The Best Osa Peninsula Sport Fishing Guide To The Worlds #1 Fishing Destination

Osa Peninsula Sport Fishing Guide

The Sport Fishing on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula is some of the best in the world – Here’s what you need to know

Experiencing an Osa Peninsula Fishing Trip will rank among the most exciting things you’ve ever done in life. Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula goes a step beyond “off the beaten path” – it is rugged, and teeming with wildlife both on shore and below the offshore blue waters of Costa Rica’s South Pacific. With sleepy fishing villages like Puerto Jimenez, Goflito, and Zancudo to choose from, this guide can help you plan the sport fishing vacation of your dreams.

Table of Contents

1. Getting to the Osa Peninsula
2. When to Come
3. Where to Stay
4. Offshore Fishing Trips
5. Species
6. Inshore Fishing Trips
7. Species
8. What to Look for in a Captain
9. Booking Your Trip

Getting to the Osa Peninsula

In the past due to terrible road conditions, all the fish you caught on the Osa you earned by the blood, sweat and tears caused by the grueling drive just to get here. Washed out roads, dirt airstrips, crumbling public boat launch etc…were all barriers to fishing this fantastic fishery. The roads were so bad, it used to be a 12 hour drive to get to the Osa and if you were lucky…you wouldn’t get stopped by an out of control river. Fast forward to 2021 – In a rental car you can be in the Osa from touristy areas like Quepos and Jaco in a few hours. If you just can’t wait to fish (like us) you can be here in 45 minutes on a Sansa local flight and be on the pier by 7:30am and ready to fish! As Costa Rica is only 2.5 hours from Miami getting to the Osa Peninsula to do some amazing sport fishing has never been easier.

When to Enjoy Osa Peninsula Sport Fishing

The timing of your Osa Peninsula sport fishing trip depends on two things. When the boss gives you time off (unless you are the boss 😉 and what kind of sport fishing species you would like to target. Costa Rica sport fishing options are generally broken up into two options. Inshore fishing in and around the Golfo Dulce (sweet gulf) or  rocky coastline and offshore fishing in the blue waters of the surrounding Pacific Ocean. Offshore species such as sailfish and marlin are migratory so they have specific months in which they are most abundant.

Where to Stay When Fishing on the Osa Peninsula

Hotel or Cabina with Local Captain

Usually there are two kinds of ways to experience your Osa Peninsula sport fishing trip. Some people like to drive down, visit the water front, hook up with a local, knowledgeable captain and seek lodging right in town or nearby. Just remember not all captains and guides are created equal, and neither are their boats! We have an extensive list of captains, their boats, and their specialty in terms of inshore, offshore, fly fishing or kayak fishing. We even have some great guides who can get you going with a hand line if you really want to dig in to the artisan side of sport fishing.

Our Favorite Osa Peninsula Fishing Friendly Hotels in Puerto Jimenez

There is no need to completely break the bank, If you’re looking for basic/economy lodging during your Osa Pensinsula fishing trip so you can focus on the fishing – Check out these gems – they are clean, comfortable and secure – allowing you to focus on the fishing!

• Cabinas Jimenez
• Las Islas Lodge
• Osa Beach House (groups)
• Inn Jimenez
• Osa Outfitters

Premium All Inclusive Fishing Lodge/Resort

The other fishing vacation option is all or semi-inclusive fishing lodges. We have four Osa Peninsula sport fishing lodges we recommend that are all very good but have different personalities and price ranges depending on your tastes and expectations.

• Crocodile Bay Lodge
• The Zancudo Lodge
• Osa Outfitters
• Aguila De Osa
• Las Islas Lodge

These options range from budget to expensive and all come highly recommended. We have stayed and fished extensively with each of these lodges so please give us a call and we can break down the differences for you in an objective non-sales driven approach. Our advice is free but will save you thousands of dollars by steering you away from vacation options that will leave you miserable and fish-less.

Offshore Sport Fishing in the Osa Peninsula

If you’re staying in Golfito or Puerto Jimenez, you can be from your hotel or lodge to the blue water hunting grounds within about 45 minutes. This is an anglers dream come true compared to the hours and hours one has to endure in other angling destinations in the US. Depending on the time of year you come you may have to go a bit further out to find the fish – especially if you have marlin on your mind, but blue water access in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula is much better than most locations. FAD fishing trips are also available but expect a more expensive trip (usually well worth it if you are looking for high release numbers).

When to Come for Offshore Fishing in the Osa

Sailfish action starts in mid December and gets better into January but the action gets red hot in February and March and the bite continues into April. May gets spotty as the beginning of the rainy season starts up (the rain doesn’t get nasty until October) in the summer months of July black and striped marlin start to move in with the blues making for some happy hunting offshore. Remember, you can fish for billfish year round, they just can be released in greater numbers in the times mentioned above.

Costa Rica’s Offshore Sport Fishing Game Just Got Better – Here’s Why

Costa Rica fisherman should be grateful to a group called FECOP that 10 years ago started lobbying the Costa Rica government to push commercial Purse Seine tuna boats to 60 miles offshore – before that they could often times be found only 15 miles offshore and closer and catching a tuna was like winning the lottery.

Now FECOP has the government on the ropes and they are close to passing a 100 mile limit on these boats. These boats were responsible for TONS of billfish by catch annually. The result of this and other laws like the banning of exportation of sailfish meat, keeping marlin of the menu campaigns, and outlawing live bait on long lines has caused a dramatic boost in billfish productivity. The yellowfin bite has been off the charts and most charter fishing and lodges are now including “chasing tuna with poppers’ part of their  service offering.

Osa Peninsula Offshore Fishing Species

• Blue Marlin
• Black Marlin
• Striped Marlin
• Sailfish
• Wahoo
• Dorado
• Yellowfin Tuna
• Bigeye Tuna
• Amberjack

Contact us to help you put together the offshore fishing adventure you’ve always talked about but have never gotten around to. We’ve seen all the mistakes that can happen during the booking process and we can steer you in the right direction

Video: Osa Peninsula Sport Fishing in Action – Blue Marlin (Courtesy The Zancudo Lodge)

Osa Peninsula Inshore Fishing Options

What makes the Osa Peninsula a haven for inshore fish species? The Osa literally is to sport fish what Naples Florida is to retirees in the US. The depth, tides and cavernous volcanic structure make the waters in and around Costa Rica’s Golfo Dulce a mecca for an extraordinarily diverse collection of inshore fish species.

Year Round Inshore Fishing Action

The best part about the inshore fishery in the Osa is it’s open for business year-round! Just about any month you visit (with the exception of October) you’ll have little trouble hooking up with dream species like Roosterfish and Cubera Snapper.

When to Get the Best Deals On Osa Fishing Trips

Costa Rica’s off season from May to December 15th each year brings with it deep travel discounts. You can get your Osa Peninsula Sport fishing trip for up to 30% off these months and still have great inshore fishing action. You will get rain, but usually only in the afternoons at about 3pm – you can literally set your watch to it. October is the only month where the rain gets pretty unbearable, so we only recommend it to die-hard fisherman – you can still release fish in October although you may be just as wet as the fish you catch!

Osa Peninsula Inshore Sport Fishing Species (most common)

• Cubera Snapper
• Roosterfish
• Rock Snapper
• Yellowtail snapper
• Mangrove Snapper
• Red Snapper
• Colorado Snapper
• Wax Snapper
• Green Bar Snapper
• Bluefin Trevally
• Golden Trevally
• Jack Crevalle
• Barracuda
• Needlefish
• African Pompano
• Grouper
• Congrio

There are even more species swimming around this amazing sport fishing destination that we haven’t listed – come down and try to catch them – knowing this place you may even discover a new species!

Finding the Perfect Osa Peninsula Sport Fishing Captain

Before selecting an Osa peninsula Sport Fishing captain there are a couple of things you should consider. Asside from the obvious captains license, boat type, checking testimonials – it is important to communicate your expectations before and during your fishing trip. Does he or at least one crew member speak English? Is he or she from the area? How long have they fished these waters? What kind of equipment, how often do they change lines and hooks? Do they have any world records? How long is a full or half day on their boat? Do they have live bait or do you have to catch it first? How far out will they go. Is there an afternoon cut-offtime? These questions are just some of the critical things you should keep in mind. With our group of captains we have already done all this preliminary work for you…get in touch and we’ll point you in the right direction.

Costa Rica Sport Fishing Laws and Regulations in a Nutshell

1. Keep the billfish in the water for photos
2. Release all billfish and roosterfish
3. If you’re not going to eat it..release it
4. Circle hooks only on all live bait
5. Make sure you have a license before you fish
6. 5 fish per BOAT limit – it’s the law

In Conclusion

The best part of fishing the Osa Peninsula is trying to figure out what the heck is pulling on the other end of your line…the Osa’s amazing diversity inshore and off is what really sets it apart from other fishing destinations. Cool little fishing towns like Puerto Jimenez will transport you back in time to a simpler time and way of life allowing you to forget the stress of life in the city for awhile.

We hope this brief guide helps put the several  Osa Peninsula Sport fishing opportunities into perspective. Please contact us for detailed information about available boats, best dates, captains with specific specialties or anything else relating to travel on the Osa Peninsula. We get compensated a small amount by lodges for sending people their way so the advice is free to you. We work with enough of the different captains and lodges that it is within our best interest to find the perfect match for you so you’ll be back again and again. Our unique offering is a win for everyone.

See you soon fishing on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula!

Pura Vida

Osa Fishing Trips Staff

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