TARPON FISHING VACATIONS Rio san juan  NICARAGUA  COSTA RICA

Tarpon fishing trips on RIO SAN JUAN

San Juan River -  Rio San Juan

 Border river between Costa Rica and Nicaragua

TARPON FISHING IN RIO SAN JUAN. NICARAGUA LAKE, SOLENTINAME ARCHIPELAGO

River is 120 miles long,  start in Nicaragua Lake , it is the only communication of the Great Nicaragua lake ( Cocibolca) with the sea.( Caribbean ) . 

Nicaragua lake 100 miles x 70 miles is the greatest lake in Central America it is "World famous for the presence of Salt water fish in it's Quiet Fresh water  Giant Tarpon, Saw fish, Shark, Snook..????? Obviously also Fresh water fish are present as Rainbow bass, Mojara, Gar, Machaca.. 

A Strange  mix  at 120 miles from sea????  witch fascinate famous Investigators:   Commandant Jacques Yves Cousteau  came here studying in El Banco de Arena precisely at the corner of the Lake with Rio Frio and Rio San Juan where my Fishing lodge is located... Also Thomas Thornson from University of Nebraska , studied for many years wrote a  book "The fish of Nicaragua Lake"

  We observe all year round a tremendous  quantity of Tarpon  size 60lb/250lb+, going up and down river..., there is no specific month, this is all year round. Usual catch are 90lb till 200lb ...and bigger..  Some  Tarpon migrate... some stay around for a while but will return at sea... feeding is easy they become  very very big. Due to tannin in the water these giant fish are different color than the common  Silver King. The  biggest tarpon here are  black on the back and dark green/golden on the side... It will sound absolutely Incredible  but  we released fish estimated close or more? than  300lb.

  All our fishing trips are in  quiet Jungle River.. There are no waves here, no hard Bara to pass, we always fish in quiet fresh water aboard Sort fishing boat with central T Top... 

TARPON  FISHING , Conventional or Fly is on light tackle We generally fish trolling then casting once we locate the "Active fish"... I mostly use Rapala Lures also on some days we fly fish ...All  depend of Guest expectations. 

For beginner Tarpon anglers we use 25lb 40lb lines...Specific conditions and Guides knowledge allow  Anglers to fish with   light tackle... . With good technique  these tackles are  strong enough whatever the size of fish. Fly fishing is available in specific area...We use  number 12, 13, 14...these fly heavy equipment are necessary due to size of fish but for tippet you decide.

Many time "'we have been beaten  IGFA  Tarpon World Record .." 12lb,  Men Women Junior...Reason why "these record" are not official is than we do not want to kill Tarpon ..witch unfortunately is a must with I.G.F.A  Actual World Record Rules. 

A 200lb tarpon is around 25 years old would be a real pity to kill such a creature... 

We Catch and Release all Tarpon. 

Calculated on 9 years of activity, our average day for tarpon fishing  is 10 bites...6 fish jumped, two/ three release to the boat.

At my knowledge this situation of top Tarpon fishing all year round is Unique in the world. I insist  there is no real best time in the year to come...Tarpon are present all year round...

RAINBOW BASS FISHING  (Panachronis Dovii ) . A  very strong fish, very violent .. a lot of fun on light tackles. We go for them at Solentiname Archipelago on Nicaragua Lake..., 20 minutes away from our  fishing lodge. World record for this fish: 14lbs is in Nicaragua... It has been overbeaten last year 1999 by a 24lb and an 18lb Still in Nicaragua...I do not know if these record have been officially registered at IGFA. For Rainbow  we fish as well Conventional or Fly...Usual size of fish we catch is between 5lb till 10lb , We like to fish  on light tackle but  8lb is to be consider as a minimum. When we go for these fish we also catch incredible quantity of  Bass, and Mojara.. 2/3 lb

SNOOK  FISHING. Sometime caught in Solentiname archipelago , Close from Lodge in Santa fe ( Last International Tournament 2009 )  down Rio san Juan  in the area of Sabalo, Pocosol, El Castillo. Two kind of Snook are present here, the Calva...up to 6/7lb and then the big Cola Amarilla. So far our biggest weighed snook  is 42 lb. .we report several fish estimated  close or bigger than  50lb lost to the boat

Considering lodging during your fishing vacations in San Juan River and  Solentiname there are a lot of Recent Changes. A few years ago there were absolutely nothing. In  2005 I built a comfortable Fishing Lodge "La Esquina del Lago" at the corner of the Lake with Rio San Juan

Apart from my Fishing Lodge  located in Wild life Reserve of Los Guatuzo in front of San Carlos, several  nice other hotel opened  on River and Lake  shores, in Solentiname Archipelago, Saballo, El Castillo, we may go and stay  there  all will  depend where best fishing is when Visitors  come..  all these places offer , comfortable lodging and good meals...

FISHING VACATIONS... DISCOVERY   IN UNIQUE JUNGLE SCENERY. The area offer fantastic discovery for Nature lovers: Virgin Jungle Wild Life , Bird watching, Historical site..... ...Very  important Local people are very very   friendly with the still few tourist coming...For lunch time we stop at their places  ..share a bit of their life...

Fishing trips I offer are obviously  different from usual Fishing vacations offered in Costa Rica and Nicaragua... My lodge La Esquina del Lago is our Headquarter but  we move, in a 100 miles  area..so we sleep on Spots in other Hotel.no long boar ride.. Between August and November we also may go till the Caribean sea 120 miles away going down all Rio San Juan ....

I am pleased to offer a mix made of Top fishing, Tropical Jungle life, Adventures, History, Discovery. and contact with Local people..

I have special attention  for good lodging and meals.  Also very important is the integration in the local life: we eat on the river banks at Rancho or home of friends, we go in town, at the market.. etc etc.. One of my guest told me than to describe  my trips I should say:" Why only fish when you can have much more..."  

Nicaragua is nowadays  a safe and quiet country  It is still an AUTHENTIC DESTINATION... Time to come ...Country start to open to tourism...

Area is easily reach from San Jose Costa Rica  with a 5 hours car Transfer... Faster and easier transfer from Managua with a 50mn flight over the lake to the town of San Carlos ( 2 flights a day ) Airport is 10 mn away from my lodge.. If  Visitors  wish we meet them at International airport of San Jose or Managua on arrival. I recommend to use one of My all Include Discovery&Fishing Package

TARPON FISHING TRIPS    SNOOK FISHING TRIPS     

 Fishing Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, Costa Rica.

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Tarpon fever...  

It's been one hour since we entered Nicaragua via the Rio Frio   aboard "Julia Brava".

On this border in the middle of nowhere, the border guards are very friendly. Obviously Champa   and Alexandro  our guides know them well... We stop at this Rancho on river banks an entire family live there.. so many young kids, we bought River scrimps from them, udge 1lb each ..the boat is now gently rolling, surrounded by intense jungle vegetation, this is the famous rain forest.... huge trees, orchids... wild life is all around. A Congo monkey is screaming... there it is, at the top of an almandro tree.... high in the sky an eagle.... so many birds all around.... cormorants, aigrettes, even Jabiru... it's so quiet here....so far.....

It's warm but not so hot. We have rain and sun and rain and sun.... the strange part is that even at night on the upper San Juan River or at the lodge there are no mosquito!!!!

The boat moves slowly, you think of the  river scrimps Augusto bought at a rancho in the jungle, he said  ''We'll have them for dinner..'' so big... 1lb each...
It's so quiet here ...
Hard to believe that 150 years ago, during the height of the Gold Rush more than 100,000 pioneers going to California passed through here aboard Mr. Vanderbilt's boats....among them Mark Twain. He wrote:

    "Dark crottos, fairy festoons, tunnels, temples, columns, pillars, towers, pilasters, terraces, pyramids, mounds, domes, walls, in endless confusion of vine-work -- no shape known to architecture unimitaded-- and all so webbed together that short distances within are only gained by glimpses.         Monkeys here and there; birds warbling; gorgeous plumaged birds on the wing, Paradise itself, the imperial realm of beauty -- nothing to wish for to make it perfect."

    Mark Twain
    San Juan River
    1866

You are really far away, fishing almost virgin spots but also enjoying unique jungle scenery...

How many pictures did you shoot already? How many rolls of film did you bring ?

Hey!!!... Suddenly the Penn Senator starts to whistle.. and whistle.. "Fish on !!! Go 70 yards ...100 yards and then comes an explosion...the 180lb Giant tarpon jumps out of the water. So high!!... almost 10 feet !!!  Splash... and again the line goes... here we are, but I did warn you:

 "Ever had a Giant tarpon? Careful, if you take that rod.. maybe you will catch that silver king.... but  what I'm certain  you will catch is ..TARPON FEVER.." .

(I caught the virus long ago . There's no cure...)

So you decide...

But please be quick, it did jump again...and the Reel will soon be  empty...

Wether you're into casting, fly fishing or trolling, feeling the power of a 180lb Giant tarpon on a line is one of the most exciting fishing experiences... At San Carlos Fishing on your first trip we'll arrange it so that you catch your first tarpon on 30lb or 25lb lines.... then with practice and experience we'll progressively put lighter lines and tackles 2olb..15lb.. some of our regular guests use now 12lb  Well  They provide the lures and lines....fair?

What makes our fishing really exceptional is that the presence of tarpon is not a problem, GiantTarpon are abundant  all year round... we also catch a lot of good sized snook in the 10lb to 40lb range and plenty Rainbow bass in Paradisiacal Solentiname.....

Fishing conditions are the best since we are fishing inland and freshwater, no rough seas, no hard "Barra " to pass...we can  fish quietly and successfully every day of the year. Since 2005 we host our Guests in our New lodge built on our property on three water shore, Nicaragua Lake , San Juan River, Rio Frio .. If fishing is not at its best in our traditional spots of Upper Rio San Juan we will take you down river to Sabalo and El Castillo....

Tarpon fishing on light tackle is our specialty... Other target fish are big snook, gar, rainbow bass ( The "Lagunero" IGFA world record was set in Nicaragua towards the end of the year 2000 it¨has been beaten recently 2009 but still in Nicaragua... ).

I am pleased to offer Fishing Adventures and Discovery in an still Authentic destination

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  Fishing   Rio San Juan, Nicaragua, Costa Rica.