DEGS Fishing Report

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meanwhile in the tropics

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:41:00 +0000

James is pretty much crushing them on the Dragin Fly. The sailfish bite was pretty good yesterday, but he was busy catching marlin, landing 3 blue marlin and 3 sails......

Down East custom trout steam trips!

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 21:59:00 +0000

Not really, just checking out the striper baits....

A little R and R this week before getting on the river early nexs week.

The sailfish know that I'm not there......

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 14:34:00 +0000

......50 sailfish releases in the last 3 days on the Dragin Fly.

Wanna get the bite started?

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:11:00 +0000

Just get me out of town, this is from Capt. James on the Dragin Fly:

"well boss the fishing is on fire again, today we was 12 for 18 on sailfish and 2 nice mahi" That figures.

At least the weather is nice and the fish are biting here. Excellent reports from the Roanoke are coming in, the shad are super thick at Weldon and there are a lot of stripers in Williamston. It looks like these 80 degree days are going to put things on schedule. We still have a few openings for the last week of "keeper" season at the end of April and plenty of openings for the first couple of weeks of May for catch and release, top water action and the best of the fly fishing. By May 16 the ocean waters should be warm enough for the cobia. The big boat will be in the water, but we're going to leave a skiff up in Weldon and will be running trips on the Roanoke for as long as the fish stay up there, through the end of May.

This is a March Neuse River striper pic from Capt. Gary Dubiel. He and Capt. Joe Ward have been having some great striper fishing right here in our back yard.

While Capts. Ray Massengill, Greg Voliva, Lee Parsons, David Haddock, Rod Thomas and I will be up on the Roanoke; Capt. Gary Dubiel, Joe Ward and Bryan Goodwin will be taking advantage of the good mixed bag fishing here at home.

Spring has sprung

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:28:00 +0000

And I've found my way back home. Anna has a huge list of honey-do's so I won't be on the water for a couple of weeks. The calendar is filling up for the Roanoke, I strongly recommend to put your requests for dates in asap.

In Costa Rica, the fishing continues to improve. The Dragin Fly has had a much needed 2 days of rest, but will be back out there for most of April. Plenty of openings in May and June, the months Capt. James thinks will be the best this year.

Big Day and Big Tuna

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:38:00 +0000

Today was a big day for the Maverick/Fly Boats with some of the guys catching as many as 18 sails. The Dragin Fly was tied up to a big tuna, spending almost 2 hours battling the beast that tipped the scales close to 200 pounds.

My last week here

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:16:00 +0000

The season in Costa Rica is in full swing, but it's winding down for me, I'll be home in a week. All in all it's been a good 3 months, but we've worked for everything that we've gotten. Fishing has definitly been slower than in years past, blame El Nino, which seems to be subsiding and the waters are cooling. About 100 miles to the south, reports are starting to come in of boats raising 40+ fish/day. Hopefully they are heading north and the folks fishing for the next three months will get the best of it.

My last week here has been a blast, Capt. Ray was down with some buddies and I got to share one of their two days on the water. They ended up catching 7 sails, 3 decent tuna, 2 dorado, 4 grouper, 3 tilefish and a big tripple tail. Plenty of good eating and everybody caught a billfish.

Today, my dad and I had a father/son day on the water, catching a double header of sails, 3 more singles and a nice little black marlin, my first.

Giant snook and rooster

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:31:00 +0000

Our friend Jerry "Bubba" Hallstrom sent me these pics from some recent trips that he's booked, I had to share:

That's a snook!!!

And that's a rooster!!!

Photos courtesy of bubba's Costa Rica Fishing Report
1-800-9SAILFISH

OK, OK, here are some pics.

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 11:53:00 +0000

We got another BIG black marlin yesterday, that's two big blacks this week. We jumped off the striped marlin, losing another opportuntiy at a Grand Slam. Also some pics of some recent sails.

Now that's cold!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:03:00 +0000

Capt. Ray went up to Drum Inlet to get on some of the red hot drum action in the suds. While there, they ran into a couple of seals. That shows you how cold the winter has been.

Meanwhile in Costa Rica......after catching the black two days ago, we raised a blue marlin and a striped marlin yesterday but couldn't get a bite out of either one of them, just enough sails and dolphins to make the day.

Snook fishing has been tough.

Lizard fish and black marlin

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:42:00 +0000

The snook have not been very kind to me recently. I saw a couple two days ago, taunting me. One was a little guy, just a couple of pounds, munching on shrimp in the surf, he was big enough to eat the rapala I was throwing. The other snook, crashing sardines, was the one I wanted. No bites.....other than a lizardfish. I didn't know that lizardfish existed in Costa Rica, surpised I didn't catch any pinfish.

On Monday Lucky Larry, Joe and Joey came into town and I road along with them. They've been fishing with us down here for many years and had been warned that things were a little slower than normal. Although we did have a double digit day of sailfish releases this week, these guys have come to expect a dozen sails/day as the norm.

The evening before the trip, Joey had been whining about never catching a black marlin and was considering heading to Panama or Australia in the next year to check that off his list. The morning started with a couple of quick dolphin and a sail, then a dry spell, another dolphin and another sail. After catching the second sail, at about 1 o'clock, we picked up and rain to a nearby school of tuna/spinner dolphins.

On the way to the tunas, we saw a couple of free jumping sailfish and something else that made a huge splash. Things worked out just right with the tuna, catching a couple on poppers and spinning rods and 3 on cedar plugs. With PLENTY of meat in the box, we're back on the troll to the free jumpers.

Just as Berto gets the fish cleaned up and the sushi iced down, the right long pops and Chela drops back and hooks a fish, handing the rod to Joey, it was his turn.

The fish never jumps, we get everything clear and get on top of him. Joey starts putting the heat to him, forcing the fish to make a move and that move was up. With the leader in the rod tip, the 400 pound black marlin skies airward. Fifteen minutes later, we've got him on the leader again for a really good look.

Congrats Joey, so should I cancel that Panama trip?

Wahoo in Costa Rica, Carolina Style

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 19:31:00 +0000

The sailfish bite continues to improve, most of the boats had a dozen or more shots yesterday. On the Dragin Fly, everyone caught a sail and a wahoo, that's right, we caught 5 wahoo yesterday.

After having several wahoo bites on ballyhoo and losing them because of the hoo's razor sharp teeth cutting the mono leader used for sailfish, Capt. James put out a big planer and slid down some of Capt. Joe Shute's wahoo lures rigged on wire. It didn't take long fishing Carolina Style to get on the bite, adding 5 wahoo up to 50 pounds to a handful of sails.

another marlin....BOOK NOW FOR NEXT YEAR

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Things are still slow, but we have caught 3 marlin this week. The one yesterday came from live baiting, which is what we've resorted to. Just not getting many sailfish bites on the troll. Using live bonito on circle hooks, it's a good way to get bites, but you also get a lot of sancochos (missed fish). Sometimes the sails will grab the bonito and just hold it or kill it, not really eating it, glad the marlin ate. 5 sails for 17 bites and the marlin, not a good hook up ratio, but at least we're catching some fish.

We are taking advance reservations for fishing days on the Fly Boats for next year. We can sort out arrival/departure dates, accommodations, tours, etc, but I strongly encourage you to make your fishing reservations NOW!!!!!

There are currently NO FLY BOAT OPENINGS for these 2011 dates: Jan. 26-29, Feb. 6-10 and March 2-5.

For fishing in NC this year, things are also booking up, please make your reservations in advance, but always call us on short notice, we'll try and find a quality guide for you.

No that's a school of drum

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 00:39:00 +0000

Nice pics of what Joe Shute has been doing on the calm days. Capt. Ray had a little of this up at Drum Inlet. Although we're still in Costa Rica, some of the guys are still getting theirs. We got 4 sails today.

two marlin in one week....

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:57:00 +0000

.....that's better than it has been.

Also, despite the cold stuns, not all the trout are gone.

No tsunami here in Costa Rica

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:43:00 +0000

I was on the way to go snook fishing this morning when the tsunami warning came up. I can just see it, me, standing in chest deep water, fishing rod in hand on my head that wide-brim funny hat with the lures hanging off of it, staring up at a 20 foot wave breaking over my head.

I went yesterday and saw him, crashing bait and jumping completely out of the water, reminded me of a tarpon. I never got a bite, also reminding me of tarpon, but I felt that I was really close. I was supposed to pick up customers at 9:45 am, but the snook sucked me in and when I got to the van it was 10 am and the phone was ringing. Anna chewed me out pretty bad, but all was well, she got the guys a cab and I met them at the canopy tour, everyone was happy. I was determined to be back after him today, but the tsunami warning kept me off the beach.

It must have also shut down the bottom fishing, no luck there and another slow bite offshore. Some tuna showed up to the west, with some marlin mixed in, we'll be heading that way tomorrow.

Anna has me in the penalty box, it may be a few more days until I get another chance at the snook.

We caught 6 sails today

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:08:00 +0000

Maybe things are beginning to change.

I caught a wahoo

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:01:00 +0000

....and that was about it. I think that it's being chalked up to El Nino....same reason for the crazy winter at home? On day 3, 43 boats failed to catch 100 billfish, we didn't help the tally and scored a big goose egg......although I did catch a nice wahoo and dolphin.

In 3 days of fishing, we saw only 14 sails, got bites from 10 and caught 9, normally a decent day of fishing. To say the least, things are off a bit.

On the positive side, the roosterfishing remains good and offshore there is a lot of bait, maybe this upcoming full moon will help pick things up just like it did in January.

Congratulations to the Big Oh who won this leg of the tourney and the overall, taking about $100k.

The Spanish Fly was right there with us going into day 3, but they got the right bite, landing a marlin which was enough to move them up to 3rd place where they held by getting there first.

I see a little snook fishing in my future.

Day 2

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:25:00 +0000

We’ve caught everything that’s bit, just ain’t getting enough bites, but there aren’t many to go around. Caught 9, 2nd place has 12, but I’m looking at first which is just a marlin bite away. See about that mojo tomorrow, I did a little dance this afternoon and caught one with 30 seconds left on the clock. Gonna dance a lot tomorrow, I need my white boots.

First day report

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:02:00 +0000

How are we doing? I guess it depends on how you look at it..... We caught all that bit, but we only got 5 bites and saw 3 more that didn't. First place after Day 1 is the Big Oh with 13 sailfish releases, then it drops off from there with the 3rd place boat with 8 sails. James said something about concentrating on the 500 point marlin tomorrow.....we'll see how that goes.

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:38:00 +0000

Checking back in.....the rains from the night before dirtied our water, so the roosterfishing/jacks on the fly didn't work out, but we did beat down a sail on a fly, followed by a handfull of sailfish releases/day over the last couple of days. Tourney starts today and I hopefully will have a positive report this afternoon.

Roosters continue to chew

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:10:00 +0000

We had another great day with the roosters yesterday, plus about 30 jacks, many on the fly. It was good enough on the pangas, we are planning to check it out with the Dragin Fly today. Sailfishing the next couple of days and getting ready for the Tourney at the end of the week.

Overnighter Report

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:33:00 +0000

Great trip on the way out there with a steady bite of sails out to 75 miles, catching 3 on the fly, plus another 10 on bait. The sails were really aggressive, often with 2 or 3 fish coming on the teasers with great bites on the fly. Chela fixed up a dorado for dinner, then when it got dark there was a steady supply of squid coming to the lights. We understood why everyone wanted us to bring back fresh squid, a little butter and about 1 minute in the microwave....Que rico.

We ending up with about 150 squid, sending them back down on hooks and glow sticks in hopes of a sword, but no luck. We did catch 2 deep water sharks, black with big eyes, and 3 sailfish at night, the sails were 3 inches long and came up to the lights, catching them in a dip net. Very cool.

Nice trip back home with a wahoo bite, several dolphin and a couple of grouper that couldn't resist the fresh squid.

We didn't see the marlin that we were looking for, but congratulations to Chad and thanks for the pic of the marlin he caught on another boat that we booked for him out of Los Suenos.

Strange things

noreply@blogger.com (Capt. George Beckwith) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:54:00 +0000

The good sail fishing that we had around the full moon has fallen off to a consistent bite of 5-7 sails and a couple dorado/day.....with the exception of Sunday, which was a strange day. It was the first day that I can remember that the Dragin Fly failed to land a billfish. It happens sometimes when you're trying to be the hero, sometimes you end up the zero.....also, it rained that night. I mean it really, really rained, more than I've ever seen in February.

Monday morning was dreary, rainy, cloudy and a bit breezy. At daylight, myself, Pat and Wayne were standing in chest deep water trying for my snook. No bites. Our panga picked us up from the beach and we headed to Punta Mala with a dozen live mullet and a couple of rods rigged with poppers. After about 30 minutes of slow trolling mullet and casting poppers, someone turned on the switch. For two hours we had spectacular topwater action on the roosters, hooking a dozen BIG roosters, catch 5 and about a dozen jacks, mostly on poppers, with vicious bites from multiple roosters competing for the popper.

By mid day the skies cleared and the bite died, offshore it was back to normal, with the daily quota of 6 sails and a dorado. Same today.

Tomorrow we're heading offshore to spend the night, maybe we'll find something really good.

Here's a picture of the groupers that we bagged on the way home the other day, nice to have something to eat other than dolphin each day.