Ripe, Red Coffee And Blood On The Deck

By Author: MartinLively
Total Articles: 3
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The not-so-nice scent of rotting fruit from the nearby Coopeatenas coffee processing plant, the Benificio Diamante, let me know that harvest had begun. Not in a big time way yet, jut small amounts selectively picked as bushes with a little too much sun for this altitude ripened. But it has to be picked; green to yellow to orangish to red and then brown and down on the ground and lost. Don Ramon and young David had picked the little ripened fruit on Finca Zacatal, only two cajuelas - maybe forty pounds. But like a Beaujolais Nouveau, the first fruit of the season carries a certain excitement.

I was just putting the half-full sack in the back of my Montero when a huge Ford pickup pulled into Casi el Cielo. Capt. Jose of Angry Marlin Sport Fishing, www.angrymarlin.com stuck his head out the window and yelled Come on, let's go: it's time to put the Montauk in the water. He had added a costa rica charter boats to his adventure armada, a 17 foot, center console, walk around Boston Whaler. So the coffee moved from my car to his and then to the Beneficio San Isidro, where, after Capt. Jose and I shared lots of fishing stories ...
... with Rolando Rojas, it began the fermentation, cleaning, drying, husk removal, pre-roasting, roasting and packaging that puts in on our shelves.

Puntarenas and the Costa Rica Yacht Club are a little over an hour from Atenas, and soon we were putt-putting from the dock across to dry storage where Capt. Jose's fishing boats are kept clean and dry on their trailers. Radio, rods and reels and other gear came from another boat as the full black cover was pulled from the new baby. White and cream and chrome it glistened in front of the huge 4 stroke outboard. Dock crew backed it down the boat ramp and we were off. Off very slowly at first, since the tide was out and there are places where there is less than two feet of water and even the Montauk needs a foot and a half.

Capt. Jose taught me the instruments and controls and the channels and obstructions as we high propped out to deeper water, but soon we were on plane and zipping toward the fishing grounds. Working birds disclosed fish feeding at the surface and we slowed, stopped and cast metal jigs at the diminishing boil. As fast as the fish showed they departed. I was so excited being back on the water that I cannot tell you how long the run to the Negritas took, but it wasn't long, and a few minutes after getting there we switched to white, red head, five inch Rapalas and were trolling around the island just off the rocks. We were in the Pacific; the little chain of islands including Tortugero and the Negritas is where the blue ocean and the brownish green Gulf of Nicoya come together, where Los Suenos Fishing and Tambor Fishing are famed after

Roosterfish, pargo, grouper, dorado, sierra mackerel, jurel or jack and even the occasional wahoo or sailfish were possibilities, this information was an outcome of a detailed statics from costa rica fishing report. Rod holders had not been installed so it was only possible to fish one rod at a time, so under the guise of wanting to test the boat and all components (but really more interested in my getting a fish) Capt. Jose steered the swifty costa rica charter boats clear of the rocks and slow trolled keeping an eye on the fish finder for water depth and for the small and larger blips on the screen indicating baitfish and under them - game fish. It was great experincing fishing Costa Rica. Each time we passed over schools of baitfish Capt. Jose would then see larger fish images and command, Two hands tight on that gear Martin, that's a thousand dollars you are holding and there are fish down there capable of ripping it overboard. White knuckled I waited while the end of the G. Loomis rod vibrated the Rapala dance. Rainy season. Too many previous moonlit nights. Middle of the day. Quien sabé? But a couple of hours of trolling produced only one small Spanish Mackerel, a beautiful little fish, and the one which christened the deck with its bright red blood. The dock boys would enjoy this fish for dinner. It fought well but was no match for the gold anodized Calcutta 700 reel. This was one of ours adventurous experince in our entire Costa Rica SportFishing.

I had taken the helm after clearing port on the way out, but was tired from the constant movement of the boat and the toll that that takes on your legs as you stand bent kneed and bowlegged struggling for balance, so Capt. Jose drove back. He loves this little Costa Rica charter boats and pushed it to the limits as we flew over the slight chop and in between the winter wood in the water.

In the center of the Gulf, Birds! We stopped as the few birds of earlier had grown to hundreds and the surface was broken in bands thirty feet by thirty yards as some unknown predators slashed at baitfish driven to the surface. Again metal was tossed to them and this time we were both hooked up to the hard fighting Jack known locally as Jurel. Ten/twelve pounds each they were a good fight and there were thousand of them within casting distance. We cast, hooked up, fought and landed or released as many as we had the arm and leg strength for. The school would veer away, break up and then re-group as we fought the hooked ones. A short run to where they resurfaced and we were hooked up again. It was the largest school of feeding game fish I have ever seen and what fun. Four went into the ice chest and the rest swim to grow and wait for our return.

Over spicy lemon shrimp soup and beers at Restaurante Leda in Mata Limon Capt. Jose and I exchanged views of photos on our digital cameras and told stories of our great fishing costa rica experinces of past and future. (Capt. Jose and his Montauk went on the following September to take two first place prizes winning a major tarpon fishing tournament on the Rio San Juan! But that's another story of the great Costa Rica SportFishing!)

From coffee harvest to café con leche at sunset at the beach, with singing reels and pounding waves in between - just another average day in Costa Rica.

Angry Marlin Sportfishing offers a variety of fishing, tours in great boats at reasonable prices here in Costa Rica. Check the website www.angrymarlin.com , or call Capt. Jose at 506.2237.2953 or from the US at 805.880.1270.

Author Bio:

Martin Lively is a sport fishing enthusiatist who has been experiencing great adventurous fishing on the Central Pacific coasts. Here he shares about his enthusiatsic moments about the recent adventures which he had with a Costa Rica SportFishing agency Angry Marlin. For more information please visit: http://www.angrymarlin.com/.