DREAMS COME TRUE!
Fantastic bucketlist fish feature in a trip of a lifetime to Costa Rica for Penn pro-angler Babs Kiljewski
A trip of a lifetime for bucketlist fish.
When reading angling magazines or looking at social media, I often noticed one particular sea fish. Striped, beautiful and shiny, with the most amazing dorsal fin I’ve ever seen – it looked like it was caught from paradise.
For many years I kept a photograph of this fish, and my craving to catch one was increasing every day. This fish of my dreams was the Pacific roosterfish, which featured in Sea Angler’s bucketlist series in the previous issue (No. 575).
I’m a proangler for tackle company Penn, and earlier this year the company asked me if I would like a trip to Costa Rica in Central America. There would be a raffle for customers to win a trip of a lifetime, with me as their host. I couldn’t believe it. Costa Rica is the main rooster fishery in the world, so I didn’t need to think about the offer. It was an immediate yes.
I decided to fly out to Costa Rica a week ahead of the main party and see if I could catch the fish of my dreams prior to the main event. My plan was to fish all the river outlets into the Pacific, but when I saw the crocodiles I changed my plans. Instead, I tried a different beach each day, but the high wave conditions made it too tough to hook a roosterfish from the shore. Soon, the raffle winners were arriving at the Crocodile Bay Lodge, which is superb accommodation in the rainforest.
SILVER SHAPE
Our first day provided me with half of it to spare, so I organised a three-hour trip to get used to the conditions. After 30 minutes, the small boat arrived at a distinctive rock structure that stuck out into the water with oncoming waves smashing against it.
Soon the baits went out and, within seconds, my reel was screaming and line stripped off at an amazing speed. The boat captain was convinced it was a roosterfish, which put a real smile on my face even as I struggled to get line back on the reel. After what seemed like an eternity, I glimpsed a silver shape in the deep blue water.
Finally, my dream was about to come true, the moment I will never forget. Believe it or not, I was lucky enough to boat a second fish during that short trip.
Then it was time to return to the fishing lodge to meeting the anglers, from Ireland, France, German and Holland.
FURIOUS ROOSTERFISH
The group’s first eight-hour trip was to the best fishing grounds in Costa Rica and, again, it within seconds that we got a bite from a furious roosterfish. After catching a few more roosters, the captain reported that he’d received a radio message that tuna were hunting in the area.
There was no time to loose, and with full throttle we rushed an hour out on the
open sea. On the way we saw a huge school of dolphins, perhaps 200 animals heading in the same direction of the feeding frenzy.
It’s a crazy spectacle, where all the predators work together pushing a huge amount of baitfish up to the surface, where the seagulls dive in frantically to fill their bellies. Suddenly, it all happened. While I was still overwhelmed by all the dolphins and the chaotic scenery, one reel began to scream and one of my fishing buddies was in a fight with a yellowfin tuna. All around there were tuna jumping, splashing dolphins, diving birds and fleeing baitfish in the bubbling water. It was a real massacre, and we were right in the middle of it. After a short photoshoot the tuna went back in the water and we headed off to the next feeding frenzy.
After spotting another dark cloud of birds in the distance, we approached and got our lines out. Minutes later there was another tuna caught and released. It was my turn next.
A bait was soon in the water and off it went. Yes, I mean it. The run seemed unstoppable. This fish ripped line off my Penn International reel. I’ve never encountered a fish that made such powerful, long runs.
After regaining a few metres of line, the fish took off again and I could not do anything to stop it. After 20 minutes of hard fighting, my first tuna came up to the surface. It was huge.
FIGHT HARDER
On our second day I had an inshore trip to a bay where there were no waves to rock the boat. It was the same beach where I tried to catch something a few days before. This time we had two nice takes, and in the shallows the roosters fight harder and seem a little bit bigger in average size. We caught two roosters from six bites while trolling along the shore. Bottom fishing produced no success.
TOTAL PANIC
It was offshore again with four prize winners. To warm up, we trolled along the coast for roosters, until a voice in the radio shouted “tunaaaaaaa!“Without hesitation the throttle was opened and we were off towards the screaming birds, boiling water and small fish fleeing in total panic.
I let the lads tire themselves out first on some tuna before one guy hooked such a massive fish that he had to ask for help. Even using a fighting harness, he was soon exhausted. Two persons were now sitting on the ship’s side to lift up the rod and put pressure on the fish, while another one was reeling in the line whenever possible.
Even though the captain did a perfect job positioning the boat at the right angle to the fish, it was hard work. After an hour of heavy pumping and reeling, a yellowfin of approximately 150lb came to the surface. What a giant! Teamwork had paid off.
The evening produced some smaller tuna, which provided fun sport and made the time fly. Suddenly, in the last feeding frenzy, a marlin appeared. We tried to get it to bite with a lot different tricks and, finally, it took the bait…… marlin on! It was me on the rod and after one unstoppable run, followed by two majestic jumps, the line went slack. Even though I lost that fish, it left us all with big smiles on our faces. None of us would forget that encounter for a long time
After that fantastic day it was time for me to depart from Costa Rica, leaving the group to have one more amazing day of fishing.
I will return to this remarkable paradise again. What an amazing adventure of a lifetime I had.
Babs Kiljewski is a German angler, who has nearly 90,000 followers on Facebook (Babs Kijewski world of fishing), including many from the UK, and is one of Penn’s pro-staff anglers. ■