Costa Rica Photo Essay
- This topic has 24 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated Apr 17, 2009 at 9:57 pm by
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Andrew,
It’s possible to fish some spots without a guide, but unless your spanish is exceptional and you’re willing to waste a fair bit of time, it makes a lot more sense to pay for some local knowledge. If you’re thinking about doing even a half day of fishing, it’s probably worth dropping Peter a line – he’s on a first-name basis with most of the fish in the country, so he may be able to come up with something near where you’re going to be anyway.
Arenal is a really nice area – lots of European ex-pats, so at times it feels more like Germany than Costa Rica, but it’s a great spot. In Arenal you should take the wife to Gingerbread for dinner – probably the best meal I’ve ever had in CR. There’s also a gringo in town that has a Whaler and guides on the lake for machaca and guapote – the guy’s name is Ron (http://www.arenalfishing.com/). He’s more of a spin/baitcaster guy, but he’s a good guide and he knew where to take a couple of flycasters to get us into fish. It’s not the same as floating the river for machaca, but we still got plenty of fish on surface flies.
The west coast can be very hit or miss – there are some gorgeous unspoiled places, and there are spots that make downtown Tijuana look pristine. I’ve pretty much given up on the nearshore fishing, and I’ve never really seen the appeal of deep sea fishing, but there’s plenty of that to be had if you’re into it.
Most spots outside San Jose and Limon are pretty safe, but property crime is huge down there – anything left in an unattended vehicle will almost certainly be stolen. Costa Ricans all drive like maniacs, so if you’re getting a rental car, put your game face on before getting behind the wheel – in any given situation you need to imagine the stupidest, most dangerous thing the other driver could do, then be ready for a surprise as he outdoes your imagination. 😮
Another Machaca Shot – I played with the processing a bit on this one, and I’m not really a huge fan of the boga in the shot, but the fish was pretty green and Dave wasn’t real keen on losing a finger.
Andrew- one tip about Costa Rican driving:
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