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 San Carlos, Nicaragua as described in El Castillo, my earlier article about the Rio San Juan.

Raquel from Sabalos Lodgr met us at the dock, helped us through customs and immigration and got us to the downriver water taxi with only a few minutes to spare. Registration for the tournament took those few minutes and we learned that about a hundred entrants were expected. The hour and a half downriver run was a delight for Geoff and Rick and Roberto Muggli and John Difazio who had never been in this part of the world. Herons in three sizes and three colors, anhingas, swifts, congo monkeys, kingfishers and the occasional caiman dotted the dense foliage of the shoreline. Rough sawn plank houses peek out from that shore now and then, and all of them fly the multicolor flag of bright pink, orange and yellow tee shirts and shorts.

Yadro, 70 something, and wife Rebecca, 18 something, waved from the Sabalos Lodge dock. Finally after a three hour drive from Atenas to Los Chiles, an hour plus trip down the Rio Frio and onto Lago Cocibolca, and another boat ride of an hour and half down the Rio San Juan, not to mention lots of waiting between each leg of the journey, the adventure began.

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 Minnesota. Rick might have wet a line sometime, somewhere during his oil soaked, Semper Fi, coffee selling, colorful career but memories of it were vague. I handed Geoff his first spincast rod and reel when he was five and we caught sunfish. He went on to light tackle spinning for largemouth black bass and then to the flyrod for trout, and has by now out fished me in every variety of fish. Especially tarpon!

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 12 lbs and Rick, Geoff and I each landed some smaller snook and a few machaca. John, as they say, “jumped” a couple of tarpon one of which Roberto reports was probably a prize winner.

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, 140 pounds. It was and remained the largest fish of the tourney. Geoff was pumped!

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#, 13/9/08 went up on the board. (Geoff’s middle name became his apellido for this tournament.) He was in second place! But would it last?

Exhausted from a long days travel followed by a long day fishing, we headed in just before dusk for a dinner of our snook and early to bed for the final tournament day.

5:am on the 14^th, Cofalito wanted to work the Sabalos Grande River before river traffic, swimming kids and washer women put the snook down. He was right and we caught more snook that morning than any other This river stay wide and deep for quite a distance and would be perfect for fly rod popping along the bank below overhanging trees. Snook think poppers are frogs or flailing fish, machaca think a fruit has fallen from the trees and attack with their piranha like teeth. Both fight well, the snook going deep and the machaca taking to the air, and the snook/robalo is especially fine eating. After weighing in our snook at the Hotel Monte Cristo dock we took an eight pounder to a riverside restaurant for lunch. Cofalito thought that we might be in contention for the most total weight of snook caught during the tournament so we made sure all snook caught were recorded with officials.

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 70 pound tarpon that stayed on for more than the first couple of jumps. But then on a long, deep run the line went slack. The fish had rubbed it off on the bottom, or … who knows? But that’s why it’s called “fishing” not “catching.” Another hour of trolling and we were home. But not for the night, tonight was awards night and fiesta in San Carlos. We had barely enough time for a shower, change of clothes and a cold Toña before Cofalito and the boys were back for our trip to San Carlos. High speed against a stinging rain prevented napping and made for a long hour and half trip.

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 4^th 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

Berries and Blood

Ripe, red coffee and blood on the deck

4 Oct ‘08

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 Costa Rica Yacht Club are a little over an hour from Atenas, and soon we were putt-putting from the dock across to dry storage where  fishing boats are kept clean and dry on their trailers. Radio, rods and reels and other gear came from another boat as the full black cover was pulled from the new baby. White and cream and chrome it glistened in front of the huge 4 stroke outboard. Dock crew backed it down the boat ramp and we were off. Off very slowly at first, since the tide was out and there are places where there is less than two feet of water and even the Montauk needs a foot and a half.

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 come together.

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 700 reel.

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

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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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 Central Valley. Most have been stocked with Tilapia, oreochromis mosambicus. Farm raised around the world this tasty fish originated in North Africa and the Middle East. It is the fish of fhe two fish and five loaves at the sermon on the mount in the Bible, and is often called in English St. Peter’s Fish.

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.

In the pond near my home in San Isidro my friend Jim, his girlfriend’s eleven year old son, Esteban, and I using doughballs and mini-marshmallows hooked and released 20 or more fish in less than an hour. Four of the largest tilapia went home with Jim, and he reported the fillets were very tasty. Esteban caught the first fish, and the largest, and that one was the biggest fish of his life– almost 2 pounds!

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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Out of Golfito

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.

El Castillo, San Juan River Nicaragua

Mark your calendar -September 13, 14 & 15

because that’s when the tarpon tournament at El Castillo on the San Juan River in Nicaragua will occur. Hundred plus pound silver kings are there over a hundred miles from the sea and a three day fiesta celebrates them.

My sister Terry Lucas and a friend Jim Black and I traveled there on a visa renewal jaunt last month. The fishing at this time of year was poor but the towns of San Carlos, Boca del Sabalo, and El Castillo and the riverside beauty during the boat trips was spectacular. Three seats wide and ten rows long, the river buses took us from Los Chiles, Costa Rica to San Carlos, Nicaragua and then on to The Sabalos Lodge which is well described at http://www.sabaloslodge.com/english

The proprietor of the Lodge is a retired Sandinista Major who after retirement raised poison dart frogs and other colorful amphibians for export to the US and Europe. His headquarters is now a nine bungalow hotel right on the banks of the San Juan River five minutes from Boca de Sabalo. The thatched huts have modern bathrooms and porches right over the river. In addition to fully netted double beds, hammocks are strung at each bungalow and at the riverside, totally open Hammocks Bar. Lots of insects swarm to light bulbs but we found no biting insects at all. Meals are a bit pricey but are nicely served in a pretty little dining room.

Jim and I fished one day from the Lodge to El Castillo and back. We saw a few huge tarpon roll but there were just taunting us and inviting us to the tournament in September. We got a few smaller fish on smaller lures, but the Solantiname Islands are much better for guapote, managuense and machaca. Six inch medium diving Rapalas in tiger stripe/fire belly or white with red head for the tarpon, and Big Os in the same colors for smaller fish were what we trolled for. Our guide Hamilton lives in El Castillo and we stopped there for coffee and to see the Castle. The town hugs the riverside below the fortification built to combat pirates who had to stop at the rapids there on there way to pillage Nicaraguan cities from Lake Nicaragua.

Our trip back repeated the two boat rides and was equally full of birds ( I saw green, white, and blue herons, both sizes of green kingfisher, cormorants and anhingas, blue grey and red rumped tanagers, Baltimore orioles, and flycatchers and honey creepers of every shade as well as several varieties of hummingbirds.) There were also caimans and congo monkeys and basilisks. The boats stop not only at hotels, but at simple rough hewn homes on stilts which house local farmers and cowboys. Photo opportunities abound.

So, load your camera* and take the three day visa trip – or rig your rods and get ready for huge tarpon in September.
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Border crossings at Los Chiles and San Carlos are less congested than most, but equally bureaucratic – have your up to date passport and a pen ready to fill out Customs and Immigration forms on both sides. United States citizens do not need a Nicaraguan visa and may proceed directly to the Costa Rica Immigration Office which is about three blocks from the dock at Los Chiles. In San Carlos both immigrations and Customs are right at the dock.
< * photos can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/gmlively/ElCastillo

Solantiname Islands, Lake Nicaragua

March 14, 15, and 16 in Nicaragua

One day of fishing and three days of adventure

By G. Martin Lively


The fishing in Lake Cocibolca is great. Second in size in Latin America only to Lake Titicaca, it covers approximately 8,624 sq km and, like a sea, features high winds, crashing waves, and even sharks. My friend Jim and I caught lots of guapote up to five pounds, managuense or jaguar cichlid in the two pound range, and very colorful mojarra every one of them around a pound. Both casting and trolling Big O’s and Fat Raps worked, as did casting chartreuse and white spinner baits with bronze willow leaf spinners. Next time I will bring my fly rods and lots of small and medium popping bugs. The little islands surrounding the larger, populated islands provided far more action than Lake Arenal at it’s best many years ago. I can’t wait to go back.

We stayed at the Hotel Cabañas Paraiso* on San Fernando Island in the Solentiname Archipelago which is about two hours by boat from San Carlos, Nicaragua, in the far eastern part of Lake Nicaragua or Lake Cocibolca as it is called locally. Eduardo, his mother Maria Magdalena Pineda and the fishing guide/hotel worker Jose took wonderful care of us. Meals were simple home style Central American fare featuring rice and beans and a cabbage salad with tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers and either chicken, beef or – best of all, of course- your own just caught deep fried fish!

Jim and I left Atenas, Costa Rica, around 9:am on a Friday and, after stopping for the best wire whisked hot chocolate in the world in Zarcero, were in San Carlos (Quesada) by 11:30am for gas and sandwiches before continuing North to Los Chiles. We had read the last boat from Los Chiles to San Carlos, Nicaragua left at 3:30pm so we wanted to be there by 2:30pm to have time to find the Nicaraguan Visa Office and the boat and ticket offices. With a US passport there is no fee for the Nicaragua visa and the process took five minutes. The dock is three blocks from there and the stop in between at Costa Rica Immigration ($7 exit tax) took about 20 minutes because of the line of Nicaraguan travelers headed home for Semana Santa. Luggage was never inspected and we were told to board the boat and pay the ticket cost ($10) when underway. I dropped Jim and the luggage at the dock and drove back to the Rancho Eco Directa Hotel where they agreed to keep my car in their guarded parking lot for a dollar a night.

Our 3:30pm boat left somewhat after four pm. It was the last boat of the day and it waited for those in immigration and a little longer for a few who were “on their way” to the dock. A row of opposing bench seats lined the long narrow boat holding about 24 people. The hour on the Rio Frio was a birding experience; we saw ospreys, green herons, great blue herons, regal white herons, green kingfishers, cormorants and anhingas, as well as scores of other wading and insect catching birds.

As the river widened and a huge lake came apparent through the trees many of the Nicaraguans exclaimed in pride “Cocibolca, nuestra mar dulce.” We were at the confluence of the Rio Frio and the Rio San Juan and on the other side of the Rio San Juan perched San Carlos, Nicaragua, its fort and three cannon protecting Nicaragua from invasion via the San Juan River.

Customs and Immigration were fast and informal and located right at the dock. It was there that we got the bad news. We had missed the last $10 trip to the Solentiname Islands. Eduardo from Hotel Villa Paraiso knew that we would, and he was there with his launch. The run from San Carlos to San Fernando Island is $100 via water taxi and that is not bad if there are a lot of passengers (the boat holds a dozen), but it was only the two of us! $50! Ah the price of adventure fishing.

The sun was lowering, but still hot and the canvas top shaded us and the four, triple wide seats with backrest. Its last rays turned to a rosy gold sunset silhouetting the islands with San Fernando dead ahead.

We were shown to our rooms and their array of generator, battery and solar ceiling lights. The generator lights and ceiling fan ran only from 8pm ‘til 11pm. The solar light was available of course during the day and the generator also recharged the battery light which was available at all times, hopefully. A simple Central American casado filled us up and got us ready for the agreed 6:30am fishing trip the next morning.

Excitement prevailed and I did not need my wristwatch alarm to wake me a 5:30am, I was ready at 5. Jim was awake also when I knocked on his door and soon Jose took us down the short flight of stairs to the dock and out to the islets surrounding the bigger island we stayed on. We trolled medium diving, short, fat bodied lures of many makes - and they all worked. In the first hour we each caught a half a dozen nice fish, each more brilliantly colored than the last. We stopped to cast and Eduardo showed up in a second boat brining coffee and some pan dulce. He joined us and the four of us fished, alternating trolling and casting to likely looking shoreline places for another hour and a half. Lots of fish.

After a breakfast of gallo pinto and scrambled eggs we visited the local art cooperative and Solentiname Museum. Primitive oil painting and smooth, bright colored balsa animals were the features. (Next time I bring more cash, the paintings were gorgeous and priced at less than half their Costa Rican equivalents.) Siestas and then the lake called. Another two and half hours like the morning, except this time I caught a BIG ONE. It was a five pounder, called lagunero here and guapote in Costa Rica. The scientific name for this large, fresh water cichlid is Parachromis Dovii. Aquarists call it the Wolf Cichlid which tells you something about its aggressive nature.

Dinner Saturday featured our own caught fish which were deep fried whole. Rico and deelishous!

Sunday it was pack up and reverse the boat trips back to San Carlos and Los Chiles and then we were on the road to home. Lots of big trucks on the two lane highway especially on the mountain curves makes time estimates unreliable, but I would say that it was about two and half hours from Los Chiles to San Carlos (Quesada) and another hour and a half from there to Atenas. Leave time for frequent rest and refreshment stops.

Great trip. Great fishing. (Next time from San Carlos I will boat down the San Juan River a couple of hours to El Castillo. I hear the Sabalo Lodge is nice and the San Juan River in that area offers one of the few places in the world to fish a river for tarpon. Stay tuned.)

Even if you don’t fish, the Solentiname Islands offer a great 72 get away from Costa Rica for visa renewal purposes. The wildlife, art and river boating adventure are worth it.


*Hotel Cabañas Paraiso
Isla San Fernando
Archipiélago del Solentiname
Rio San Juan, Nicaragua
gsolentiname@amnet.com.ni
Tel. 278-3998 Cel. 894-7331, 824-1860


More pictures from the trip can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/gmlively/SolantinameMarch14
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