it are on the tourist trail, bring your gear.
Surf casting with lead head jigs and mirror lures as is done on both coasts of the US for stripers or rockfish will work in tropical waters, but will result in snook and snappers. Just get beyond the first wave into the trough. I like the river mouths and am partial to the Parrita area.
Trout are trout, especially the rainbow trout; they came from the McCloud River in Northern California and behave here just as they do in Oregon and New Jersey. They are smaller, so stick to small lures and flies. Rivers holding trout include the Savegre, the Toro Amarillo, and most of the headwaters of the famous rafting rivers.
Tarpon are different, maybe not for Floridians, but for me. I have yet to catch one. There are famous lodges in the Northeast of Costa Rica at the Rio San Juan and Rio Parismina, and tarpon can be found in the Southeast too. Juar Google Jim DiBerardinis, he's the Wheeling College guy who found them there and has developed a fishing service.
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In fresh water lakes and streams use the same gear and lures that you use for largemouth and smallmouth bass - here you will catch guapote and guapatillo. Popping bugs on a flyrod like you use for bream, bluegill, pumpkinseeds and the like will drive the mojarra wild too. They are like bluegills on steroids and are really fun. Another fish that takes surface lures or flies is the machaca or sabalito, little tarpon. It looks like a small tarpon, leaps like all tarpon but be careful it has teeth like a pirana which is uses to eat fruit and nuts as they fall into the water. Lake Arenal and the rivers feeding it are on the tourist trail, bring your gear.
Surf casting with lead head jigs and mirror lures as is done on both coasts of the US for stripers or rockfish will work in tropical waters, but will result in snook and snappers. Just get beyond the first wave into the trough. I like the river mouths and am partial to the Parrita area.
Trout are trout, especially the rainbow trout; they came from the McCloud River in Northern California and behave here just as they do in Oregon and New Jersey. They are smaller, so stick to small lures and flies. Rivers holding trout include the Savegre, the Toro Amarillo, and most of the headwaters of the famous rafting rivers.
Tarpon are different, maybe not for Floridians, but for me. I have yet to catch one. There are famous lodges in the Northeast of Costa Rica at the Rio San Juan and Rio Parismina, and tarpon can be found in the Southeast too. Juar Google Jim DiBerardinis, he's the Wheeling College guy who found them there and has developed a fishing service.
Monday, July 14, 2008
ST PETER'S FISH
ST. PETER’S FISH 
The farm pond just down the road from you is probably the best place to fish in the
It has firm, white, mild flavored meat and you have eaten a lot of it as ceviche and as the pescado en your casado con pescado. Most seafood markets carry tilapia, and often it is the least expensive seafood in the case. Try it in your favorite fillet recipe.
Fish for tilapia as you did for carp, bass and bream as a kid. Put a doughball on a small hook a couple of feet below a bobber and toss that bait not too far from the bank. In a few minutes or less the bobber will move in one direction or the other. Seldom do tilapia strike hard enough to pull the bobber completely under, just look for a steady lateral movement and give a quck, light strike.
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So get out your lightest weight rod and reel, or just get a cane pole, and squeeze some Bimbo on a tiny hook. Your neighbor would love to have you at his pond.
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