Sport Fishing in Costa Rica North Pacific, Guanacaste

The area designated for the north pacific fishing zone extends from (1) La Cruz, bordering Nicaragua on the northwestern most part of Costa Rica, down to the end of the Nicoya peninsula at Matapalo and Cabuya. This area features a very irregular coastline with lots of inshore and offshore fishing holes, rich with Costa Rica’s resident populations of fishing predators.

Junquillal fishing (2), on the northern most part of the peninsula near La Cruz, is know for consistently producing big roosterfish and mahi-mahi from shore, fishing on FOOT! Here the outstanding continental platform is suddenly crossed by deep trenches, putting big game species fishing at a very short distance from shore. There is also a small fleet of small boats that can be rented for inshore fishing. Moving down the coastline Santa Rosa National park is a no fishing zone. Along the road due south the busy sport fishing towns at Papagayo Gulf, like El Coco and Playa Hermosa, where offshore, inshore, deep jigging and surfcast fishing is great, have a very developed economy so there are a lot of hotels, restaurants and charters skiffs and boats available for fishing these waters.

Potrero (4) is another sportfishing town in the area. Great kayak fishing can be done here because of the protection mountains nearshore give from the wind. Sport fishing boats are available for all types of fishing and surfcasting nearby is also good fishing. Tamarindo, Flamingo and Ocotal (5) often charter ing for Marlin, Sailfish and Big Tunas are also economically developed towns, there are lots of options on hotels restaurants and sport fishing boats available. It’s also very easy to book smaller boats for inshore fishing grouper, snapper, mahi-mahi, jacks, mackerels, Wahoo, roosterfish and tunas. And snook fishing from shore or on nearby estuaries is a must.

Further down south Pinilla (6) is one of the recent newcomer on the sport fishing scene. Recent economy improvements have made a lot of fishing infrastructure appear on the town (and a golf course) so hotels and fishing boats are available for every budget.