Guanacaste Fishing Costa Rica
Great sport fishing in Costa Rica Guanacaste from Cabo Blanco to the Gulf of Papagayo.
Tamarindo and Flamingo are the major sport fishing centers in the Guanacaste Area Flamingo Beach, with a full-service marina, are the major sportfishing center in the northern coastal area, but boats also charter out of nearby Coco’s beach, Tamarindo, Ocotal, Potrero, Brasilito, and a few points in between.
A bit further south, there are boats operating below Cabo Blanco, out of Nosara, Garza, Sámara, and Carrillo beach, a region that gets more protection from the winds that normally blow late December into March and April.
Some boats from the more northerly areas are often based at Carrillo beach from about December through March as the wind is blowing and the main billfish population is moving north from the central coast area.
For anglers fishing out of the Four Seasons, Papagayo, and other Papagayo hotels, there are excellent boats and captains who will come north from Flamingo.
GUANACASTE FISHING SEASONS
Marlin:
Caught every month of the year; with mid-November to early March exceptional, then slowing a bit from April into early June when it picks up again, peaking in August and September.
Sailfish:
Caught throughout the year; with May through August normally the top season. They may begin to thin out in September and from late August Through November.
Tuna:
Peak months are probably August through October; but when all these fail, there are always tuna, any time of the year you want to look for them, and more open than not when you’d just as soon avoid them to concentrate on billfish.
The yellowfin and some bigeye tuna are often found well inside the Santa Catalina Islands, 30 minutes or less running time from the beach, while schools of 12 to 20 pounders are usually abundant on the outside. You frequently find concentrations of 40 to 60-pound tuna, and there is plenty of the 200 to 400 pounder caught every year.
Dorado:
More properly known as dolphins, these colorful gamesters are most abundant from late May through October when the seasonal rains flood the rivers, carrying out debris that form trash lines close inshore that they like to lie under. Troll past a floating long and you’ll like to hook a dorado.
Wahoo:
The first showing begins about the time the rains start in May, peaking in July and August. Most are caught around the rocky points and islands, but you will pick one up occasionally fishing offshore.
Roosterfish:
Available all year, but are more caught in the Papagayo Bay area from November through March. That may be because more boats in the northernmost area of this region are fishing inshore during those windy months. and the roosters like the structure of the shoreline and islands where they’re found 50 to 60 feet of water.