REEL ADVENTURE "Costa Rica Style"
Contributed by Hezekiah Johnson Jr.
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The day before our full day of fishing, we decided to take the short walk to the Los Suenos Marina in Herradura Bay just to get familiar with the location of our boat and to go over any details. That next morning we woke up to the sound of macaws at 5:00 am for our 6:30 charter. After making sure we had everything packed, we ate a light breakfast and walked to the marina as I said quiet prayers to the "Fishing Gods". To my surprise, Capt. Tom and his mate Jose were already at the boat loading the last pieces of equipment before we took off. Capt. Tom briefed us on his game plan and he told us he anticipated a good day. With over 14 years of doing charters in Costa Rica, I knew we were in good hands. When leaving the bay area of the marina and seeing the mountainous background of the rainforests, it finally hit me that this was really happening. Once we were clear of the bay, Capt. Tom throttled up the boat, and we were on our way offshore with our fingers crossed.
After about an hour on the water we decided to slow down and do some trolling for live bait. About twenty minutes later I caught the first of several skipjacks ranging from 3 to 6 lbs. Jose said that these were the perfect size bait fish for sailfish and yellow-fin tuna. These fish were actually fun to catch, but were going to a much worthier cause. Heading further northwest on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast we started noticing giant sea turtles which I was told was another good sign. While heading out Jose was setting rigs and doing all the things a good mate should. Something caught Capt. Tom's attention on his fishfinder and he throttled down and told Jose to let lines out. Lines were barely in the water before we had our first yellowfin tuna on. A couple of minutes later we had our first tuna on the deck. We managed to land another three tuna all around the same weight and decided to head off again trolling. Within the next half hour line started screaming off one of the Penn reels and it was time for a "reel adventure". After grabbing the rod and setting the hook I was in for the fight of my life. Nothing will compare to seeing a sailfish lit up, dancing on the water playing tug of war. After nearly 25 minutes of gut wrenching, back breaking. legs shaking reeling did I finally start making headway towards landing this fish. As soon as I thought he was tired and I could see leader line “Big Blue†decided to take another run and took off another 100 ft. of line.
 The fight  Yellowfin Tuna
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Over the next hour we kept trolling and saw what appeared to be a couple of wood pallets floating in the middle of the ocean. It was attracting small baitfish. After circling back, we saw what looked like an underwater fireworks show with lit up Dorado attacking the baitfish. We immediately pulled out the lighter Shimano gear and went to work catching fish nonstop. Capt. Tom joined in on the action along with my wife and Jose and we fished the Dorado (Mahi) until the frenzy was over, hoping I might land a Bull Dorado. We left this area keeping 10 fish. On the way back, we had two runoffs with sailfish with one more hookup, but he quickly danced and spit the rig. The total for the day was three yellowfin, one sailfish, ten dorado and the skipjacks. Heading back to the marina, we watched Jose clean fish with precision and just enjoyed the blue water of the Pacific, while enjoying some well deserved cocktails. Upon docking Jose told me several places I could take the fresh tuna and mahi to be cooked.
Captain Tom's 28 foot boat was equipped with the latest state of the art VHF radios, GPS navigators, outriggers and a Murray Brothers fighting chair. Capt. Tom comes prepared for the big fish with a full array of Penn Int'l. big game reels and custom rods along with Shimano rods and reels. Most of the fishing was done on 80lb. mono test with leaders attached to 7-10 inch Melton Jet trolling lures, which can be fished plain or with live bait. Shocking pink proved to be the lure color of the day.
Peace & Tight Lines !!!
About Hezekiah Johnson Jr.:
Hezekiah Johnson Jr. is currently an Int'l. Facility Ramp Manager for the Port Authority of NY& NJ at Newark Liberty International Airport. Prior to working at Newark Airport, he spent over twenty four years at the World Trade Center up until the 9/11 tragedy. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he currently resides in Passaic, NJ along with his wife Hazel. Angling, travel and the outdoors have long been a passion for him while in pursuit of the next adventure.