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Date: January 19, 2018 Body of Water: Golfito Dulce, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica Boat: HepCat With: A; Cory and Russo from @tropicfins, Tropic Fins Adventures, http://tropicfins.com Target: Roosterfish, Snapper and whatever else we might come across Time: 7 AM to 4:00 PM Conditions: Tropical; bright and clear; water temps around 85 degrees F; generally calm and easy conditions With so many experiences and the big adventure of the previous day behind, it was time to relax and simply enjoy some fun fishing on the calm waters of Golfito Dulce with A. Bait was reportedly easy to make, so we went directly to a new spot, an isolated hump in about 45 feet of water. Our initial couple of drops with weighted, live sardines resulted in a series of pesky, snipping bites. But on my third drop or so, I had a confident take. The rod loaded nicely. I turned the fish fairly easily, initially, but then it made a supercharged rush for the bottom. This was simply fun! I was soon able to make out the fish; it was clearly an African Pompano trying to hug the bottom. I eased it to within 10 feet of the boat before the hook slipped out; another photo opportunity lost, but I did get the best part of an impressive tussle with this fish. When a few more drops resulted in only a smallish yellowtail snapper and a very impressive blue runner, we decided to relocate to another hump. I moved to the bow to re-hydrate, and commented to A on the impressive depth of the Gulf and the current lines/weed edges within sight. Little did I know that Cory had set out a dead sardine to skip along the surface along a prominent weed edge as we re-located, and I was surprised to hear a reel's drag erupt as we motored along. I grabbed the rod to the sight of a leaping mahi, and I enjoyed catching this nice gaffer on the day's light tackle. This bull provided much more fight and challenge than the previous day's even though it was a bit smaller. Plus, I'd never enjoyed the fight of a dolphin fish in such calm water! What a nice, bonus fish! We relocated to an isolated rock near the southeast point guarding the mouth of the Gulf. We switched over to slow trolling sardines from the stern while I cast the Yozuri Hydro popper from the bow. One of my first casts was smashed by another nice Spanish Mackerel. I enjoy these toothy speeders! We continued to circle this rock, and as we approached the same area (the approximate north side of the rock), a very nice rooster announced its presence by flaring its dorsal fin through the water's surface as it tracked and chased my popper. I kept the fish engaged and enraged for just about the entire length of the cast, but as it came close to the boat, it flared off to the side. My disappointment was short-lived, though, because just then a sardine got smashed. A hooked up with a strong fish (I suspect this same rooster.) She fought it for a few minutes (during which it ran out a lot of line!), but the leader wore through before we could ever see this fish for sure. This was, perhaps, our only tackle failure of the entire trip, but to be fair, we were fishing around rocks, and I suspect that fish knew each one of them. Oh, well! After this, we spent most of the rest of the day pleasantly prospecting humps in the Gulf from about 50 to about 150 feet deep. One in particular paid off handsomely. This one provided a variety of jacks and snapper (Cubera and Yellowtail) and a host of other chances. The first highlight from this particular hump (which featured a prominent drop from 125 to 150 feet of water) was a double-header. While A was kept occupied by a sizable jack crevalle, I was doing my best to defeat a beautiful Broomtail Grouper. At about 30 pounds, it was quite a beast! Captain Cory had been toying with a couple of speed jigging sticks during the day; the Okuma Cedros with a Shimano free-fall jig had caught my eye the second I'd stepped off the dock. I asked if I could try it, and I was welcome to do so! Two pumps into my retrieve on my initial drop, and I was on! I truly enjoyed this opportunity, and the Horse-eye Jack that I ultimately landed was just another bonus experience. It was a perfect match for this equipment and a nice introduction to this technique for me. I should have retired from speed jigging when I caught a very nice, approximately 5-pound Yellowtail Snapper on the next drop. Having gone 2-for-2, I then entered a barren stretch, and I even lost a couple of Cory's jigs to the sticky bottom. (I should confess, here, that I was perhaps not using the free-fall jigs properly; I was rapidly pumping and retrieving them through the column in a 3-dimensional walk of the dog. I guess these free-fall jigs are designed to be used more modestly, and to get hit on their seductive fall. I guess I was lucky, in my ignorance; but my initial tactics did work!) The day was winding down. There were fish to clean, and a report came in that a boat had done well on Iguana Reef earlier that day. We hit it (hard) for the last half hour or so of fishing. Mackerel plagued our live-lined sardines, while I raised only a single fish (a rooster?) on the popper. Cory exclaimed "Perfect!" just as this fish came unbuttoned. I know we were both rooting for that last-minute, 40-pound rooster to show up! We worked hard, right to the end. But I knew when it was time to grab my last cold Imperial of the trip. My time boat fishing with Tropic Fins was over, at least for 2018. What do I have to say about this? This was a pleasant and productive way to end the trip. The calm Gulf waters and A's relaxed but engaged company were a perfect way to wind down. And I got additional new experiences galore; a nice mahi on light tackle, an African Pomano sighting, a large roosterfish chasing my popper for 70 yards or more, a large and beautiful grouper, and some speed-jigging success. Wow! Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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