Fly Fishing in Costa Rica

As a family we love to travel. We also love to fish. Combining the two and finding the perfect holiday to satisfy all family members is always challenging. This time, though, I got it right.  I hope this article provides an insight of what you can expect and inspires you to follow us on a trip to Costa Rica.

My wife expects high standards. Second best isn’t an option. So the correct accommodation was of upmost importance. To make everyone happy I needed to find a luxurious hotel with first class facilities and with world class fishing. This is a tall order! After a great deal of research, I decided on the RIU Palace a 5* luxury hotel located in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. I promptly booked with TUI as they fly direct to Liberia International airport in Costa Rica. This is just an hour away from the hotel.

Guanacaste is situated in the northwest region of Costa Rica, bathed by the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here RIU has two hotels in close proximity on the Matapalo beach. The 5* RIU Palace and the 4* RIU Guanacaste. Their location makes them the perfect choice for those who love water sports such as fishing, windsurfing, sailing, diving and kayaking.

We opted to stay at the 5-star RIU Palace hotel complete with a spa. It’s both elegant and sophisticated and added a real touch of luxury to our vacation. Its 538 rooms are ultra-modern, spotlessly clean and have that “WOW” factor when you open the door. They will leave you spellbound. This link to the official RIU website provides even more information regarding this fabulous resort.

The RIU Palace and RIU Guanacaste on Matapalo Beach

Even though the hotel is “all inclusive” it features four “a la carte” restaurants. The fusion restaurant “Krystal”, the Italian “L’Anfora”, the Japanese “Tokyo” and the Steak  “Papagayo.” Add in the main dining hall and buffet “Arenal,” which is complete with cooking stations and “themed events” and you are spoilt for choice. The quality and range of food on offer is overwhelming and second to none.

I shouldn’t forget to mention the perfectly maintained grounds, the numerous swimming pools, gymnasium and spa. Or, the stunning views of the beach and sea. Lastly, as a “guest” you get free entry to the Splash Water Park. It’s just a 3-minute walk from the hotel. It’s definitely an added bonus especially if you have children looking for excitement in a safe environment. Throw in the RIU Palace’s unique location in an area of natural beauty that’s packed with flora, fauna and wildlife and you instantly realize that you made the correct decision. We were lucky enough to see turtles, dolphins, monkeys, rays and a variety of beautifully coloured birds during our stay.

The Fishing

Where do I even begin with the fishing? it can only be described as amazing. Beach fishing, kayak fishing, inshore and offshore boat fishing are all available and easily organized once you arrive in Costa Rica.

Collection for fishing trips is often directly off the beach in front of the hotel at a time of your choosing. However I do advise that you plan as early mornings 06:30am or late afternoons 15:00hrs are preferable from a fishing perspective.

You have a number of options as regards “Guided fishing” and I can recommend the following:

• Armando Quijano a local guide with a 30ft Panga boat. This is ideal for inshore boat fishing. Contact him via +506 8974 7941

• Walter Moreno another local guide who specialises in Kayak or Surf fishing. Contact him via +506 6253 9846 or wmorenofishing@gmail.com

• Papagayo Fishing Charter a local business for inshore or offshore fishing. To book, contact jmendez@charterspapagayo.com

Before you cast a line please be aware that when boat fishing in Costa Rica a INCOPESCA (Costa Rican Institute for Fishing and Aquaculture) license is required it should be purchased in advance by visiting http://www.incopesca.go.cr/carnets/tramites/SolicitudTraducido.aspx for $30 a month (or $15 a week).

Trips into unknown waters are exciting for any angler and often we just can’t wait to fish. Ignoring what we already know; the tides, time of day, bait, etc will all effect how successful we are going to be.

Hire a Guide

Employing the services of a “guide” is something of a treat for most of us, especially with the additional expense involved. However, I do recommend at least 1 trip with a guide very early in your vacation. Use it as an opportunity to learn, watch and listen. Learn from their years of local experience and glean all the information, tips, methods and tactics you can. It will prove invaluable and the best money you ever spent when you decide to go solo.

Rather than to provide an instructional piece, I thought it best to simply share our experiences and some of the general lessons we learned. We only just scratched the surface as regards the fishing in Costa Rica. Thus, we can in no way be considered “experts” after just 1 trip. However, the following is what we came up with.

What to Bring

In the first instance do not think this will solely be a “fly-fishing” trip. Conditions are often variable, and it is not always suitable for the fly rod. A selection of tackle is essential if you are going to make the most of the fishing.

Firstly you must bring your own gear as there are no tackle shops locally. You’ll want a medium/heavy spinning rod that’s 9 – 11ft in length. In addition, you need a 4000 – 6000 saltwater spinning reel capable of holding 300m of 25lb – 40lb braid. You’ll also want a selection of fluorocarbon in 20 – 40lb range. Poppers and silver spoons in the 2” – 5” range will suffice should you want to just beach/rock fish or venture out in a kayak. It will also be adequate for most species encountered when inshore fishing.

Fly Fishing Tackle

As regards ” Fly Fishing” tackle I propose you keep things really simple.

A 9ft #8 or #9 weight rod is ideal for most anglers. It will suffice from the beach and when inshore fishing. It’s a delicate balance when choosing a rod. It must be light enough to enjoy the fight from the smaller more numerous fish. However, it must also have enough backbone to cope with the bigger and more powerful species like Jacks and Roosters that average between 10 and 25lb. If you travel to Costa Rica and are specifically targeting anything bigger than 25lb, you really need to step up to a #10 or #11 weight rod with 30lb to 50lb leaders etc.

For me a good quality saltwater reel is of paramount importance. It has to have an excellent drag system. And, it needs to hold a WF9 Tropical Floating Line and at least 250m of backing. These things are essential if you are to stand a chance of landing the bigger fish you will invariably hook.

From the Kayak or Panga a fast sinking Airflo Depthfinder fly line is essential. With a sink rate of around 7.5inches per second, it quickly pulls your baitfish pattern down to the required depth. Where we fished was usually between 10 and 20ft deep.

Leader wise, I kept things very simple. From the shore it was a 9ft leader of Fulling Mill Masterclass Flurocarbon in 17.5lb. From the Kayak or Panga 23.17lb  Masterclass.

Fly choice was again simple. It had to be a pattern that accurately imitated the size of the baitfish the fish were feeding on. So, from the shore and when using the floating line it was undoubtably my small Sparklers sized around 1.5inch that proved most successful along with the Fulling Mill Blue & White Mylar Popper (2630) 

To view all of our saltwater patterns, including small baitfish and poppers, head to our website.

From the Kayak and Panga you encounter much deeper water (between 30ft and 90ft deep). There are also larger baitfish there, which means bigger predators. Every trip gave you multiple opportunities to hook that special prize and as such it soon became obvious that bigger flies were needed. My  aim was always a fly caught rooster fish.

Despite being pike flies the Clydesdale Silver Baitfish and the Clydesdale Gold Perch easily out fished the more traditional Saltwater baitfish patterns that I had taken with me and I cannot praise them highly enough.

The silver baitfish soon became our favorite fly. It accounted for 2 Rooster fish, 6 Jack’s and 4 Tuna in just 3 trips around the 15 to 20lb mark. In fact the Silver Baitfish was so successful it was easily out fishing other visiting anglers using spoons and plugs. This in itself caused a quite a stir.

When to Fish

Early Mornings – 05:45am – 09:00am or late afternoons 16:00 – darkness are easily the best time for a serious angler. This is especially true if these times correspond with a “High Tide”. The wind is much softer at the beginning and end of the day, often nothing more than a gentle 2 – 4mph breeze. An added bonus is there are very few if any other people on the beach.

Try and limit your fishing to an hour before and after “High Tide” if you wish to maximize your chances. 

The low light conditions at either end of the day mean that the fish are more easily fooled, often venturing just a few feet from beach and feeding confidently. Read the water and look for structure in the form of deeper water especially drop offs, rocky outcrops (the best area is undoubtably the rocks to the right of the hotel). I walked the beach during the day to assess likely areas for fishing. This way I could concentrate my efforts in those peak times on the more productive areas.

Tactics

Being observant is essential, Pelican’s will often “dive bomb” the water to feed on the small bait fish. Or, the water will erupt as the small fish scatter, literally jumping out of the water as larger predatory fish chase them (usually Jacks, Rooster Fish or Spanish Mackerel). In reality it’s exactly the same as “fry feeding” on the midlands reservoirs. Obviously, you target these areas in the first instance and follow the activity.

Be prepared to change tactics. Unless you are dead set on achieving one particular goal, be flexible. Local anglers will tell you what’s working. They know the current methods and trends way better than you do. By all means have an ambition, but don’t be shy to use Plan B when necessary. Remember, if all else fails a free lined “live bait” will always pick up a fish from a boat. From shore fish strips or shrimp presented around rocks will invariably temp snappers.

Strong lines and leaders are a “no-brainer.” 25lb braided reel main lines and 30lb fluorocarbon leaders should be seen as a minimum.

Punishing fishing requires only the most dependable and robust tackle, especially when everything seems to have teeth and an aggressive attitude. Yes, you might land good fish on lesser leaders; but thicker fluorocarbon gives much better “bite off” protection and abrasion resistance from the rocks.

Retrieves

Keep your fly and lure retrieves FAST – it’s absolutely essential. Tropical seas mean that all predators and baitfish swim extremely fast. The simple law of the sea is “there’s always something bigger than you that wants to eat you.” As an angler I learnt the hard way that they want it fast. If a fish follows but refuses to take just “speed up”. Yes, this style of fishing is a lot of hard work especially in the unforgiving conditions, but you need to move your lure to really get them going and to induce the take. All tropical predators can swim a lot faster than you can retrieve, so you’re not going to put them off by stripping back lures at Mach 1. If your arms aren’t tired and feel like they are going to fall off by the end of the session you’re probably not doing it properly.

Fly Patterns

Take plenty of poppers (both fly’s and plugs) and baitfish (sparkler) patterns in a variety of sizes from 1.5 to 5 inches. I quickly discovered that the “baitfish” in Costa Rica were generally a lot smaller than I expected, especially from the beach. They were often just 2 to 4 inches long. Large spoons and large flies didn’t accurately “match the hatch,” so I had to improvise. I opted to “cut-down” a number of my pre-tied baitfish patterns and crudely tied my own “sparklers.” I did this without a vice and using 25lb braid as tying thread and material cut off other flies. The resulting patterns may have looked rather “rough” but they worked and our catch rates immediately soared.

It’s fair to say that in our experience fly fishing was far more successful than lure fishing with spoons or plugs. Our fly fishing techniques were initially viewed as “eccentric“ by locals and “crazy” by other visiting anglers. However, once we began to regularly out fish them (by approximately 10 – 1) they all started to take notice. The locals especially were very willing to learn our new techniques and wanted our flies.

From the Beach

From the beach a weighed mini sparkler of around 1.5 inches on a 10ft leader of 25lb Flurocarbon was simply unbeatable. It accounted for numerous Jacks to 15lb, Rooster fish to 8lb, Spanish Mackerel to 6lb, Garfish to 3lb and a large number of other species that I didn’t even recognize. I accept the vast majority of saltwater fishermen will view these catches as pretty pointless, but we really enjoyed it. The fish fought hard, were numerous and we weren’t paying for a guide. We worked methods out ourselves which was very rewarding.

From a Boat

From the boat a larger fly (3 to 5 inch sparkler) and a fast sinking Airflo “Depth Finder” line proved essential. It was also important to increase your leader to 40lb fluorocarbon. Jacks to 20lb were regularly caught along with small Tuna to around 10lb. On a #8 weight fly rod these proved a real challenge and fights of 15 – 20 minutes were not uncommon.

Along with “sparklers” Poppers were my other “go-to” fly pattern. They proved very versatile and tempted a variety of species from Jacks and Mackerel to Snappers and Roosterfish. As we know the takes are very visual and there is not a more exciting style of fishing. I did modify the technique slightly and attached a small “sparkler” New Zealand style to the popper just 2ft behind. The disturbance of the popper would pull the fish in and they would take the sparkler just behind. During the early mornings when the water was calmest this soon became my “go-to” method.

On occasions you can get the fish (Jacks especially) excited and willing to repeatedly chase a “Popper” on the spinning rod set up, only for you to switch to the “sparkler” on the fly rod when the fish is near the shore or boats. This is a tactic that we picked up from a local guide.

Kayak Fishing

I soon discovered that inshore boat fishing or kayak fishing provided the most opportunities. It gives you amazing access to small islands and surrounding bays and rocky outcrops that are often inaccessible by land even if you’re a local. This means you have potentially unfished waters at your disposal. However please only venture out in a kayak on the calmest of days conditions can change quickly and your safety is of paramount importance.

Inshore fishing also has the added bonus that you are targeting non-migrationary species such as Roosterfish, Pompano, Trevally, Grouper, Snook and over 10 Snapper species. So, it is less affected by the time of year and season.

Overal we had a fantastic trip and would highly recommend to anyone looking for a warm destination with phenomenal fishing.

To read more from Rob, check out his other articles on our blog.

Rob Edmunds

Rob Edmunds is a stillwater and reservoir fishing expert. "I began fly-fishing at just 4 years old and match fishing soon became my primary focus after first representing England at just 16 years of age. A stellar career beckoned and I've been fortunate enough to win a number (9) of European titles both individually and as part of a team. A creative fly-tyier and responsible for many of the popular patterns we now take for granted (Nemo, Tequila Blob, Traffic Light Buzzer, Snake Booby etc...). My focus has shifted slightly in recent years to targeting specimen trout. Currently the only person to have ever caught at least 1 "double figure trout" from all 4 of the Anglian Water Reservoirs. A regular contributor in the angling press for over 20 years (Trout Fisherman, Trout & Salmon) and well known on the stillwater and reservoir circuit.

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