I booked a fishing trip with BlueFin Charters on our last day in Manuel Antonio. I'd done a few searches while we were in San Jose and picked these guys because their web site looked decent. The boat left the dock at 7:30 so I ordered a small breakfast and left the villa at 7:00. The drive to the marina from Manuel Antonio took about 10 minutes. All recreational fishermen in Costa Rica need fishing licenses. You can buy one at the marina in Quepos for $25 USD that's good for a year. The marina is currently being reconstructed so all of the boats are tied up at moorings.
I waved to the Captain of the BlueFin II and he pulled over to pick me up at the dock. We were fishing for Pacific Sailfish which run north along the coast of Central America from February through April. I'd only ever been on a boat one other time when a billfish was caught and I was really looking forward to catching a Pacific Sail.
The boat was rigged with a single fighting chair and outriggers. All of the reels were Peen 30s spooled with 80 pound test on typical stand-up rods. That's plenty of tackle for the average Pacific Sailfish. They're usually in the 5 to 6 foot range and can weigh up to 200 pounds.
We headed west out of Quepos for about 20 miles looking for a break in the water temperature. It had been unseasonably warm for several days and the surface temperature had gotten high close to shore. Once offshore, we spotted a large school of spinner dolphin. I would guess that there must have been 200 to 300 dolphin in this pod. They swam along the surface chasing bait fish and would spiral up out of the water spinning with these incredible jumps. I've never seen anything like it. The Captain thought there might be some Tuna ahead of the school so we put out some ballyhoo and trolled along in front of them. There didn't seem to be any interest so we pulled the reels in and got back underway.
The water was calm with an easy swell that made the boat ride comfortable. The mate and I rested while we were underway to the fishing grounds. About 9:00 am, the Captain slowed down and we rigged up to get ready to fish. The outriggers were deployed with large teasers. On the trolling rods, we rigged a combination of ballyhoo and feather jigs. We started trolling along the temperature break waiting for something to happen. There were birds diving here and there but no concentrated activity that I could see. Given what I'd read about the Pacific Sailfish run, I expected we'd have a hit as soon as the baits were out.
There were no other boats in sight but the Captain was on the VHF so I guessed he must have been talking with other boats in the area. We trolled for a couple of hours without any action. I'd booked a 6 hour trip which meant we'd be back at the dock at 1:00. It was about a 1.5 hour ride back to the dock so I knew we didn't have much time left to fish.
We passed by a small piece of red plastic about the size of a garbage can lid. There were a few bait fish hanging around underneath so we put a couple of small feather jigs out on a planer from one of the outriggers. Within a few seconds, we pulled in two small bonito on the jigs. The Captain saw some fish behind the boat and told the mate to rig one of the bonito and let it back. We bridled the bonito with a circle hook and dropped it back. Within a few seconds something hit the bait and took off. The Penn 30 was screaming as line peeled off of it. I sat in the fighting chair, seated the rod and watched as the spool went back and forth. I knew it was a decent fish based on how much line it was taking.
That's when I heard the Captain screaming from the flying bridge "Blue Marlin, Blue Marlin!". I wasn't sure what we had until I looked up and saw the big Blue jumping about 100 yards behind the boat. It was one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen. I couldn't believe the dream had come true and sat watching it for a few seconds not sure what to do. I knew that we weren't geared for a fish of this size and started to worry as the spool got smaller and smaller. The Captain put the boat in gear and we started backing down the fish while I reeled as fast as I could. I've never been in a position where I really needed a two-speed reel but this chase made me understand why they come in handy.
We regained some line and then the fish sounded and the real fight began. Knowing that the tackle wasn't up to the task, we had the drag set light to keep from breaking the fish off. The rod wasn't rigged with roller guides so keeping the line on the top of the rod was a careful balance of tension and rod height. I've been fishing for most of my life and have caught some decent fish over the years but I've never felt anything like 400 pounds of angry fish on the other end of the line. I worked as hard as I could pumping and reeling to regain line. After making some good progress, the fish turned again and started peeling line off the reel. It came back to the surface, jumped three times and then went back down. With the Captain chasing it down, we got the fish relatively close to the boat but couldn't get to the leader before it turned and ran again.
This fight went on for an hour and a half with the fish taking line, the Captain chasing it down and me reeling as fast as I could. After a while, my hands, arms and legs were all cramped and my back felt like a coiled spring. I've never worked on something so physically exhausting in my life.
After 2 hours, the fish sounded again and this time didn't seem to be coming back up. I couldn't regain any line no matter what I did. I'd raise the rod tip as high as I could, drop it down fast and try to crank just a little bit of line. At this point, the mate suggested that maybe the fish had fought to it's death. We worked the line onto the reel slowly and when we got the fish to the boat, the mate's prediction was true. At some point, probably on it's last set of jumps, the fish had gotten tail-wrapped and must not have been able to get enough oxygen through it's lungs.
I was both ecstatic and sad at the same time. I believe in catch and release and hated to see my experience with this fish end in it's death. Had we been using stronger tackle, we might have gotten it to the boat more quickly for a clean release. I would rather know that the fish was still out there to fight another day than to kill it but it was not to be. Nonetheless, I was super happy to have gotten the chance to fight a true big game species. It's a delicate effort that takes teamwork between the fisherman, mate and Captain to pull off a successful release.
We pulled the fish onboard and headed for home. I was glad to know that the fish would, at least, go to feed many people in the community that night.
Here's a slideshow of photos from the trip.
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