How to Catch Big Tuna Offshore in Costa Rica
Thanks to the tremendous efforts of FECOP and other organizations that protect the waters of Costa Rica, the Tuna are back with a vengeance for sport fishermen. My fellow Captains and I can remember just a few years ago catching a Tuna was a big deal and a real treat for our clients. Nowadays, the Tuna are plentiful and we hope and expect it to stay that way for many years. Having said that, it’s not so easy to consistently catch these beauties. Often times traditional Tuna lures like cedar plugs simply don’t work. As more people fish for Tuna, the fish get smarter and more selective (especially the bigger ones). However, because we are in such a remote location…
We are pleased to announce the Reel Escape finished 13th out of 51 of the top Charter boats in all of Costa Rica. We hosted two teams from Brazil and teams from Trinidad and Australia. During this prestigious four day event there were 328 Sailfish, 23 Blue Marlin, 1 Black Marlin, 18 Dorado, 3 Wahoo and 3 Yellow Fin Tuna caught. All of the 240 Anglers were required to use circle hooks and ALL of the Billfish were released. This was the fifth consecutive year the Reel Escape has fished in this tournament described as the ‘Olympics of Sportfishing’ Torneio Marlin from Rio de Janeiro was the overall winner in this year’s event.
For more tournament information…
The number of rocky points and underwater structures around Drake Bay, Costa Rica are the perfect habitat for Roosterfish. This magnificent species is only found from Baja, California to Peru. They are beautiful, hard fighting gamefish that have a Rooster comb which is seven long spines comprising the dorsal fin. Roosterfish are generally caught around or on top of submerged rocks in 50-150 feet of water.
There are many methods to catch Roosterfish, in the 20 years I have fished for these fish in Drake Bay, I have found that free-lining live bait has proven to be the most effective. On the Reel Escape we us a 7 foot medium/heavy spinning rod, 80 lb braided line…