A week ago today my cousin Jim and I headed out on the big water of the Guanacaste Gold Coast in search of the holy grail for fishermen – billfish. Locally catchable billfish include two strains of marlin and sailfish. If unsuccessful seeking billfish, they told us, you always have a chance at tuna, dorado, mahi mahi and even wahoo. That’s enough to make my mouth water.We checked out several of many available charter captains by asking people we met. There were a number of larger vessels (over 35-feet long) one could charter for a day, but the tab exceeded $1,000 US. Surely, we wanted to fish, but with only two of us to share the entire charter cost, it gave us pause.
We opted, finally, for Captain Frank of Coyote Sport Fishing, a highly recommended skipper from nearby Playa Tamarindo, who owned a beautiful, whaler-type open 26-foot beauty with twin, four-stroke Johnson 115’s. With a safe hull and two engines for added protection, we felt this option to be the best for our long ride out to the deep blue water where billfish lurk. Besides, Captain Frank charged a more affordable $500 a day for the boat, bait, gear and guiding.
The water was quite calm as we headed out to sea. Captain Frank had sent his deck hand in a dingy to pick us up from shore near where we had parked our car. His boat was anchor-buoyed about 150 yards out from water’s edge. After we climbed aboard, he explained all the boat and safety issues, and we were off. We planed quickly as the powerful engines reached their cruising whine. Then we settled back and watched as the shoreline slowly receded.
About five miles offshore we crossed a large reef, and then suddenly the water color changed from a sky-bluish green to a rich, dark blue. Captain Frank said we were now in deep water and we could soon begin to drag some lines. Out of nowhere, a school of gorgeous, lithe porpoises, all about eight feet long, came alongside and performed their water acrobatics for us. In perfect unison they leapt from the water like agile torpedoes while keeping up with and exceeding the speed of our boat.
Captain Frank said the porpoises can often lead you to billfish, and that’s what we were looking for. Soon he baited three lines and dropped them in the water. Jim and I flipped a coin for first first hook-up, and the wait was on.
“Fish-on” yelled Frank, and Jim jumped into the fish chair. Frank hooked up the harness to hold the pole and strapped it on to Jim so he could fight the fish (top pic). Ten minutes later the fish was near the boat but we hadn’t seen it. It had stayed down – a good sign. With the line going straight down right next to the stern, Frank grabbed it to pull the fish the rest of the way by hand. Two hand pulls, and the fish was gone.
“I think it was a Mahi Mahi,” Frank said. “It would’ve made a great meal tonight”. Some consoloation. But, that’s how fishing goes. As Frank said, “they don’t call it ‘catching’, they call it fishing”. That's captain Frank holding up a sample bait in the middle pic.
Soon Frank’s GPS told him we were about 45 miles from shore, which was no longer in view. Then he screamed, “Sailfish!” “Sailfish!” It was hard for Jim & I to pick up but Frank pointed to a spot in the water where he saw a sailfish. The billed marvel was following the hoochy/sardine bait combo, and then he deftly nibbled the small baitfish off of the hook on one of the lines. As if to further taunt us, the fish then went to the second line and repeated the crafty maneuver.
“#%$!!%@” screamed Frank; “he got BOTH baits!” And that was the last we saw of billfish. Well, heck, at least we SAW one. Most don’t even experience that. But we kept on fishing. On Jim’s next turn he hooked and landed a nice yellowfin tuna. Ha! We’d have a nice fish dinner after all. The rest of the day was pure pleasure on the deep blue brine. We’d gotten a tuna (that's Jim with the trophy in the bottom pic).
All told, we probably caught a dozen fish. Most were skipjack, a type of tuna that fights like mad but is not good for eating. However, they are great sport. Truth is, Captain Frank is a great skipper. He put us where the fish were, and that’s all you can ask for. Other than both of us getting sunburned badly on our legs (I blistered in two spots) the day was virtually perfect. We went out in what might be the best fishing waters in the world, and we caught fish.
As a final “capper”, that night we took the fresh-from-the-water filets to one of Tamarindo’s better restaurants, Gecho’s, where chef John prepared the tuna three different ways – brazed in natural oils, pan seared in garlic and butter, and blackened with a spicy crumb coating. Our taste buds had never experienced anything like this. I loved all three versions.
1 comment:
Wish I would have been there, too! Sounds fun.
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