Northern Pacific

Flamingo, Ocotal, Tamarindo, Samara

This area is famous by the abundance of billfish, with sailfish and marlin being taken in phenomenal numbers. Flamingo Beach is the major sport fishing center in the northern coastal area of the country offering a full-service marina, but boats also charter out of nearby Coco's beach, Tamarindo, Ocotal, Brasilito, Potrero and a few points in between. A bit further south, there are boats operating below Cabo Blanco, out of Nosara, Garza, Samara and Carillo beach--a region that gets more protection from the winds that normally blow late December into March and April

The fertile fishing grounds of the North Pacific provides year round action for approximately 25 varieties of sport fish. Although most famous for its sail fishing from April through September, these same waters produce great marling catches almost every month of the year.

Popular sport fishes in the area include Sailfish, Marlin, Dogtooth Snapper, Wahoo, Dorado, mackerel and Yellow Fin Tuna.

SEASONS

Marlin: Caught every month of the year, with mid-November to early March exceptional, then slowing a bit from April into early June when it picks up again, peaking in August and September.

Sailfish: Caught throughout the year, with May trough August normally the top seasons. They may begin to thin out in September and the slowest months are from late August through November.

Tuna: Peak months are probably August through October, but when all else fails, there are always tuna, anytime of the year you want to look for them, and more often than not when you’d just as soon avoid them to concentrate on billfish. The yellowfin and some bigeye tuna are often found well inside the Santa Catalina Islands 30 minutes or less running time from the beach, while schools of the 12 to 20 pounders are usually abundant on the outside. You frequently find concentrations of 40 to 60 pound tuna, and there are plenty of the 200 to 400 pounders caught every year.

Dorado: More properly known as dolphin, these colorful gamesters are most abundant from late may through October when the seasonal rains flood the rivers, carrying out debris that forms trash lines close inshore that they like to lie under. Troll past floating log and you will likely hook a Dorado.

Wahoo: The first showing begins about the time the rains start in May, peaking in July and August. Most are caught around the rocky points and islands, but you will pick one up occasionally fishing offshore.

Roosterfish: Available all year, but there are more caught in the Papagayo Bay area from November through March. That may be because more boats in the northernmost area of this region are fishing inshore during those windy months, and the roosters like the structure of the shoreline and islands where they are found in 50 to 60 feet of water.