I will start off I have gone bill fishing in both Costa Rica and Mexico 4 times and Guatemala and Panama 1 time each. These trips were exclusively for those purposes. This trip was an for a Bachelor party. The crew consisted of 5 individuals including myself that had been going hard for two days and two nights. This is an ideal charter for a group that is on a budget. I would recommend no more than 5 and ideally 4 individuals per boat. This is per the fact you will not have enough opportunites for everyone to potentially have a shot at a billfish. Specifically, if you are fishing any month outside March, April, May. There is no head(toilet) on the boat if you have women joining or someone suffering from “bad ice.”
Fishing in the rainy (green) season can be a shot in dark. We avoided storms nearly all day until around 2:00 when they started pushing us inshore and a way from the deeper waters. Subsequently, away from the better fishing areas. Despite this we raised 8 sails and landed 3 of them. We landed the first two sails and raised seven by 12:00. Thus, don’t be late as the fish bite earlier in the day. We also brought in a single Skipjack Tuna that hit right out of the gate. Notably, the last Sail we picked up was at 3:30. Ironically, this occurred when the next angler up uttered “I guess it will only be two” in defeat per the hour of the day. All in all 3 lost their respective billfish virginity. We headed in after this to return to shore at around 5pm.
I will note going in June is not the ideal time to go for billfish. I was down for a bachelor party. If you are serious Angler go between March thru early May. You should expect to land 10+ fish per day minimally. The captain indicated he caught 26 Sails the first week of May on the boat. In early April the Los Suenos Billfish tournament landed over 1,000+ sailfish caught and released in a three day period amongst 30 boats.
The crew was solid and attentive. The Captian (Carlos) is very expierenced in the waters surrounding the area and mates on several billfish tournament boats that fish the Pacfic from Baja to Panama. His English is very good and has a good humor. We were given a solid offering of food/drinks consisting of:
-Ham and cheese sandwiches
-Pasta salad with fish (very good)
-Roterrise chicken (actually warm)
-Pineapple (cut on the boat)
-Imperial Beer
-Bottled juices
-Water
-Coca Cola and Squirt
The boat is a 30 foot center console Panga design boat, which can take the seas well. We had seas ranging from 2-6ft and it kept us pretty dry. The center console is large and has storage to keep your things dry. I brought a 20 liter dry bag ($30 on Amazon) to keep my things together and subsequently everyone else’s. The boat has a canvas t-top that is extended to provide additional shade, which was crucial when the sun was out. It was mostly cloudly all day for us. We did run back in the rain, however the t-top and direction of the rain kept us from being drenched.
The boat has a single engine 175 HP 4-Stroke Suzuki. This allowed the boat to cruise around 17 knots out to the fishing grounds. There is a draw back to having a smaller single engine in that you will lose roughly 45 minutes - 1 hour of fishing compared to better powered boat. This is based on the additional time it takes get out and return for the prescribed fishing times. If you were booking for multiple days I would factor this in and look for a center console boat with 250 to 300 HP between a single or double engines setup. This should get you cruising at 25-30 knots out or go with a more pricy sportfisher that cruises at 25+ knots. Our run out and in was about an one hour and fifteen minutes each way.
You will board the boat via a tender directly off of the beach. For this reason and that the boat gets wet avoid tennis shoes and opt for sandals.
You will need to arrange or pay for your own transportation ($25 each way). We were staying in Hermosa Beach, which is why I selected this charter. I will note it is in fact not in Hermosa Beach, but in Playa Herradura / Los Suenos (35 minute car ride). I am shaving a star off because of that alone.
I will start off I have gone bill fishing in both Costa Rica and Mexico 4 times and Guatemala and Panama 1 time each. These...
