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From the Gulf of Papagayo to Cabo Blanco

Flamingo Beach, with its modern full-service marina, is the major sport fishing center in the northern coastal area, offering about 40 charter boats, ranging from 23-foot center console outboards, largely for inshore fishing, to luxurious 47 and 58-footers. Boats also charter out of nearby Coco's Beach, Tamarindo, Ocotal, Potrero, Brasilito and a few points in between.

Further south, there are boats operating below Cabo Blanco, out of Nosara, Garza, Samara and Carrillo beach, a region that gets more protection from the wind that normally blow late December into March and April. Some boats from the more northerly areas often base at Carrillo beach from about December through March if the wind is blowing and the main billfish population is moving north from the central coastal area.

Boats out of the more northerly region of the Guanacaste province have an average running time of less than an hour to the blue water outside of Cabo Vela, 40 minutes to the Catalina Islands and 90 minutes to the Murcielagos Islands.

The Catalinas are often a last stop for boats on the way home, for a couple of passes for wahoo or perhaps drifting a blue runner or bonito for roosters or Pacific cubera snapper. The islands often produce mackerel, tuna or bonito as well.

Off the tip of the Santa Elena Peninsula, at the northern end of Papagayo Bay, the Murcielagos have it all. Waters around the chain of rocky islets are home to big amberjack, Pacific cubera snapper, grouper, roosterfish and some of the best wahoo angling on the coast. With a steep inshore drop-off nearby, it is also a frequent hot spot for all three species of marlin and sailfish. Big tuna -- over 200 pounds -- peak in that area from September through December. Sailfish generally rates fair to good from December through March, and marlin can be exceptional during those months when many skippers run south of Cabo Vela toward Punta Guiones -- about 30 miles -- where the configuration of the peninsula provides protection from the wind and the sea flattens out.

There are fewer fisherman in the northern area during the windy months from December through March, so a few of the boats base further south during the rough weather, mooring off Playa Carrillo or going all the way down to Quepos,.

Fish and Seasons:

MARLIN
They are caught every month of the year, with mid-November to early March little short of exceptional, then slowing a bit from April into early June when it picks up again, peaking in August and September.

SAILFISH
Caught throughout the year, but May through August mark the top season. They may begin to thin out in September and the slowest months are from late August through November.

TUNA
Peak months are usually August through October. The yellowfin and some bigeye tuna are often found well inside the Catalina Islands, 30 minutes or less running time from the beach, while schools of 12 to 20-pounders often spread for acres under the porpoise on the outside. You will also frequently find concentrations of 40 to 60-pounders, and there are a few in the 200 to 350- pound class caught every year.

DORADO
More properly known as dolphin, these colorful gamesters are most abundant from late May through October when the seasonal rains flood the rivers that carry out debris that forms trash lines close inshore that they like to lie under.

WAHOO
The first showing begins about the time the rains start in May, peaking in July and August. Most are caught around the rocky points and islands, but you will pick one up occasionally fishing offshore as well.

ROOSTERFISH
Available all year, but there are more caught in the Papagayo Bay area from November through March. That may be because more boats in the northernmost area of this region are fishing inshore during those windy months, and the roosters like the structure of the shoreline and islands where they're found in 50 to 60 feet of water.