We're headed to a resort in Costa Rica on our honeymoon from the 26th through March 3rd. I think we've booked a couple "excursions", but I'd really like to do some fishing. I'd love to do a day or half day trip offshore. I haven't done much research on where some fishing hotspots are, but figured I'd check with the OB (so don't shoot me down for not Googling yet). Fishing isn't a priority, that's why I'm just casually asking. Our resort is about 20min west of Liberia along the coast for location reference.

If you were closer to Los Suenos I could set you up

If nothing else, there will be guys on the beach outside the resort that can hook you up with fishing. Sometimes their trips are good, sometimes their trips are not.

I've thought that'd probably be the case. And I've found a few outfits leaving from Playa Hermosa which is about 5min from the resort that have pretty good reviews. I've just heard enough horror stories on guides all over that I'd just feel more comfortable which an extra Texags review since this will be my first guided/paid fishing trip. Especially since I'll be in another country.

Nearshore or offshore for billfish? March is a good month for sails.

We went with Dream On Sport Fishing for both offshore and inshore. We stayed pretty close to location described by OP and charter came and picked us up by boat at the resort.

http://www.dreamonsportfishing.com/home

To expand a little bit, boat picked us (six people) up at Secrets Papagayo on two separate occasions. The first for a half day of deep sea and the second for a half day of inshore. Everyone caught fish, but the deep sea seemed to have more action. Captain was Mario and 1st Mate was Angel. They were great to go out with and we'd go out with them again in a heartbeat. Our resort is just up the beach from the Occidental I believe, so I'm sure they'd pick you up there.

We booked our entire honeymoon through Chris Atkins at http://centralamericafishing.com I would book with him again for sure.

He set us up on the WetAss II out of Playa Flamingo (close to where you are) for a full day offshore and a half day inshore. We caught a Blue Marlin, a Rooster, lots of Mahi, and several other species.

Do inshore if you want to eat what you catch. My wife caught a nice wahoo that we brought to several restaurants over a few days and it was awesome. Good way to save money too!

So apparently wahoo is an inshore fish? I guess I've been doing it all wrong

Closer to shore would be preferred. If it was just me, I'd love to have a chance at a sail. But the lady isn't a fan of going offshore too far, hell I'm happy she's willing to go at all.

Then again I guess it depends..how far would you have to go to get to be in billfish territory?

We caught mahi around the islands not far from the marina.

Watching this thread....We are going to costa rica in July. Pacific side. Hadnt even thought about fishing. Great to know. Would love to take a half day trip

mellison said:

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We caught mahi around the islands not far from the marina.

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Same here. And I may be remembering wrong, but we hooked a sailfish and couldn't have been more than 45min off shore. Also, got a needlefish and roosterfish. Great fishing. The hotel prepared the fish for us and did a great job. We stayed at the Occidental in Guanacaste.

We're staying at the Occidental in Guanacaste as well. Who'd you fish with?

I honestly can't remember. I went and looked at a few pics, but I can't see a name other than the shirt one guy was wearing. Says Tres Amigos Charters. I don't think that was it, and they are located farther south on the coast. I think it was Papagayo Charters if I had to guess. And their website has a boat exactly like the one we were on (La Chila G).

I'll take a look at those guys. Any other last minutes recommendations?

The sugar cane liquor they served at The Occidental was really good. Zip lining was great. It was part of a trip to a volcano with hot springs. I'd recommend doing that. Not sure of the exact location (it was booked through the hotel). We also took a catamaran tour and did some snorkeling. It is a really cool country. People are very laid back and extremely friendly. We happened to be out one night when Costa Rica was playing Mexico in soccer. I think the whole country was in the bar. Awesome atmosphere. Hope you have fun!

Nicaragua is much better and cheaper. If you want to do touristy things no reason to go all the way to Costa Rica. Miami is the same experience.

Any report or recommendations from your trip. We are heading down in July.

Jock11 said:

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Nicaragua is much better and cheaper. If you want to do touristy things no reason to go all the way to Costa Rica. Miami is the same experience.

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Nicaragua sounds safer if nothing else. pretty sure flights to CR are cheaper than those to Miami and possibly closer.

+1 on any recommendations. May be going there this summer.

I recommend you go. Great people and a really beautiful part of the world.

tlh3842 said:

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I'll take a look at those guys. Any other last minutes recommendations?

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How did the trip go??

The trip was great. Occidental was a nice resort and the country was amazing. We did the Arenal volcano zip lining and hot springs thing, took a river tour through a national park (can't remember the name) and went ATVing at an adventure park (ATV isn't something super special but I heard the property had to big natural waterfalls on it so I did it as adventure surprise for the wife). When we got there we booked a half day trip with the charter from the resort, but I pulled the plug the day before and did the ATV. It was crazy windy and I didn't want to wife to hate it. But one of our neighbors did the full day charter with the full size boat. Caught tons of fish and got one roosterfish, but it had to have been 70 pounds.

I'd highly recommend the trip to anyone, and I'm wanting to take a trip down there with my dad and a couple other folks just to fish.

Thanks. Can you rank your excursions? We are going to papagayo in july for 10 year anniversary. Want to do fishing and a couple other activities.

Went back in '05 and caught a really nice sailfish.

Anyone been down there in the past month? I'm heading down on Saturday.

plowboy1065 said:

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So apparently wahoo is an inshore fish? I guess I've been doing it all wrong

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It was that day! Caught it and a rooster fish about a mile from the Nosara coast.

I am heading there in early Aug. Booked a trip though Papagayo Sport Fishing. Hope to land some fish.

Of the three we did:
1- Full day Arenal ziplining/hot springs trip
2-ATVing at the adventure park
3-River tour

All three were nice, the latter two were only half days if that makes a difference.

Will fishing charters let me share a trip with a stranger so I don't have to spend a bunch for a solo trip?