Costa Rica fishing seasons
Central Pacific, Quepos / Manuel Antonio
Sailfish - Without a doubt, the sport fishing in Quepos has become so popular because of the numbers of huge sailfish that can be caught on a given day. And when I say huge, I'm talking fish that average more than 3 times the size of their cousins in the Atlantic.
The sailfish are found year round, but the heaviest concentrations will start to move into the area in December and will continue to grow in numbers With January to April producing staggering numbers of fish.
During May through August you will see a slight decline in numbers of sailfish, but a half dozen fish in a day is still not out of reach. You will likely see some late afternoon showers starting as you
approach the 'rainy season'.
September through November is when the majority of bad weather hits the Quepos, Manuel Antonio area and you will see some sloppy seas and possibly rain that lasts for days. The sailfish numbers during this time are at their lowest and though there are a few, you have almost the same odds of catching a marlin...
Marlin - Though caught year round tend to concentrate through the months with the lousiest weather. As the summer months come to an end, the oceans turn a little choppy and the water temperature drops and the marlin move in.
Roosterfish - Resident roosterfish are caught year round in the deeper water while the months of December through April have large schools of smaller fish on the beaches and in the mouths of the rivers. Roosterfish are a good bet just about any time of the year so the fishing season for roosterfish never ends.
Dorado (mahi mahi) - Dorado are here year round as well, but they are very thick from late October to January.
Snook - While here all year long, the seas do not always allow us to access the river mouths that hold the snook. The best time to fish for snook in Quepos are the months from December to June. April and May produce the largest concentrations of big fish in the river mouths for the spawning season.
Wahoo - The wahoo season turns on as the water cools down a bit around may with the larger schools moving in and staying well into December. The larger fish tend to be caught earlier in May and June, but we keep catching wahoo usually until after the new year.
Snapper & Grouper - We catch snapper and grouper throughout the season though, I personally catch more snappers inshore October through December.
