Dragin Fly Costa Rica • Sport Fishing in Comfort for Sailfish, Marlin, and More/Fishing Reports

Monday, September 5, 2016

Day Trip

Fishing is great we raised 21 sailfish today catch double digit sailfish releases and 6 yellowfin

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 9:10 AM

Friday, September 2, 2016

Still good day tripping out of Los Suenos

several shots at sails/billfish each day and LOTS of tunas.

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 2:21 PM

Sunday, August 7, 2016

3 days, 43 blue marlin raised, 18 bites on the fly, 5 blue marlin releases

Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School Report

Log Book, August 2, through August 7, 2016

Greetings from Los Suenos Costa Rica:

            August, 3, 2016: George Maybee arrived here in Los Suenos at my condo last evening, we had dinner and got a good night’s sleep. This morning I cooked eggs and bacon, with toasted English muffins, along with awesome Costa Rican coffee for breakfast. We took a swim in the pool, got some vitamin D, and began to pack our equipment for my next Costa Rica Blue Marlin fly fishing school. At 2:30 PM after spending some time on the Internet and talking to my BFF, we left the condo and headed down to the marina. We boarded the vessel “Dragin Fly” at 3:00 PM where Captain James Smith along with mated Berto and Roberto were ready to cast off and head out to sea. At 4:00 we slowed to trolling speed, put out the teasers, then prepared the TFO BW-HD fly rods, combined with my Mako # 9700 BG fly reels, with RIO Leviathan 550 gr fly line, 20 pound test Mason hard class tippet, Cam Sigler pink and white popper, tube flies, with Gamakatsu 8/0 Octopus hooks, to be ready to fish. Sea conditions are large slow moving swell with 1 to 2 foot chop, overcast skies with 80 degree air temperature. At 5:30, in light rain we raised a sailfish, it teased in and George made a good cast, which sailfish never did bite the fly. At 6:05 it started to get dark, we took in the lines and finished our fishing for today. After a hot shower, we had a great meal with homemade lasagna and a fresh green salad, by 8:00 PM we were in bed and falling asleep.

August 4, 2016: We woke up at 5:00 AM to the smell of fresh brewed coffee, with scrambled eggs and sausage, sunny skies and relatively calm seas and at 5:40 our teasers were deployed. The first Blue Marlin of the trip was raised at 6:10 AM near “Blue Marlin Destination-X-#12 (BMD-X-12). George Maybee made an excellent cast and that marlin gobbled the pink and white tube popper fly. The marlin took off at high speed and didn't stop for over 300 yards, then when it jumped the 20 pound class tippet broke and the marlin was gone. 6:50 AM we raised another Blue Marlin which did not eat George’s well placed fly, than at 7:01 another Blue crashed the short teaser, George cast the fly, and hooked a 3 pound Yellow fin Tuna, which he promptly caught to provide us with fresh sashimi for lunch today. Sunny and calm at 8:00 AM, Captain Chris Sheeder is fishing next to us aboard “Finest Kind”, good to see my friend here on this marlin bite. We raised one more marlin which did not bite and then another boat in the area began to live bait at 8:30 AM so we began to troll away to another location which is close to 30 miles from this spot BMD-X-10. At 10:15 AM we raised a 200 plus pound blue marlin which pounced on the pink and white popper, tube, fly cast by George Maybee. At 10:41 AM Gorge wound the leader into the rod tip and then Berto released that awesome marlin without breaking the 20 pound IGFA class tippet; this was George’s third blue marlin on fly of his life. At 10:52 AM George hooked a Blue Marlin which looked to be between 350 and 400 pounds. That awesome fish fought valiantly, on the surface, putting on a display of jumps which were the best that I have ever filmed. At 11:23 AM George was 4 foot from getting the leader through the rod tip for the release when that monster made a beautiful jump and broke the 20 pound test IGFA class tippet. At 11:30 AM George hooked a red hot 140 pound Blue Marlin at 11:43 in the rain we release George’s second Blue Marlin of the day, and the fourth of his lifetime. During the next 15 minutes we raised 3 Blue Marlin, every time we made the cast a yellow fin tuna ate the fly before the marlin could get to it. Until 1:00 PM we raised no fish so we decided to troll back over to BMD-X-12, arriving at 3:10 PM. At 3:25 PM we raised a blue marlin which would not tease in for a bite and just faded away. 3:30 was time for some fresh caught Yellowfin tuna sashimi before the afternoon bite turns on. At exactly 6:00 PM we raised a blue marlin, it teased half way to the boat and then faded off, no bite. At 6:17 we pulled the lines out of the water, as it got dark, we deployed the sea anchor and settled in for the night. Dinner tonight was Pork chops with rice and red beans followed by ice cream and after dinner we went to sleep at 8:00 PM. The score for today was 11 Blue Marlin raised, four bit the fly, George Maybee caught and released 2 Blue Marlin on fly.

   August 5, 2016: Woke up at 5:00 AM to fresh brewed coffee with bacon and eggs for breakfast, applied sunscreen, then deployed teasers at 5:30. First blue marlin raised at 5:59 during sunrise, would not eat, then another blue at 6:37, also no bite. At 7:01 a hot Blue Marlin teased in for a good bite, George made a good cast and that marlin ate the fly. After ripping off 200 yards of backing, that marlin began jumping sideways, for some unknown reason the 20 pound class tippet broke after the second high speed jump. Between 7:30 and 8:30 AM we raised 5 Blue Marlin George got two bites, broke one off by palming the spool, and caught a 200 pound Blue after a 6 minute close in battle. This was George Maybee’s third Blue Marlin on fly of this trip, and his fifth in his lifetime. We have been fishing around a floating piece of trash with sticks, floats, and net all tangled up for the past hour, and at 8:35 AM two other boats arrives and began fishing with live bait. During the next two hours we stayed in the area while the other boats caught a couple of fish, we however never raised another fish trolling. At 10:30 AM another boat arrived which made four boats fishing one floating piece of trash, 140 miles from land. At 10:35 we raised blue marlin which would not tease in, and then four minutes later we raised another marlin but that fish would not bite. At 10:45 two of the other boats took off for another spot and the other trolling boat hooked up right away to a blue marlin. At 12:00 we are all alone on that free floating FAD, we raised a fish which would not eat. We raised a Blue Marlin at 1:12 PM, George made a good cast and that 150 pound fish piled onto the fly. This rocket jumped continuously for 7 minutes, we filmed the whole thing, then after almost coming into the cockpit twice the fish stopped right beside the boat. George reeled the fish in and a minute later Berto got the fly back and released George’s second Blue Marlin on fly of the day, his fourth of this trip. At 4:00 PM we left the trash FAD and headed back over to BMD-X-12, arriving at 4:25, there were 3 other boats in the area. At 4:36 we raised a Blue Marlin which charged in and ate George’s well placed fly, then took off quickly and put on a spectacular jumping show. Finally at 4:59 PM Gorge wound the leader into the tip top and 3 minutes later Berto got the fly back and we released our third Blue Marlin of the day, on fly. This fish was estimated between 225 and 250 pounds, and like all of our fish it was caught on 20 pound IGFA class tippet. Then as the sun set in the west at 6:15 PM we pulled in the teasers and set out our sea anchor. The score for today was 13 blue marlin raised, seven bites, George Maybee caught and released 3 Blue Marlin on fly using 20 pound class tippet.

            August 6, 2016; Woke up at 5:00 AM as James started up the engines and Berto pulled the sea anchor while Roberto brewed coffee and cooked breakfast. We had drifted about 10 miles during the night so we deployed the teasers, got the fly rods ready and trolled back out toward BMD-X-11. As we approached # 11 there was three other boats on that spot so we continued on out to BMD-X-12 where two additional boats were fishing, gets pretty crowded out here on the weekends lately. At 7:01 AM we raised a Blue Marlin which teased into eat the fly which George had cast, as the fish came tight it was apparent that the fly line was wrapped around the reel and the tippet broke instantly. Seas are 2 to 3 foot chop, with overcast and light rain. At 7:29 AM we raised a double, one small and one big marlin, George made a good cast, the smaller fish ate the fly, and put on an awesome show, at one time almost jumping into the boat. After a 7 minute battle, the 100 pound blue marlin was about 120 feet from the boat, everything was going good until while backing up toward that fish, George palmed the spool and the 20 pound class tippet broke as the fish surged. Rain stopped, partly cloudy skies, 82.5 degree water temperature, air temperature is about the same. The next fish that we saw was a striped marlin which came up to the teaser at 9:45, it chased the teaser in toward the boat, however we could not get it to eat our fly. 10:01 AM Captain James decided to check out a couple more spots so we took off and ran for just under an hour, about 24 miles to BMD-X-6. At 11:06 we raised a blue marlin, it would not eat the fly, then again at 11:19 we raised another blue marlin, George cast the fly and the marlin circled but would not bite. During the next 30 minutes we raised 4 more Blue Marlin, George hooked two of them, one was a small fish of 100 pounds or less, which we had several shots at catching but missed the leader by 3 foot, then on a long run it broke off from too much pressure. The other blue marlin put on a great show, stayed on the surface but again broke off from too much pressure being applied. At 12:00 noon the fishing is good but the catching is slow, we have not landed a marlin yet today. We raised a fish at 12:11 which ate the fly it came loose several seconds later, then at 12:20 George hooked a big marlin, fought it deep for 10 minutes, when it surfaced to jump 200 yards from the boat the 20 pound class tippet broke. We are getting lots of bites, just having trouble converting to catches. At 12:45 we raised a blue marlin, it did not eat the fly. We raised a striped marlin and 3 blue marlin between 12:47 and 1:20 PM however they would not eat the fly. We got several more raises until 3:00 PM then James decided to move to another spot, so we ran until 4:45 PM at the BMD-X-8. At 4:50 PM we teased a 90 pound blue marlin in range for George to cast to it, bam that marlin ate the fly, ran 60 feet then jumped and spit out the fly and hook. Georges marlin luck turned off after his fifth fish of the trip yesterday afternoon, still over an hour with lots of marlin around. We raised a couple additional blue marlin during the last hour, as the sun set in the west we fished until dark. The final count for today was 19 Marlin raised, 7 bit the fly, three of them came unhooked while we broke the 20 pound test class tippet on four Blue Marlin. As this “Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing school” comes to an end George Maybee saw 43 marlin raised, he got 18 to bite his well placed flies, while George caught and released 5 Blue Marlin on 20 pound class tippet on fly. This trip increases George’s lifetime catch from 2 to a total of 7 Blue Marlin on fly. Congratulations to George! Tonight we had jumbo shrimp with rice and beans for dinner while we head back toward Los Suenos Marina Resort. At 3:30 AM we arrived at Los Suenos and returned to my condo and took a nap.



Happy AnglerGeorge Maybee Caught 5 Blue Marlin on Fly

            August 7, 2016: Just looking at some video and pictures from this trip, I am publishing this fly fishing report from my log book with a few of the pictures taken with my I-phone and Cannon point and shoot camera. Thanks to George Maybee for doing a great job at catching Blue Marlin on fly, and to the following for your support: TFO Fly Rods, Mako Fly Reels, Gamakatsu Hooks, RIO fly lines, Dragin Fly sport fishing, George and Anna Beckwith, Captain James Smith along with his mates Berto and Roberto, the awesome Los Suenos Resort and Marina, along with all of my awesome clients, family, friends, and BFF, for making this awesome Job possible. I Love My Job, wish you were here. After seven, three day Costa Rica “Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School” sessions we have caught and released 35 Blue Marlin and 9 Sailfish on fly, all on 20 pound test IGFA class tippet. Stay tuned for more fly fishing reports to follow soon.

Regards:

Jake

Jake Jordan's Fishing Adventures
PO Box 309
Havelock NC. 28532
Cell- 305-872-6060
Home/office 252-444-3308
www.jakejordan.com
keysjake@aol.com

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 12:20 PM

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Day trip and off to the seamounts

Raised 7 billfish yesterday, 2 of them blue marlin. Unfortunately we sancochoed one of the marlin and jumped the other one off. Both our anglers did get a sailfish release so still not a bad day of fishing.

Off to the seamounts today.

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 8:54 PM

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Capt. Jake Jordan Dragin Fly Fly Fishing Seamount Report

Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School Report

Log Book, July 26 through August 1, 2016

Greetings from Los Suenos Costa Rica:

            July 26, 2016: Mark Ronald from northern Canada arrived here at Los Suenos, this afternoon to join me for another Blue Marlin fly fishing school session. We had an early dinner at Bamboo (Asian Sushi restaurant) and retired early.

            July 27, 2016: Woke up, had some awesome coffee, took a swim in my pool, then we had brunch at ”The Hook-up” restaurant before rigging tackle and packing out equipment for the trip offshore. At 4:30 PM we met up with Captain James Smith along with is mates Berto and Roberto, as we boarded the sport fishing vessel “Dragin Fly” to begin our adventure. We ran for an hour and then slowed to trolling speed, deployed our teasers, and set up the fly rods. We fished until dark as we headed out toward an old spot where we used to fish several years ago; we raised no fish this afternoon. After dark Roberto prepared our dinner, fresh homemade lasagna, with a fresh green salad, “excellent”! At 8:00 we retired after a great meal and dreamt about Blue Marlin on a fly.

July 28, 2016: We woke up at 5:00 AM to the awesome smell of fresh brewed Costa Rican coffee along with bacon and eggs cooking, we deployed the teasers as light rain began. At 5:50 we raised a striped marlin which did not tease, no bite, then the rain and choppy seas moved in and the weather got worse at Blue Marlin, Destination – X – 14 (BMD-X 14). T 6:00 we began to head out toward another location, and at 7:28 we raised a Blue marlin, in the rain, that fish did not bite the fly. At 9:02 we raised a Blue, it crashed the long teaser hard, however that marlin did not eat the pink and white popper tube fly which Mark Ronald presented to it. At 9:30 the rain was heavy with 15 knot wind, so we decided to head further off shore, we ran at 24 knots until 11:01 when we arrived at BMD-X-6, still raining hard with 18 knot wind and choppy seas at 11:15 AM. No fish after an hour rough seas and lots of hard rain, so James headed out toward BMD-X-3 which is 148 miles from shore. We arrived at 2:15 PM still raining but wind has lain down and seas are 2 to 4 and lying down. We raised a Blue Marlin at 2:27 PM that came toward the boat hot, Mark Ronald cast a pink and white tube fly with my TFO BW-HD fly rod and that big marlin inhaled the fly. Line melted off of my Mako #9700 B Fly Reel, as Mark held on watching that 250 pound Blue Marlin put on an awesome jumping show, then after 17 minutes Mark wound the leader into the fly rod tip top, and he caught his first ever Blue Marlin on a fly rod, he was using 20 pound IGFA class tippet. Congratulations are in order as mark had been sea sick just 30 minutes earlier; he did a great job defeating that fish. Another Blue marlin came up to the left long teaser at 3:03, did not tease in for a bite then at 3:31 Mark hooked a big, red hot, blue marlin, he made a mistake when getting ready to cast, got the line wrapped around the rod, between the reel and the stripper guide. As that fish took off in high gear, the extra pressure caused the 20 pound class tippet to break and that fish was gone. At 405 Mark cast to another blue marlin, that fish tried to eat the fly but got the hook stuck on its bill, after the first jump the fly fell off and that marlin was gone. At 4:21 Mark hooked a hot Blue marlin of about 120 pounds, it fought and jumped a lot and then at 4:44 PM Mark Ronald released his second Blue Marlin of the day and of his life on fly. Seas are 2foot and rain has stopped, we can see the sun on the horizon from here, marlin are biting, no other boats around us. 5:08 PM we raised a Blue Marlin which looked big, Mark made a good cast and that big fish ate the CS tube fly, at 5:31, that 270 + pound Blue marlin was photographed and released to fight another day. My friend / client Mark Ronald has now caught and released 3 Blue Marlin from 9 raised and five bites, all on 20 pound class tippet on the fly in his first day at my Costa Rica Blue Marlin fly fishing school. At 6:15 we stopped fishing, set out our sea anchor, and filled our fuel and water tanks, dinner is cooking and we will take a hot shower before going to sleep at eight PM tonight.

July 29, 2016: Woke up late at 5:00 AM, calm seas, with a beautiful sun rise, coffee, sausage and eggs, deployed teasers at 5:30. We raised a doubleheader of Blue marlin, both over 300 pounds at 6:14 AM, Mark hooked a fish well over 350 on his second cast which headed down and out for several hundred yards in 10 seconds, when that fish jumped at full speed the 20 pound tippet broke and that magnificent marlin was gone. Sunny, calm, awesome morning, then at 7:00 I hooked a Blue between 3 and 4 hundred pounds, it went straight down for 300 yards at high speed, then the tippet broke. At 7:31, Mark hooked a nice 200 pound Blue Marlin, the hook fell out of the fishes mouth on the second jump. At 7:59 AM we raised a double of blue marlin, Mark hooked the first one and I cast to the second fish , while I was trying to get the fish to eat my fly, Mark made the mistake of palming the reel to add drag, POW the tippet broke! Beautiful morning, marlin are biting, time to catch some, we made enough mistakes for the day, now we plan to catch some Blue Marlin on fly. At 9:41 we raised a 1:20 pound Blue, Mark made short work of that fish, releasing it after a 13 minute battle. Next, I hooked a 400 + pound Blue Marlin which stayed deep for 10 minutes, then it came to the surface and broke the tippet on the third jump. At 10:45 Mark hooked a hot 200 pound fish, he got within6 foot of catching it, then that marlin went down deep for a few minutes and broke the tippet when it jumped 200 yards away from the boat. We are getting lots of bites however they are pretty big average and we have made a few mistakes, 11:00 calm and sunny, awesome day to be fly fishing for blue marlin. We raised a couple more fish which I did not record which makes 12 marlin raised, 7 bites, and one Blue Marlin caught on fly, at 11:00 AM!!! 11:02 Mark jumped another big blue which spit the hook right away. We raised a small Blue at 12:25 which came in toward the boat but would not eat any fly that we cast. Sunny and hot, pretty calm, beautiful day, at 2:00 PM we raised a blue which did not tease, then another one at 2:06, finicky marlin, mostly big fish today. We fished until dark, (6:30 PM) and never saw another marlin. Mark is one hard core fisherman, he has been sea sick for two days and sill caught four Blue Marlin on fly. Pork chops for dinner, with pasta and salad, then off to bed at 8:00 PM, I am hoping for smaller marlin tomorrow, our score today was 16 Blue Marlin raised, eight bites, while Mark caught and released one, on the fly.

            July 30, 2016: Woke up a 5:15 AM to the smell of freshly brewed CR coffee with Eggs and bacon cooking. Put out teasers at 5:35, and began trolling the 7 miles back to BMD-X- 3, raised our first Blue Marlin at 6:47 AM. Mark Ronald made a good cast and that big marlin climbed all over that pink and white tube fly, after just 23 minutes of battling that awesome fish, Mark caught and released that 270 estimated Blue Marlin. This was his first today, also his fifth of this trip also his fifth blue marlin on fly of his lifetime .At 8:05 we raised another marlin, it refused to eat the fly. At about 9:00 PM I watched my buddy Nick Smith fight and release his first Blue on fly of the day aboard his awesome vessel “Old Reliable” with captain Chip Shafer doing a great job, these guys are the best team of fly fishing for Blue Marlin that I have ever seen. At 10:00 AM, all six boats had raised less than a dozen Marlin total so James decided to head off to BMD-X-14 to see what was happening there, we arrived at 11:30, one other boat fishing here. We raised 2 fish between 12:00 and 12:05, neither would bite, then James pulled in the teasers and we moved to another spot. At 2:00 PM we arrived at BMD-X-8 and began fishing, five minutes later Mark cast to a 200 pound lit up Blue Marlin, which ate the fly and proceeded to put on an aerobatics show with some incredible jumps. Then at 2:29 Berto removed the fly and released Mark’s sixth Blue Marlin on fly of the trip. We raised another marlin at 2:35 but it would not eat the fly, the next fish we raised was at 3:30, no bite. At 4:15 James took off to another spot where we will finish our last hour before heading back to Los Suenos. We arrived at BMD-X-14 at 5:48 PM, as we watched the sunset we raised a small marlin which would not bite, then at 6:04 PM Mark cast to a 300 pound beauty, it ate the fly ran off a couple yards, jumped some more into the sunset, then let go of the fly and was gone. We deployed a small jug on a plainer just as it got dark, and instantly caught a 5 pound yellow fin tuna, so we could have a little sashimi on the ride back to Los Suenos.

    Our score today was 9 Blue Marlin raised, 3 bites, and 2 Blue Marlin caught and released on fly. Our total score for this Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School, aboard the vessel “Dragin Fly” was 36 Blue Marlin raised, 17 bites, and 6 Blue Marlin caught and released on 20 pound IGFA class tippet, on the fly. Did I tell you that Mark Ronald had caught Pacific Sailfish but never had he caught a Blue Marlin on fly until this trip? We had hot showers, ate an awesome home cooked meal, then off to sleep. By the way, I really love my job, wish you were here, back in my condo in Los Suenos tomorrow morning, Stay tuned for the next awesome fly fishing report from “The Cost Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School”!

Regards:

Jake

Jake Jordan's Fishing Adventures
PO Box 309
Havelock NC. 28532
Cell- 305-872-6060
Home/office 252-444-3308
www.jakejordan.com
keysjake@aol.com

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 12:09 PM