Anglers rewarded on autumn trips with Americana Sportfishing

The autumn season has been productive for the anglers who booked their
Costa Rica fishing trips through Americana Sportfishing
(www.americanasportfishing.com; 1-800-634-0012, 1-800-399-8532,
1-866-978-5198).

Captain Bobby McGuinness, who runs the 28-foot Sweet Dream out of
Golfito in the South Pacific, updates us every so often. Bobby's
clients catch fish; the tally sheet of his last e-mail confirming a
booking was really impressive. His anglers fished two days. Day 1
(October 24): two tuna, one 150lb, the other 80lb; two sails; and two
marlins raised, with a 275lb blue brought to the boat.

Day 2 (October 25) was just as rewarding for the group: 13 dorado
between 25 and 45lbs each; a 230lb marlin; a mid-size rooster and a
35lb snapper.

Up north, Jonathan Rowe and his group of six anglers decided to stay
close to shore during a full day (October 27) on the 40-foot Plautus
out of Flamingo with Captain Luis Ruíz. They landed the gamefish and
food fish they were after, as the photos and these kind words indicate:

"I just wanted to say thanks for setting us up on the Plautus.
Everyone said we were on the number one boat around. Luis is a
top-notch captain and his mate was great as well. We managed five nice
roosters (one almost 70lbs) and 10 dorado up to 40lbs with near
constant action all day and multiple hookups... I was also happy with
the effort made to revive the released roosters; conservation is
important to me for the future of fishing. I will definitely recommend
your services to anyone heading to CR in the future and you can feel
good booking that boat".

Moving down the coast to Los Sueños Marina in the Central Pacific,
John Roth and his buddy Keith spent October 27 and 28 fishing with
Captain Patrick Armstrong on the 32-foot Miss-Behav'in. On the first
day they hauled in six small/medium-sized dorado; a small tuna and two
mullet snapper, one weighing 25lb. They spent the second day inshore
looking primarily for roosters (had some on the line that broke off in
the rocks), and came back with six good-size Jack Crevalle and a large
red snapper.

Back to the Plautus - Richard Walton, who lives up in Tamarindo,
drove north with his family to Flamingo to fish a full day with Luis on
the Plautus on November 1. They raised a couple of marlin; fought one
for 10-15 minutes before it spit the hook; and finally ended up with a
half dozen or so small and medium-sized dorado which provided their
dinner that evening and some filets for the freezer.

Kevin Groskopf and six others fished on the Plautus a week later.
Although they raised a marlin and three sails, they didn't bring any
of them to the boat, but they did land six large dorado in the 30-40lb
range, which overall, made for a highly satisfactory day out.

On the same day we booked Sandra Hausman and five of her friends on the
46-foot CaribSea with Captain Melvin Mora out of Quepos in the Central
Pacific. According to the captain, the anglers wanted to go after
dorado. Their efforts were rewarded: four of the delicious food fish,
including one weighing over 40lbs.

Moving slightly to the north, but still in the Central Pacific area,
John Schlesinger and his wife fished on the (26-foot) Predator with
Captain David Mothershead out of Los Sueños Marina. On a full day
inshore, they pulled in two Cubera snapper, a couple of Jack Crevalle
and an amberjack, but lost the roosters they were really after in the
rocks. So they decided to fish another half day inshore and were
rewarded with the coveted rooster, plus a couple of jack.

Also out of Los Sueños, Jim Murray and Jim Tondelli fished a full day
on the 32-foot Miss-Behav'in with Captain Patrick Armstrong. Although
it's been really slow offshore as of late, the two managed to bring a
sail and a large dorado to the boat.

Bill McPherson and his two buddies spent a couple of days fishing out
of Los Sueños with Captain Bill Kieldsen on the 35-foot Sailfish. The
first day saw little action, but on the second, the three hauled in
more than 20 dorado. They drove down to Quepos to fish inshore on the
30-foot Tranquilo II with Captain Francisco Barrantes, and got the big
40lb rooster they were after.

John Hoerster, his wife and another couple decided on our Bonanza
combo, which took them fishing on both coasts. Captain Eddie Brown is
the acknowledged 'tarpon king' of the Tortuguero/Barra del Colorado
region, but his brother Rodolfo bested him on Day 1 - the two anglers
on Rodolfo's boat had 25 hits and landed eight tarpon, while
Eddie's anglers on the Bull Shark went two for eight.

The next day, loser Eddie took the ladies on a non-fishing excursion
through the exotic, fascinating canals of Tortuguero National Park;
meanwhile, John and his friend fished for tarpon with Rodolfo. They
didn't fare quite as well as the previous day, but still managed to
land three of the exciting game fish.

Going full circle, Darius Petrauskas and his wife came all the way from
Lithuania to fish for two days (November 24 and 25) with Bobby
McGuinness. Darius tells the story better than I: "Bobby was simply
the best captain I've ever met. I experienced fishing like I never had
before.

"The first spot delivered our first snapper of that day. But it was
just a warm-up. Bobby was very busy catching larger bait for 'real'
fishing later on. When arrived we immediately spotted a few roosters,
and in a few moments we had them on our hooks. My wife Ramune and I
caught our first ever roosters - 25-30lbs each.

"But Bobby said we needed bigger ones. Our third spot delivered
four/five rosters 30-40lbs each. Then Bobby moved us to the final spot,
and I will never forget in my life what happened the Cubera and
mullet snapper attacked our bait like crazy. It was fascinating to see
three or four predators chasing our bait. We landed 10 of these nice
red fish. Then the roosters showed up again, and we caught another four
or five, some of them 50lbs and up.

"My wife had stopped fishing a while ago, as she was dead tired. But
for almost two hours non-stop, I kept hooking and reeling in these
monsters. I have been fishing for 20 years in a dozen countries, but
this happened to me for the first time. I was simply out of breath."

Second day offshore was slow, Darius writes: "We didn't get a single
bite trolling. Then Bobby put the bait on the bottom and we hooked two
amberjack, and landed one. Quite big, though (45-50lbs)."

A great fishing trip - yours can be just as rewarding. Call Americana
Sportfishing (www.americanasportfishing.com) at one of our toll-free
numbers: 1-800-634-0012, 1-800-399-8532 or 1-866-978-5199 to book Costa
Rica's top captains and boats.

P.S.: If you're thinking of a January, February or March Costa Rica
fishing trip to the Central Pacific (Los Sueños Marina or Quepos) for
the sail bite, call me NOW! The good captains don't have many open
days left.