Upon arrival into San Jose, Costa Rica, you will clear customs and immigrations and exit the arrival terminal where you will then be met by a representative of the Silver King Lodge and transferred to the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Cariari. The remainder of today is at leisure in San Jose.
The lodge representative will set up the meeting time and place for the next morning. He will also be able to offer suggestions as to the best places for dining in San Jose for this evening.
You will be met at the Cariari at 5:15am-5:30am and transferred to the airport for your 6:00am flight to the Barra del Colorado.
Luggage space on this flight is limited and as the Lodge offers daily, complimentary laundry service, please plan to pack light.
When you arrive into Barra del Colorado, you will be met by the lodge’s general manager and taken to the lodge where you will have time to stow your gear and have a quick breakfast, check in and orientation.
After breakfast, you will head out to your boat where your guide will be waiting. This will be a full fishing day beginning at 8:00am.
Days 3 & 4- These will be full fishing days with overnights at the Silver King Lodge. A typical fishing day you will be up for a 5:30am breakfast. After breakfast, you will meet up with your guide and head out to fish.
At 11:00am, you may return to the lodge for lunch and a short siesta returning to the boat at 1:30pm to fish until approximately 5:00pm. You might also opt to take a sack lunch with you and fish through lunch.
Dinner is served at 6:30pm, so, after fishing, you will have time to relax around the pool with a cold drink before you eat.
The fishing here is broken into several types, river and open water. The open water fishing in and around the river mouth is best for tarpon and snook as well as mackerel, jack crevalle and kingfish.
The boats used are 23foot, deep V-hulled craft with 150 HP motors. These boats are the largest and fastest on the east coast of Costa Rica and will get you to the fishing grounds quickly and safely. Also available are 17 foot aluminum skiffs to get you into the backwater areas not navigable by larger vessels.
These backwater areas are teaming with guapote and mojarra, species much like our bass and bream and are a great deal of fun on ultra light tackle. The guides are English speaking with loads of local experience, they will be able to tell you what works and the best locations to fish. His judgment of weather conditions for fishing offshore are not to be dismissed, as your safety is of prime importance.
Tackle- Silver King Lodge provides tackle for tarpon, offshore tune, and light tackle for backwater species as well as beginner level fly tackle / back up tackle for fly fishing for tarpon. If you choose to bring tackle, the below should provide you with adequate direction.
Terminal tackle for snook should be medium action rod at least 6’6” to 7 foot with a reel full of 10-12 pound test line. The reels can be bait casters or spinning.
You will be safe with most any North American bass tackle. It is also a good idea to bring shock leader in the 40 pound class.
For tarpon, you will need a rod of medium to heavy action that will take a lure of one ounce to better and to be at least 6’6” to 7’6” in length. You will need a reel spooled with 200-300 yards of 20 pound test with a suggested shock leader of 60-80 pound test.
For the backwater fishing, we suggest smaller rods and reels with 6-10 pound test line. Rod’s 5’6” on length and light action is the ticket with these feisty fellas.
Lures- Your guide will provide a fully stocked Silver King Lodge tackle box- once those lures are exhausted, replacements are available at cost.
If you chose to bring lures- for tarpon, multi colored jigs 1 to 1 1/2 ounce with 6/0 to 7/0 hooks. Rapallas # 11 and 14 Magnums, sinkers and floaters work well. Red, white, blue mackerel and green mackerel colors work well.
Coast Hawks 2 ounce any color. Mirro lures 65M. Bomber jigs with jelly tails 1-1 1/2 ounce.
For snook we suggest Bomber 600-green, small 3/4 ounce bucktail jigs with jelly tails white, black or yellow work the best. Rattle traps 1/2 to 3/4 ounce, Sassy Shads.
Flyfishing- Fly fishing- For tarpon, Dr. Lee Smith, the Lodge record holder for catching tarpon on the fly, recommends a 14-16 wt fly rod or - better yet – what the most successful fly fishermen use - a 13-15wt 5-600 grain Temple Fork Outfitters Blue water medium (TF BW MD) rod (lighter rods will snap like kindling) with 40 pound test line and 2-400 meters of 65lb test gel spun backing. Or even the TFO BW HD.
World famous Florida Key’s tarpon guideJake Jordan will tell you that the TFO is the ticket for tarpon.
We do recommend sinking tip – our successful fly fishermen use it - 5-6-700 grain sinking tip big game fly line (e.g. Scientific Angler) – usually you’ll use 500 or 600 grain (when water is very calm – an intermediate sinking line is good).
Leader - 130-150 pound mono leader works best for our big tarpon. 100 breaks.
Fly hooks - Owner AKI 6/0 Lasercut hook flies – Clifford, Silver King’s most experienced fly fishing guide ties the best fly for our tarpon.
Although most fly fisherman will bring their own fly gear, the lodge does have two loaner setups for fly fishing and 8 or 10 loaner TFO rods.
In regular tackle – this year each boat will have two custom tarpon set-ups and two sets of custom light tackle – with backups available. And we have offshore tackle too (e.g., tuna).
For snook, we suggest an 8-10 wt rod with 20 pound test line and 200-300 yards of backing. Fast sinking line for the surf and floating line for the rivers. An 80 pound test leader with a tippet strength of 15 pounds. Hooks should be 3/0 to 4/0 with the same color flies as listed above.
For Guapote and Mojarra, we suggest a 5-8 wt rod with a dry line. A no lead core, floating line works best. Poppers, crickets and frogs will get you the most action.
Accommodation
Meals
Transfers
3 full days of guided fishing
You will be up for breakfast then taken to the airport for your flight to San Jose connecting with your international departure back to the States.
