longone
20-01-2010, 01:13 PM
I work as 2nd mate for an American Bussinessman aboard his 220 foot Luxury private yacht. We are doing a 2 year world tour and have had the opportunity to stop, and fish, some of the most exotic locations available. Last May was one of those opportunities as we spent about a month anchored off Costa Rica just outside a well known game fishing destination for wealthy Americans, Los Suenos. (Pronounced: Los Swenyos) They run the Los Suenos Signature Billfish tournament every year (January 13-16, 2010 for Leg I and February 17-20, 2010 for Leg II.) and after seeing the spectacular fishing on offer there first hand, I will be making every effort to get back across to participate one year soon.
We chartered the 40 foot custom 'Tres Amigos' for what seems to be the going rate of about US$1500 per day (tip extra) We left the marina just after 6am and werent to return until about 5 that afternoon, so its a full day, and in every way worth the coin. As we shot out through the breakwater, I was sipping my first beer, as you do, watching one of our two local deckies massage rock salt into the Bally-hoo before rigging them with surgical precision, and I thought to myself, these guys are the real deal. We settled into a very comfortable 25 knots for the 20 nm run out which had us on the grounds exactly 1 hour after I cracked that first beer. One of the best parts about this place is that it never blows. From December through till about June you can expect to max out the anemometer at about 12 knots..... everyday!
We got the gear in and apart from sighting a huge school of spinner dolphins, had no action until about 10am when, as it does, mayhem insued! The seemingly benign American skipper suddenly burst in sprays of broken Spanish as his two deckies shot into action grabbing a rod each and before we knew it...we had a double! "YEEOOWW! Here we go boys!" I yelled. (I had managed to coax a group of uncertain first timers from the crew out on the boat that day to split the charter fee and getting them to cough up the cash and commit was about as pleasent as a vinegar bath for fresh gravel rash, so I was trying to get them excited.) The junior deckie and I ended up with a stick each and we were off. We had both fish really close very quickly but unfortunately we ended up getting the lines crossed and popping off the deckies fish.
In all the panic and confusion my line ended up wrapped around the rudder and before I could squeeze out my first profanity the local deckie was in the water sorting out my mess. As it turned out the line snapped while he was trying to free it and I watched as the fluro yellow mono slowly creeped across the cobalt blue with my sail attached to the end of it. The deckie jumped back in the cockpit and the chase was on as we backed down on my line which, believe it or not, was retrieved on the second swim and reattatched to the 3 inches of flacid line I still had hanging from the last runner on my rod. It took me a few seconds to get back into the fight as my beer glazed brain tried to work out if what I had just seen was real or if I had forgotten to get out of bed that morning and was still dreaming. Long story short, it was boated, photographed and released and within half an hour of it swimming away, we were on again.
Blue Marlin this time and not a bad one. We had the Captain of my boat on the rod but unfortunately after about 20 mins and a few touches of the leader it was lost as the line cracked like a whip amidst yet another series of uncontolled breaches. We managed one more sail late in the day and headed back to the marina happy and keen to take advantage of the fantastic facilities at the resort. I would recommend a visit to Costa Rica to anyone. There is plenty on offer there besides just the fishing and with daily flights from LA there is no excuse not to extend the kids trip to Disney Land so you can enjoy the amusement park waiting just offshore from Playa Herradura.
We chartered the 40 foot custom 'Tres Amigos' for what seems to be the going rate of about US$1500 per day (tip extra) We left the marina just after 6am and werent to return until about 5 that afternoon, so its a full day, and in every way worth the coin. As we shot out through the breakwater, I was sipping my first beer, as you do, watching one of our two local deckies massage rock salt into the Bally-hoo before rigging them with surgical precision, and I thought to myself, these guys are the real deal. We settled into a very comfortable 25 knots for the 20 nm run out which had us on the grounds exactly 1 hour after I cracked that first beer. One of the best parts about this place is that it never blows. From December through till about June you can expect to max out the anemometer at about 12 knots..... everyday!
We got the gear in and apart from sighting a huge school of spinner dolphins, had no action until about 10am when, as it does, mayhem insued! The seemingly benign American skipper suddenly burst in sprays of broken Spanish as his two deckies shot into action grabbing a rod each and before we knew it...we had a double! "YEEOOWW! Here we go boys!" I yelled. (I had managed to coax a group of uncertain first timers from the crew out on the boat that day to split the charter fee and getting them to cough up the cash and commit was about as pleasent as a vinegar bath for fresh gravel rash, so I was trying to get them excited.) The junior deckie and I ended up with a stick each and we were off. We had both fish really close very quickly but unfortunately we ended up getting the lines crossed and popping off the deckies fish.
In all the panic and confusion my line ended up wrapped around the rudder and before I could squeeze out my first profanity the local deckie was in the water sorting out my mess. As it turned out the line snapped while he was trying to free it and I watched as the fluro yellow mono slowly creeped across the cobalt blue with my sail attached to the end of it. The deckie jumped back in the cockpit and the chase was on as we backed down on my line which, believe it or not, was retrieved on the second swim and reattatched to the 3 inches of flacid line I still had hanging from the last runner on my rod. It took me a few seconds to get back into the fight as my beer glazed brain tried to work out if what I had just seen was real or if I had forgotten to get out of bed that morning and was still dreaming. Long story short, it was boated, photographed and released and within half an hour of it swimming away, we were on again.
Blue Marlin this time and not a bad one. We had the Captain of my boat on the rod but unfortunately after about 20 mins and a few touches of the leader it was lost as the line cracked like a whip amidst yet another series of uncontolled breaches. We managed one more sail late in the day and headed back to the marina happy and keen to take advantage of the fantastic facilities at the resort. I would recommend a visit to Costa Rica to anyone. There is plenty on offer there besides just the fishing and with daily flights from LA there is no excuse not to extend the kids trip to Disney Land so you can enjoy the amusement park waiting just offshore from Playa Herradura.