Sportfishing on the Caribbean Coast

A different kind of fishing

Costa Rica's Caribbean coast runs about 200 kilometers from the Nicaraguan border to Panama, and every kilometer of it is in Limón Province. It feels like another country from the Pacific side: Afro-Caribbean culture, English-based Creole alongside Spanish, rice and beans cooked in coconut milk, and rain in almost any month.

The fishing is different too. There are no marinas and no big sportfishing fleet. Instead, the coast is cut by rivers, lagoons and canals, and where those rivers meet the sea, they draw some of the biggest tarpon in Central America, plus snook and a mix of jacks, barracuda and mackerel. Costa Rica's fishing law names tarpon as a species of tourist-sport interest, alongside sailfish and marlin, and they're released alive.

The north: river mouths and fishing lodges

The best Caribbean fishing is in the north of the province, around three river systems:

• Barra del Colorado, near the Nicaraguan border, where the Colorado River meets the sea. It's remote, reached by boat or small plane, and has been a tarpon destination for decades. Silver King Lodge is one of the lodges still fishing there; it fishes all year and names February to June and mid-August to late November as its best stretches.
• Tortuguero, best known for its national park and nesting sea turtles, where boats fish the river mouth and the sea just off it.
• Parismina, a small village at the mouth of the Parismina River, south of Tortuguero.

Fishing here usually means a small, fast boat run by a local guide. On calm days, guides cross the river-mouth bar and fish for tarpon schooling just outside; when the sea is rough, they stay in the rivers and lagoons. FECOP, the Costa Rican sport fishing federation, says the fishing outside the river mouths can be excellent when conditions line up, and that fat snook (called calba locally) start running in December. Bigger snook are caught off the river-mouth beaches, but rarely in numbers.

The south: Limón city to the Panama border

South of Puerto Limón, much of the coast is protected. Cahuita National Park and the Gandoca-Manzanillo refuge cover long stretches of reef and shoreline, and Costa Rica's fishing law bans sport fishing in national parks. Fishing here means small-boat trips and casting from the shore and river mouths outside protected areas. See our guide to fishing near Puerto Viejo for more.

When to go

The Caribbean has no real dry season, and conditions matter more than the calendar. Rough seas can close the river-mouth bars for days, and heavy rain muddies the rivers. Many lodges point to late winter and spring and again to September and October, when the sea is often calmer, but tarpon are caught in every month. Ask your lodge about recent conditions before you book.

How tarpon fishing works here

A typical day starts early in a small, fast boat with a local guide. If the sea is calm and the river-mouth bar is passable, you'll head outside to look for tarpon rolling at the surface, then drift or slowly troll lures and jigs through the school. If the bar is rough, the guide stays inside, fishing the river channels and lagoons where tarpon and snook also feed. Hooking a tarpon is only half the job: they jump, run and can take a long time to bring alongside.

Lodges in the north usually sell all-inclusive packages with transfers, meals, boats and guides, because there's very little else in these villages. Tackle is usually provided, but serious anglers often bring their own rods and lures; ask the lodge what it supplies and what it recommends.

Getting there

• To Puerto Limón: about 2.5 to 3 hours by road from San José on Route 32 through Braulio Carrillo National Park, or a domestic flight on SANSA.
• To Tortuguero and Barra del Colorado: no roads reach them. Take a domestic flight to Tortuguero, or drive or bus to a river landing such as La Pavona and continue by boat. Lodges in Barra del Colorado usually arrange the whole transfer.

Other things to do

• Tortuguero National Park: canal tours for monkeys, caimans and birds, and guided night walks to see green turtles nest in season.
• Puerto Limón: the Caribbean coast's port city, with a cruise terminal and a lively October carnival.
• Cahuita National Park: an easy beach trail and snorkeling over the reef with a licensed guide.
• Stay near the water: in Tortuguero, lodges like Manatus Hotel sit on the canals and arrange fishing, wildlife and turtle tours.