Quepos Offshore Fishing

Black, Blue, and Striped Marlin:

(Istiophoridae )

Marlin is a member of a group of marine fish known as "billfish", and is the largest of game fish caught fishing in Quepos, Costa Rica.  For our anglers, there is no feeling greater than seeing a Marlin in excess of 400 pounds flying up out of the water with your line in his mouth!  Marlin fights generally take 2-4 hours, but to get one in the boat and see your friends face when they see the picture is worth it!

Believe it or not, the Marlin family is closely linked to the freshwater trout. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout, and a long rigid dorsal fin, which extends forwards to form a crest.   It is easily distinguished from a sailfish by noting that the dorsal fin is extremely larger near the head of the fish and then quickly gets shorter and conforms to the body.  Its common name is thought to derive from its resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike.  Marlin are also incredibly fast swimmers, reaching speeds of about 65 mph.

The largest species of Marlin caught fishing off the cobalt blue waters of Quepos is the Black marlin, Makaira indica, which have been reliably recorded in excess of 16 feet in length and 1,500 pounds in weight. Although we guarantee you a fish in excess of 1000 pounds, it is not uncommon to pull up Marlin in the Stress Reeliever.  We catch many Marlin in the 150-300 pound range. 

Although Marlin have wonderfully lean white meat, we only keep pictures this prize catch.  We also set the hook in the front most part of the mouth in these fish.  This allows them to put up a better fight and be more exhausted when we get them in the boat for the picture.  Marlin are at the greatest risk of injury (to them and us) when they get dropped onto the deck of a boat, and we don't want that!  This hooking method also allows the hook to come out with very minimum damage, allowing the fish to go back to life as usually after we get the picture for you to remember him by.   As a side note, the old fisherman in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea caught an 18 foot Marlin.  Too bad for him it wasn't on the Stress Reeliever or he would have gotten a nice photo!

Marlin Fishing Techniques

Marlin are the most sought after trophy fish because of their incredible jumps and extremely grueling fight.  Because of the quantity of Marlin caught on the Stress Reeliever, we insist on using only the highest quality heavy duty Penn Reels.  We also have to maintain the best high pound test line...and plenty of it!  Our mates are legendary for their ability to set the hooks on the big game and then it's up to you to reel em in!  We typically fish for Marlin similar to how we catch sailfish.  They tend to bite only bigger bait fish and fishing with live large bonita or really big ballyhoo is how we typically hook the bigger ones. 

On our offshore trips, it is always our goal to send our customers home with a photo of him holding the biggest Marlin we can find.  Click on one of the other species below to see what other trophies you can catch to make your fishing buddies jealous.  There is nothing better than fishing in Costa Rica on the Stress Reeliever!

Fish We Catch

Quepos & Manuel Anotnio Hotels

Let us help you find the best deal on a nice hotel here on the water. We have something for everyone, include budget but clean hotels, all the the way to the Mariposa sitting up on the cliff overlooking the ocean. We can do luxury cliff top house rentals as well, just let us know! For more pictures go to our Hotel page!