Monday, January 25, 2010

Back to the North Country


Joey really wanted to see where I was bringing clients in the northern areas, as well as wanting to try some kayak fishing other than out in the ocean, so with a few loaner kayaks from my friend Neil Kahn at Kayak Jaco (www.kayakjaco.com), we set off on another adventure.  Since I actually have a real job, we didn't get on the road until about 4:30 Thursday.

getting everything cinched up

We made it up to Canalete by about 7PM, found some food, and settled in for the evening.  We had a 6AM meeting at river side with our boatman Gilberto, who would shuttle us up the river with our kayaks, so we could fish while floating down the river.

We arrived a little late, having decided to catch a quick bite to eat and some coffee. Right away we had an omen!  As I was helping to unload one of the kayaks, I didn't see that the driver's side rear view mirror of the car had moved (!) under the kayak I was handling , and  the kayak and mirror had a small "interaction" which in turn separated the mirror from said RENTAL car (it cracked off!)  I admit it, it was my fault!  We did get the other boat off the roof without any problem, though, and so we finished loading up the boat, and were soon heading up river.

ready to go

The river was noticeably lower than 3 weeks ago when I was here last, but Gilberto easily navigated his boat around any trouble spots, and we were soon at our drop-off spot.

off loading for a day on the river

Let me just say up front, that I am not a kayaker (!), so this was all a new experience to me.  Trying to throw  a fly line while sitting down, making sure the kayak is heading in the right direction, making sure no trees are behind you when casting,  making sure you don't lose the paddle, and then, if you actually hook a fish, trying to land it while controlling the kayak!  Whooaa, this ain't easy!

Of course it wasn't all that hard at tmes either; there were many stretches when the kayak needed no attention, there was plenty of room to cast, and it was actually fun.  That is until I hooked a fish and I had to think about ALL of the above aforementioned possible screw-ups.  And I certainly had my share, from snagging overhead branches to having to redirect the kayak out of harms way.

nice machaca on a 5 wt


We were only fishing half day, since we wanted to get over to Cano Negro for some early morning tarpon action, so we did not start as high up on the river as usual.  We did catch machaca, although not in the abundance of my last trip.  Trying to determine why there were less fish, led me to consider that we had only fished half the distance of river.  Besides not fishing the upper river stretches, I also realized that when fishing off a kayak, you only get your line in the water perhaps not even half as much time as if floating and fishing off a boat!  When I added in those variables, I decided it was a decent day after all!

We stopped off for lunch at a local soda before heading out to Cano Negro.The road to Cano Negro from Upala is all dirt, and can be a bit challenging at times.  We made pretty good time, arriving in less than an hour.  My friend Carlos, who's father Antonio was born in Cano Negro, had set us up in his cabinas, and we found we were the only guests there, so it was "muy tranquilo".

And since it was getting late in the afternoon, (about beer thirty), we decided to head over to the Bar Del Lago (bar of the lake).  Unlike the main bar in the center of town, Bar el Lago is very much off the beaten path and took some doing to find.  The draw of this place is that it is very much a locals bar (no tourist could ever find it), and it sits right on the lagoon, where at sundown, you can watch the fish feed.   Our timing was perfect, and our front row seats gave us a ring side few view the "show".


Perfect spot for happy hour


After enjoying a beer, we headed back to the car.  We noticed a darkened house next to the bar, with many plastic tables and chairs.  It looked like they might feed people there (not quite sure if it measured up to being called a restaurant).  The lady of the house was in the yard at her grill, frying up a bunch of fish heads,  and judging from the size of the heads, they had been nice size fish.  We inquired if she might cook us up some dinner, and after quizzing us on what we might want, she said she would cook up some fish, with of course the usual rice, beans, and salad.  Not too long after, our food appeared.  It was a little disconcerting eating in the dark, not knowing exactly what was on the plate, but it did taste good, and eventually, after a few sparks, the lights did come on and we saw we were eating fried guapote; and not the heads!  And just about the time we were finishing up the fish,  our rice, beans and salad came to the table to complete the meal.  We left with full bellies and smiles.

The next morning we were at Carlos's house by 5:20, a few minutes early.  Antonio, his dad invited us in for coffee, while we waited for his son to arrive.  Carlos arrived right on time and we headed down to the lagoons.



 Antonio had the coffee ready
It wasn't quite sun up yet, and there was a slight rainy mist when we got the kayaks to the water



getting rigged up


The water in the lagoons was falling daily, so we had to paddle the kayaks a bit to reach the boat, where we loaded them up for a few hours of fishing.



shuttle

The river current was strong, and we struggled to keep the kayaks in the area of the fish, which we could see rolling and jumping.  There was a bunch of gar rising as well as tarpon explosions.  Joey landed a nice gar which we documented below.


nice gar fish
If I could figure how to rotate this photo, i would, but right now I can't figure it out.  These critters have huge teeth. Joey also hooked up with a few tarpon, but was not lucky enough to land one.  Of course just watching one of these monsters  leap out of the water a few times before throwing the hook is still worth the price of admission.  And it keeps you coming back for more.

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope"*(John Buchan)

And then of course we had to deal with the mirror!

oops


can you say "10 minute epoxy?"

1 comment:

  1. Nice Detailed information about fishing hunting in Costa Rica in North Side Areas of North america.
    I am searching for best Blogs related to Costa Rica Real Estate..

    I am Interested in Fishing.I impressed with this post.

    ReplyDelete