From the Crocodile Bay Lodge, Puerto Jiménez
by Todd Staley, Fishing Director
April 2, 2002
Except for Daniel Arias's day Saturday when he took a 200 lb marlin, two sails, a couple of tuna in the 60 lb range and a dorado, there hasn't been a lot to scream about.
Sails have been real picky with anglers only taking two or three a day. Tuna have been present every day which is unusual this time of year since they are always moving.
Roosterfish have been the one thing consistent with several over 60 pounds taking live baits this week. Some smaller snapper are taking baits in the gulf and smaller sized snook at the Rio Esquinas.
April 9, 2002
THANK YOU FISH GODS !!!!!!!! I really dislike writing fishing reports like last week. But if the fishing sucks I'll say so and when it's great I'll scream it. "THE FISHING IS GREAT!" The annual "Redbone@Large" tournament for cystic fibrosis finished up yesterday and they had some oustanding catches. They raised as many as 18 sails per boat and cast flys, artificials, live and dead bait in different divisions and also fished roosters.
Top team for roosters was husand/wife team of Shuttle astronaut Bruce Melnick and his bride, Kaye. They caught 13 roosterfish in one outing and had largest fish of the tournament also. Some accused Melnick of checking the area out at 200 miles above the earth before coming down to fish.
Jackie Przysinda whose husband David fished the tournament went out for fun and took a 60 lb rooster that was bigger than any taken in the tournament. Artist Tim Borski took largest sail and Pat and Jim Sinclair teamed up for ten sails to take top honors in the tourney. Twenty-six people participated in the event and it went so well that participants are already booking for next year's event.
Some other BIG NEWS!!!! Babe Winkleman is down filming a couple shows for the upcoming season. First day on the water yesterday got started late due to airline luggage problems. I'm always a little nervous because fish don't belong to the Screen Actors Guild and don't always show up for the director's cues.
Well the fat lady sang. First in the form of a roosterfish when Babe's wife Kris tied into one that took an hour and forty-five minutes to land. The fish was taped for length and girth and released. According to the formula that has been used for years to formulate a fish's weight (length X girth squared, divided by 800) the monster rooster weighed 106 lbs. This is the largest rooster to date here and falls just 8 lbs short of the all-tackle record. She took the fish on twenty pound line.
Be are all looking forward to the return of the Boston Whaler group this week. They are a fun group of good anglers that lit the water on fire last year here. Well guys, the fish are biting, come on down.
April 16, 2002
A Whale of a Story. A head the size of a volkswagon surfaced, lit up in a purple hue and angry. Four teasers danced on the surface tempting the beast. Captain Rafeal Lopez screamed to his first mate Jonathan and he quickly tossed a heavy hook baited with a tasty morsel of fresh bonita.
Onboard were anglers Bobby Kloeppel, Eric Emery, and Mark Peña from the 2nd annual Boston Whaler group trip. It took the three of them just over three hours to slow the fish down enough to land. The blue marlin tipped the scales at 531 lbs. It was caught the first day of a three day trip that included catches in the group like Joe Yeni's 200 lb marlin, Terry Dunnigan's four sails in a ten sail day for the group on her boat, where she took top one day angler, and Matt Lewci's 13 roosterfish day.
Many of the same faces from last year were here and it was like having old friends down to visit. (See ya'll next year.)
Babe Winkelman finished filming by taking a few sails. On his last inshore day he jumped a tarpon estimated at 150 lbs. One of the locals took a 40 lb tarpon at Rio Tigre two days ago. Maybe there is a small population seasonal or year round here.
Lots of roosters biting. Mr. D. Henson from Meritz Travel took top fish with a 70 pounder.
April 30, 2002
Whether it's taking a siesta and having an apple drop on your head, or flying a kite in a thunderstorm, things happen and become theories. Well whoever came up with the theory that sailfish feed out at night on a full moon making daytime fishing useless can go back to the drawing board this week.
The full moon was on the 26th and George Haskins, head of Orvis retail was on his second day of a four day fishing trip. His brother Albert Seavy had tied up a bunch of flies and they were testing Orvis's Vortex reels and Trident rods.
Their top day was raising 30 sails and landing seven on the fly, but tallies for the trip were 83 sails raised, 37 were fooled by the feathered offerings and 17 were played out and released at the boat.
Todd and Melanie Womble, honeymooners from Dallas only had two days to fish on their busy tour of Costa Rica. They found the fish had lockjaw on the Caribbean side, but not here. Fishing the morning after the full they landed 8 sails. By the end of the second day they had raised 49, had 28 bites and landed 15. Three of the sails landed fell victim of the fly.
Don Fernandez and other friends from Colorado including, Dave Duncan, Dick Clark and Joe Lewis, supplied the lodge with snook and snapper for dinner. Don took his first sail on a fly while his buddies took a morning off to go gold panning. They said they found enough gold to stay another week but the wives wanted them home.
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