Fishing Regions - Seasons and Species

by Jerry Ruhlow

Freshwater Fishing

Angling in Costa Rica's many rivers and a couple of lakes has long been popular with resident sportsmen, but is just coming into its own as far as visitors are concerned. There are now a few tour agencies and guides offering inland fishing trips, some of them providing transportation, boat and equipment.

Lake Arenal is the most popular inland fishing water, located about a four-hour drive from San Jose. It is a beautiful lake about 20 miles long nestled at the foot of the spectacular Arenal Volcano, and it's loaded with guapote, or rainbow bass, a member of the cichlid family that displays the shadings of a rainbow trout and is fished as you would for a black bass, but is related to neither.

You do need a boat to fish the lake, and it's not a catch-out pond. You have to work hard, but if you know something about fishing for largemouth bass you can do well almost any time of the year.

As with largemouth bass, fishing will vary substantially with prevailing seasons, the water level and weather conditions and the angler who knows how to read and work the structure can usually do well. Be prepared to toss poppers and spinner baits into the sticks and grass early in the morning or late evening, and go to jigs and deep running crank baits off the points and structure during the day.

Guapote are also found in the much smaller Lago Coto, above Arenal, and at Lake Hule (also shown on some maps as Lago Echandi). You will need a four-wheel-drive and should be prepared to camp out if visiting the latter.

Low-elevation rivers that feed into the San Juan to the north and the Caribbean Sea on the east coast also have guapote, along with a variety of other species including bobo (a type of mullet); another colorful cichlid related to the guapote that looks like a giant bluegill with teeth, called a mojarra; the machaca, often called sabalito, or little tarpon, because of its acrobatic jumps that make it a favorite of fly fishermen; and roncador or drum, usually found in brackish lagoons near the river mouths.

Favorite rivers within an easy drive of San Jose include the Sarapiqui River at Puerto Viejo and the Rio Frio at Los Chiles, which connects with Cano Negro Lagoon and the San Juan River as it forms the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Cano Negro is a large inland lagoon that fluctuates with the seasonal rainfall and has a population of huge tarpon. A friend I was fishing with once got a couple of jumps out of a tarpon that would have gone 200 pounds, but I've never heard of one of the big ones being boated. Cano Negro also offers a year-round population of snook, drum, guapote and other species.

There is rainbow trout fishing in many of the higher elevation rivers but they're really tough to get to and require a guide and some tough hiking. Most easily accessed trout fishing is a private stretch of the Savegre River on the Chacon Ranch out of San Gerardo de Dota. Trout run small, perhaps seven to nine inches and fishing isn't easy, as it's all wading with bad footing on the slick, moss-covered rocks. But it is beautiful, surrounded by tropical jungle festooned with orchids and bromeliads and is also one of the best places to see the rare quetzal in the wild. Overnight accommodation and meals are available.

Keep in mind that a valid Costa Rican fishing license is required for freshwater. To obtain a license for 60 days, non-residents including tourists can deposit $30 at any national bank and obtain an "entero" showing that the amount has been paid. Take the entero, a passport photo and your passport to the Departamento de Control Silvestre, where the license will be issued.

Lake Arenal is the only inland water open all year. You can also fish the backwaters around the mouths of rivers flowing into the ocean all year, but other lakes and inland rivers are closed from September through November.

  - Nuevo Mundo -