Costa Rica
World-class fishing. Wild at heart
Costa Rica sportfishing vacations
Costa Rica is the trip I recommend when someone calls me and says they’ve never done anything like this before. Not because it’s easy fishing, it isn’t, but because everything else around the fishing is straightforward. You can fly into San José and be on the water the next morning. The lodges are comfortable. The logistics are simple. And the moment a sailfish lights up and goes airborne 50 yards from the boat, none of that matters anymore anyway.
The southern zone , Golfito and Puerto Jiménez, down near the Panamanian border, is the part of Costa Rica most visitors never reach. It stays protected from the trade winds that shut other regions down in winter, which means we fish every month of the year in conditions that would make most coastal destinations jealous. Calm seas, endless bait in the Golfo Dulce, and an unmatched variety of species both inshore and offshore. Sailfish, marlin, roosterfish, yellowfin tuna, dorado, wahoo, snapper, grouper, sometimes all of them in a single day.
If you’ve been thinking about doing a trip like this and haven’t pulled the trigger, this is where you start. Come here first. You’ll understand everything else I do after that.
trip Details
what’s included
Three Zones. All Exceptional.
The Burica Peninsula
Running nearly 50 untamed miles along Costa Rica’s border with Panama, the Burica Peninsula is as remote as inshore fishing gets on this coast. Pristine waters, rugged shoreline, and virtually no fishing pressure. The inshore species here, roosterfish, snapper, cubera, jack, behave the way fish behave when they haven’t been hassled. Aggressively. This is the kind of water I spent years looking for.
The Osa Peninsula
The Osa Peninsula rises on the northern side of Golfito and delivers what very few places on earth can: trophy inshore fishing along rugged shoreline at sunrise, followed by big game offshore by afternoon, in a single day. Corcovado National Park borders the water here, which means scarlet macaws overhead, howler monkeys in the trees, and a fishery that’s been protected by its own remoteness. Rich biodiversity above the waterline, even richer below it.
The FADs
About 30 miles offshore sit permanently moored Fish Aggregating Devices, FADs, that draw sailfish and marlin in numbers unlike anything else in the region. There’s nothing quite like this setup anywhere else on the Costa Rica coast. When conditions are right and the FADs are firing, it’s some of the most concentrated big game action I’ve put my clients on anywhere in 40 years of guiding.
Fish Species
One of the reasons Costa Rica works so well for first-timers is the variety. There’s no such thing as a slow day on the southern Pacific, if one thing isn’t biting, something else always is.
Black Marlin
Trophy-class fish running the deep offshore banks. When conditions align, this is as good as blue marlin fishing gets anywhere in the Pacific.
OFFSHORE · BIG GAME
Sailfish
The species that made Costa Rica famous, fast, acrobatic, and abundant year-round. The FADs offshore concentrate them in numbers that have to be seen to be believed. A first sailfish is something you never forget.
OFFSHORE · BIG GAME
Yellowfin Tuna
Schools move through consistently and the fish run big. Great for anglers who want to feel what a genuine offshore fight is like, expect a serious workout.
OFFSHORE · PELAGIC
Wahoo
One of the fastest fish in the ocean. When they show up, it’s controlled chaos.
OFFSHORE · PELAGIC
Roosterfish
Aggressive, hard-fighting, and found all along the Burica Peninsula and Osa shoreline. My favorite inshore fish anywhere, and the southern Pacific holds some of the best roosterfish water I know.
INSHORE · GAMEFISH
Grouper & Snapper
The Golfo Dulce’s mangrove-lined shores and reefs hold hard-fighting bottom species that round out a full day’s variety.
INSHORE · REEF
happy anglers
★★★★★
“Capt. Warren Sellers is one of Costa Rica’s most experienced skippers. Comments from the many customers we’ve sent to him over the past 11 years confirm what we already knew – he’s one of the best in the business”
Doug Schlink – Angler Adventures
Booking a Trip
Availability is limited and Costa Rica is open year-round, which means there’s no wrong time, only dates that fill up. Most trips book 3 to 6 months out. Reach out and I’ll tell you exactly what’s open and what to expect on your first trip.
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