I wrote an article earlier about sailfishing out of Quepos, Costa Rica back in February and then again in April. We were actually fishing for black marlin in April. On both of these trips we fished with Capt. Jesse Baletti on the WAVEDANCER, a 46-foot Jersey. We caught plenty of sails including a monster 165 pounder in April while trolling live bait for black marlin. We never did hook a black marlin although there were five caught that week we were there. Jesse is an American who has been down in Quepos for 14 years charter fishing. He married a local girl and is pretty well established in the local community. His mate Danny Harrera is a Columbian who speaks excellent English and is a great mate. Danny also guides for tarpon on the east coast in the fall before the rainy season. When Danny sent me E-mail back in September talking about all the tarpon I was hooked on setting up another trip to do a TV show, this time for tarpon. What a great fish to film as they air out and burn line. This is one of the best places in the world to catch fish up to 200 pounds. It is all catch and release and the tarpon no longer have any natural enemies in the area as the bull sharks have been fished out.

Keith Wilkinson, one of my friends from Va. Beach who had fished with us in Quepos was ready to go again. Keith and I left Norfolk airport headed for Charlotte, N.C. and then San Jose, Costa Rica at 7AM on a Wednesday. We arrived at San Jose about 2:30PM, just in time to meet Jesse who was going to meet us after taking a bus up from Quepos. After renewing old acquaintances and telling fish stories over a beer we had a good dinner and turned in early as we were leaving at 5AM for the airport again on Thursday.

We were going to catch a small plane at 6AM for Torteguero, Costa Rica. Torteguero means the land of the turtle and is located in the jungle on the east coast side of the country. Danny was going to pick us up in a Panga boat around 7AM and take us 18 miles down the canal to Parismina, Costa Rica. This is a river community in the jungle where the river runs into the Carribean. Silty, muddy looking jungle water runs out into the clear pretty blue for about 2 miles. When a fish blows the surface or the boat moves you can see the silt move off the surface and reveal the clear water underneath. Sometimes, Danny says you can see schools of a hundred or more fish at times. We did not see that many on this day. We did see several smaller schools rolling. This was a blistery day, overcast and spitting rain. On a normal day you may hook ten or twelve fish in the morning, go in for lunch, and then go back out in the afternoon and repeat the process.

The 18-mile boat ride down the canal from Torteguero to Parismina was fun and I filmed tucan birds, monkeys, crocodiles, eco-tour boats, and anything and everything of interest. The village of Parismina has two cars, two trucks, one tractor, and twenty-five horses! They do have electricity with fans in the rooms of the lodge. A couple of days before we arrived they had a jaguar outside the village that spooked some wild pigs that ran through the middle of town with the dogs chasing them. They also had a crocodile come out of the jungle and visit them as well. This really is a rustic neat little riverside community.

Danny's wife, Maria had a breakfast ready for us when we arrived Thursday morning about 8AM. We ate breakfast then departed to go Tarpon fishing. Maria went with us in another Panga with Capt. Doogie. I had an extra mini-DV cam that she was going to use in the camera boat to help us get some good shots for our TV show. I had the other camera and filmed in Danny's big 26-foot rig. Capt. Jesse and Keith were the anglers and Danny was the helmsman. Danny's boat had a new 140 HP E-Tech Johnson and would really handle the big swells at the mouth of the river.

Capt. Jesse jumped off a huge fish of about 200 pounds that we did not get any film on. Keith then hooked and landed about a 60-pound fish, which was small for these fish, but a great fish on light tackle. Jesse then hooked and landed a 100-pound fish during a little rain shower. We did get some footage of this fish. Keith ended up catching another fish of around 100 pounds. All in all it was a slow day according to Danny, however we hooked a total of 7 fish and landed 3 of them, 2 of which were 100-pound fish.

I got some great fish footage for THE WEEKEND FISHERMAN TV SHOW, and Keith caught and landed his first tarpon! We also had a boobie bird land in the boat and allowed me to film him while Keith fed him one of our baits, an anchovy. What a great place to fish, with the scenery and hospitality, not to mention the tremendous tarpon. The cost was not bad either when you figure lodging, 3 meals, and fishing all day for $150 per person. Danny can be reached at www.molafish.com. I had a great time and when Costa Rica calls again, I will be there.