Fly fishing in Costa Rica is very underrated in my opinion. I barely scratched the surface with a few outings for machaca, some time fishing the surf on the Pacific and a few random casts on streams from the road. The country has numbers and you don’t see the locals clearing rivers and coastlines with nets like some other places I’ve crossed.
Machaca on the Farm
My first stop was a farm just past the Nicaragua border. I setup my raft on the very slow moving river out front and was warned about the local crocodile that has already claimed German shepherds. Rowing upriver and pulling the raft through a few shallow stretches led me to a long stretch with overhanging trees and feeding machaca. No knowing anything about the species outside of their fruit eating habits, I threw a Montana style foam hopper and actually managed to catch a few.
My next stop was a parking space at a rafting company for a few nights. They let me load the raft on their trailer and tail a commercial trip. We saw another big crocodile on this trip and had a blast. The fishing wasn’t so hot but the trip was fantastic.
My drive through the country shifted to the mountains, en-route to meet my family for a week of tourism fun. I stopped and fished a few mountain streams that looked like perfect trout waters. They had some small shiners but were otherwise vacant.
Lake Arenal Rainbow Bass
Eventually, this back road route led me to Lake Arenal where I hoped to catch a Guapote but only had an afternoon to make it happen. I banged streamers against logs and came up empty. Returning to this place or another fishery with these awesome looking rainbow bass is high on my list of future priorities.
The Pacific Coast
After running the circuit of national parks with family, we landed at a beach AirBnB on the pacific coast south of Tamarindo. I took the opportunity to tack some surf fishing and managed to catch a few pompano and other random fish. I did spot a roosterfish and was nearly knocked off a big rock trying to get a cast in the zone.
Farther to the south, we were high on a cliff-side, looking down at a pristine beach where fishing is not allowed. I can’t tell you what species I was looking at but the water was stacked with fish. It was impressive and knowing it’s an off-limits zone with no foot access and obtruding rocks preventing all boats from entering the beach is comforting.
Why I’ll Be Fly Fishing in Costa Rica Again
I didn’t touch the Carribean side and it sounds like there are some excellent tarpon zones along with flats and other very interesting places to fish. The pacific side from a boat would be incredible and it has strong roosterfish populations. They hang deep, near structure and teasing them up might be necessary unlike in fishing in Baja where they cruise to the shallows but I’m game to put in time out here. They have big ones. I caught a good number of machaca but want to find some bigger ones and would also love to catch a few trout in the cloud forest. The number one reason for a return however is for rainbow bass. They are fascinating and I’m dying to lay eyes on one.
