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

Monday, August 22, 2022

day trip

Well fishing still slow but we find the yellow fin tuna catch 10 yellow fin tuna and I sailfish today

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 6:17 AM

Monday, August 15, 2022

Aug. 8-12

“Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School”# 9 Report

August 8 to 12, 2022

August 8, 2022: Bill and Nikki Wilson left my condo and boarded the fishing vessel “Dragin Fly” at the Los Suenos marina at 4:00 pm. Captain James Smith with mates Aramis, Roberto, and Danny, had the boat running, pulled away from the dock, and then headed out to sea on my ninth “Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School” of 2022. After dark a wonderful dinner was served then everyone was asleep by 8:00 pm.

August 9, 2022: Fishing started at 5:30 am in clear, calm, conditions.

Total score today after 12 1/2 hours of fly fishing was:

12/10/5 Blue Marlin

1/1/1 Sailfish

August 10, 2022: Engines started at 5:00 am and then a few minutes later the crew retrieved the sea anchor and Captain James headed back toward the sea mount. Coffee and breakfast was served at 5:30 as the fishing began. The day started with calm seas and clear skies and the fishing was good. At 6:00 fishing ended and after showers dinner was served, everyone was asleep by 8:00 pm. Todays Score was:

23/7/3 Blue Marlin

Trip Score after 2 days:

35/17/8 Blue Marlin

1/1/1 Sailfish

August 11, 2022: The weather changed and it mostly rained today with cloudy skies, choppy seas, and lightning. Fishing was good with Bill and Nikki having another great trip.

Today’s Score was:

12/5/3 Blue Marlin

Total Trip Score:

47/22/11 Blue Marlin

1/1/1 Sailfish

All Marlin and Sailfish were caught using IGFA rules for fly fishing and 20 pound class tippet. I love my Job❤️

Sent from Jake's iPhone

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 2:13 PM

Bill and Nikki recent pics

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 12:39 PM

Monday, August 8, 2022

www.downeastguideservice.com

sorry the previous reports from NC......

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 1:34 PM

NC tarpon pics

yes, there are that many around.
I could not stand it and came down out of the hills.

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 5:40 AM

and the next day Capt. Matt gets another.....

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 5:31 AM

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

It ain't always great and everything doesn't always go perfect.

Having some injector issues at seamounts so working our way back to Los Suenos with only 3 marlin raised yesterday. When it rains, sometimes it pours. Should be ready to go for the weekend day trips.

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 9:20 AM

Pics from the trip

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 9:18 AM

“Costa Rica Blue Marlin Fly Fishing School” Report July 25, to 29, 2022

July 25, 2022: Chad Moss (IGFA board member)and I left my condo at 3:30 pm and drove down to the Los Suenos Marina where we boarded the vessel “Dragin Fly”. Captain James Smith along with mates Berto and Aramis had the boat ready and at 4:00 pm we headed offshore. It got dark at about 6:10 pm and shortly later Aramis served a delicious Lasagna with a green salad for dinner, before 8:00 pm we were sleeping and dreaming about Blue Marlin!

Tuesday July 26, 2022: At 5:00 am we woke up to choppy seas with a head on swell. By 5:20 Berto had the teasers deployed and I had my TFO BW-HD fly rods, Mako 9700 fly reels, Cortland fly lines, rigged with my pink and white big tube marlin popper flies rigged and ready to cast. Finally around 6:30 we got the coffee brewed and had breakfast then arrived at the sea mount at 7:15 am. After catching bait for teasers and marking lots of fish with the sonar we finally raised a blue marlin at 9:13 am but it didn’t tease. At 9:41 we teased in a blue marlin that would not eat Chad’s fly, after 3 attempts it ate the Bonito teaser and swam away. Next at 9:59 am Chad cast to a 150 pound Blue Marlin which piled on his pink and white fly. This hot marlin was the first ever hooked on fly by this angler. After dozens of jumps and some great fish fighting by Chad, he wound the leader into the tiptop and then released his first fly caught Blue Marlin ever. Next at 11:14 we raised a double of blue marlin, Chad hooked one that broke the tippet and then I handed him the other rod which he cast and hooked the second marlin. After a 6 minute battle another fish grabbed the line about 30 foot back from the back at and got tangled. After another couple minutes that third fish broke the 65 pound backing and all three fish were gone. I’ve never had that happen before. Our next fish was at 12:01 we raised a marlin that didn’t tease and then at 12:21 we raised a blue that didn’t tease. At 12:51 we raised a fi that would not bite and then at 1:04 pm we raised a hot 180 pound blue. Chad made a perfect cast and that marlin gobbled the fly and immediately ripped off 100 yards of backing from the Mako #9700 fly reel with the drag set at 1 pound of pressure. That fish jumped over a hundred times before Chad wound in the leader and released his second Blue Marlin of the day. Next at 1:52 Chad hooked a hot blue marlin that fought valiantly and jumped over 40 times before Chad caught and released his third Blue Marlin of the day, and his third ever on fly using IGFA 20 pound class tippet. Next we raised another Blue Marlin at 4:01 in pouring down rain we raised a blue that didn’t tease, then at 5:01 pm Chad hooked a nice blue which put on a grey fight, at 5:29 he caught and released our 4th blue marlin of the day. At 6:00 pm we deployed our sea anchor and shut down for the night. After a hot shower we had a delicious dinner prepared by Aramis and talked about Chads first day of fly fishing for blue marlin ever. At 7:30 we were sound asleep. Todays score was: 14 raised, 6 bites, and 4 caught.

14/6/4 Blue Marlin

Wednesday, July 27, 2022: woke up at 5:15 this morning, watched the transition from dark to dawn, drank some awesome Costa Rican coffee and got ready for another day at the office. We found a floating ball of line mixed with other sea trash with lots of bait way offshore so we caught lots of bait then began to troll teasers in the area in calm seas with blue skies and bright sunshine. At 6:51 Chad made a great cast to a red hot blue marlin, after a fast jumping start the fish wend deep and battled hard for the the next twenty four minutes before coming to the surface and jumping before getting tail wrapped and going deep again finally at 7:31 the wrap came off, the fish surged and the 20 pound IGFA class tippet broke and the marlin swam away.

Our next marlin piped up at 8:44 Chad hooked a blue and the battle was on, this 200+ pound fish kept jumping away and then going deep, after a long drawn out battle at 9:28 Chad wound his 5th blue marlin in and got the release.

Our next Blue marlin was raised at 9:56 am, it ate Chad’s fly and put on a great show, this fish cooperated and at 10:93 we released our second Blue Marlin of the day. Our next fish was raised at 10:36 am but wouldn’t tease, than at 10:49 we raised a fish that bit but got the hook stuck on its bill then shook it off and swam away, At 11:16 we raised a blue that wouldn’t tease in and then at 11:49 Chad got a bite from a hot fish that swam under the boat and broke off. Our next marlin was a striped at 12:46 pm after a short battle Chad released his first striped marlin ever on fly. At 1:39 we raised a blue marlin that ate the fly aggressively and Chad fought that 200 pound jumper valiantly and 19 minutes later he caught and released his third blue marlin of the day.

At 2:18 Chad hooked a blue one which ran out 150 feet and spit the hook then at 2:24 another blue one came in and ate the teaser then swam away. At 2:29 we raised a hot marlin but the fly got tangled with the teaser then at 2:33 we hooked another Blue and it went crazy. Chad did a great job fighting that marlin and at 3:02 we released another Blue marlin. At 4:11 pm I cast to a hot marlin, that ate my fly deep and went crazy. After 5 minutes of constant jumping and running the 20 pound Mason class tippet broke with less than 5 pounds of pressure, when I wound it in the leader was worn down to thread size from being in the mouth of that marlin, shortly later the fly floated to the surface and we got it back. Today the weather was perfect with blue skies, sunshine, calm to a light chop, with 81 degree water and 83 degree air temperature, it doesn’t get Mitch better than this! At 5:21 we hooked a wild Blue Marlin that fought a great fight and at 5:44 Chad caught and released his 9th blue marlin of the trip and of his lifetime, on fly using IGFA rules of fly fishing and 20 pound class tippet. At 6:00 we quit fishing and deployed the sea anchor. After a hot shower and a great meal we went to bed about 7:30 pm.

Todays score was:

14 Blue and 2 Striped Marlin teased, 10 Blue and 1 Striped Marlin bites,

5 Blue and 1 Striped Marlin caught

14/10/5 Blue Marlin

2/1/1 Striped Marlin

Two day total

28/16/9 Blue Marlin

2/1/1 Striped Marlin

Thursday, July 28, 2022: Today we woke up to Coffee and calm seas, with partly cloudy skies. At 6:04 am Chad hooked a hot Blue that pulled off lots of backing and then broke the 20 pound class tippet. At 6:49 we raised a blue one that didn’t tease then at 7:28 we raised another blue that didn’t bite. At 7:58 we raised a blue that ate chads fly, ran out and broke the 20 pound tippet and then at 8:09 Chad hooked and broke off another Blue marlin. At 8:18 we raised a double header blue marlin, Chad hooked one and I hooked the second marlin my fish was 300 pounds while chads was about 180. They went in opposite directions and eventually one broke and one pulled the hook. Next at 8:37 we raised a blue marlin that didn’t tease in then at 8:29 Chad hooked a big Blue Marlin close to 300 pounds. That big marlin put on a show with lots of jumps and at one period it was jumping 500 yards out, I looked and we had 50 yards of backing left on the reel. After 28 minutes Chad caught that marlin, I wired it and made the release on a potential world record class of pacific Blue Marlin. At 9:29 Chad hooked a blue marlin and after a long run broke the tippet. Our next blue marlin was at 10:30 it ate the fly, swam in a big semicircle jumped in front of the boat and broke the tippet. At 10:37 we raised a marlin that did not tease and then at 10:59 we raised a blue that would not bite. At 11:00 am the seas are still calm however the skies to the east, toward Panama and Columbia have very dark clouds which are moving toward our location. Our next marlin was at 11:06, Chad made a great cast and that marlin gobbled it, after a short 13 minute battle Chad caught and released his second blue marlin of the day. Next at 11:16 we raised a doubleheader of blue marlin, once Chad hooked the big one I made a cast and hooked the smaller one. As the fish charged away my fish jumped and spit the hook, several minutes later Chad’s fish broke off. At 11:32 we raised a blue marlin that didn’t bite then at 11:59 Chad hooked a hot blue marlin that put on a great show and stayed on the surface, at 12:13 pm Chad released his Third Blue Marlin of the day and his 12th of his lifetime and this trip. At 12:56 we raised a hot 100 pound blue marlin that ate Chad’s pink and white Jake Jordan large tube marlin popper fly and got hooked with the Gamakatsu 8/0 octopus hook. After a short battle on the surface Chad Moss caught and released another blue marlin on fly.

At 1:14 pm we raised another blue one that would not tease, then at 1:21 another marlin that refused to bite. At 1:26 we raised a blue one that didn’t eat then at 2:44 Chad Hook’d a hot marlin, it stayed on top and at 2:59 pm it broke off. At 3:21 we raised a blue which ate Chad’s fly, a long run at the beginning and then at 3:26 it broke off. At 3:58 pm we raised a pacific sailfish that immediately ate Chads fly, that 80 pound sailfish put on a jumping clinic and then at 4:04 pm Chad Moss closed the deal and caught a sailfish on fly! Around here we call that a “Trip Billfish Grand Slam”, 3 species of billfish (Blue Marlin, Striped Marlin, and Sailfish,) caught on fly during one fishing trip. We fished until dark and then headed in toward the Los Suenos Marina and Resort. Dinner tonight was jumbo Shrimp with mushrooms in a cream sauce over pasta. What a world class fly fishing trip.

Today’s Score was:

24 Blue Marlun and 1 Sailfish raised.

15 Blue Marlin and 1 Sailfish bites.

4 Blue Marlin and 1 Sailfish caught.

24/15/4 Blue Marlin

1/1/1 Sailfish

Chad Moss’s total Trip Score was:

52 Blue Marlin, 2 Striped Marlin, 1 Sailfish raised,

31 Blue Marlin, 1 Striped Marlin, and 1 Sailfish bites.

13 Blue Marlin, 1 Striped Marlin, and 1 Sailfish, all caught on fly using IGFA rules for fly fishing and 20 pound class tippet.

Thanks to The Dragin Fly crew for another awesome trip, More Reports to follow, I love my Job!❤️❤️❤️ Captain Jake Jordan

posted by Capt. George Beckwith at 8:36 AM