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My winter fishing group was looking for a new destination this year so after some discussion and research we settled on Drake Bay on the Osa Penninsula in Costa Rica. We stayed at Aguilla De Osa and were very pleasantly surprised by the proximity to great fishing, good accomodations, and multitude of nearby activities.
The resort consists of about 20 cabins made of teak perched on the side of a steep hill overlooking the bay. The views are amazing. The grounds are richly planted with all kinds of tropical flowers. The rooms don't have air conditioning, but the overhead fans kept you cool at night. Toucans, Scarlet Macaws, Hummingbirds, Capuchin and Howler Monkeys, and Iguanas are all regular visitors to the resort and provide interesting photo opportunities.
We fished out of a 31' Palm Beach Sport Fisher equipped with a single Cat 3126. The boat was in great shape, provided plenty of shade and was a very nice fishing platform. The tackle was all in good to excellant shape.
The fishing was awesome. We had heard that the sailfishing was slow because of an influx of green water and the almost full moon had the sails feeding at night. We opted to bottom fish the first two days and couldn't believe the quality of the fish we were catching. We live baited with sardines, jigged and popped. My first fish was a 75 pound Broomtail Grouper quickly followed by a 61 pound Amberjack.. My arms were toast ! We boated multiple Amberjack from 30 to 65 pounds, Blue Trevally, Leather Grouper, Roosterfish, and a load of smaller reef fish. The third day we tried offshore, and as predicted it was slow. We saw at least 30 sails finning on the surface or cruising just below. John was able to get his first Pacific Sail, so this was the highlight of his trip. I couldn't believe how many fish we saw that just were not interested in feeding. Day Four had us back to bottom fishing and I boated 2 fish new to me, a "Salmonetta" which is in the Amberjack family, and a "Cabrilla Amarilla" which was a slab sided member of the grouper family, trimmed out in yellow. In the four days of fishing I only saw one other boat working twice.
Next door neighbor to the resort is Corcovado National Park , where parts of the film Jurasic Park was filmed, so development in the area is going to be extremely limited. There is kayaking in both the river an the bay, which makes for an interesting experience when watching the large salt water crocodiles. There are hiking tours through the canopy forest and the mangrove swamps.There is horseback riding around the bay, in short there is something for every interest. We have already decided to return next year, if you would like to join us, give me a shout. Enjoy the photos-- Tight Lines--Rich