Costa Rica Tarpon - Caribbean Coast - Silver King Lodge 2024

We are pleased that you have chosen Trek Safari’s as your agent for your trip to the Silver King Lodge in Costa Rica. We understand that although your individual itinerary may differ from this, the information provided will be of great assistance in planning for your trip.

Travel Documents- Costa Rica requires U.S. Citizens to have a valid passport for entry. Minors entering Costa Rica are required to have a valid passport as well as a letter of authorization if traveling with a single parent.. All passports must be valid 6 months post your date of travel.

Day 1-Upon arrival into San Jose, Costa Rica, you will clear customs and immigrations. You will then be met by a representative of the Silver King Lodge and transferred to the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Cariari, for the night. 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.

Day 2- 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.

Day 3 & 4- These will be full fishing days with overnights at the Silver King Lodge.

Day 5- 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.

The Fishing- 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 c sack lunch with you and fish through lunch. Dinner is at 6:30pm, so 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. If you wish, you can also try your luck in the open water on tuna, dorado and wahoo. The boats used for the open water fishing 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 guide Jake 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.

The Lodge- Silver King Lodge is situated in the wildlife preserve known as the Barra Del Colorado and surrounded by jungle. The lodge accommodates 26 anglers with spacious 400 sq ft air-conditioned double, or triple occupancy rooms with private bath. All rooms have flat panel satellite televisions, 2 queen sized beds, private tiled baths with hot water showers, ceiling fans, reading lights and WiFi (low-bandwidth satellite internet) throughout the property. The local water is safe to drink but bottled water is provided The lodge has a pool and a 10 person hot tub, perfect for relaxing after a hard day of tarpon fishing. Silver King has government electricity as well as backup generators. The power is 110. Internet access is also available for those who need to check e-mails back home. The lodge also has 2 excellent masseuses available to massage those sore shoulders from a full day of tarpon action.

All of your meals and limited open bar at Silver King are included. Meals are served buffet style and all you care to eat. Silver King stocks local liquors (light rum, vodka and Anjou rum) Costa Rican beer and wine. A limited selection of call liquor is available at $ 5.00 a drink and the lodge will try to meet all special requests. The lodge also has a daily laundry service provided at no cost, this enables you to be able to pack very light. The lodge WiFi throughout the property. In the case of an emergency, the lodge manager can provide a Costa Rican cell phone for your use.

San Jose- This city, with a population of over one million, is the capital of Costa Rica. Our accommodations in San Jose will be the Cariari. This is a fine hotel with several restaurants, a couple of swimming pools, tennis courts, and a casino. The hotel is conveniently located between the airport and the city of San Jose.

There are many nice restaurants in San Jose, our agents will be happy to suggest a few for you to try. Some of our favorites are: Rias Bajas (for seafood), La Cascada (for a taste of local flavor) and El Chicote (for steaks). All of these restaurants are within a 15 minute taxi ride from the Cariari.

You might wish to extend you trip to include some sight seeing in Costa Rica. Additional activities you might wish to explore are the volcano tours and white water rafting trips that are available through Central American Tours, located in the lobby of the Cariari.

Currency- The national currency in Costa Rica is the Colon. Check with your bank for the current exchange rates. You can exchange your dollars at the airport or the hotel with ease. Most restaurants and shops in Costa Rica will readily accept U.S. dollars and credit cards in addition to the local currency. Costa Rican ATM’s might not accept your U.S. debit card and credit card usage is expensive as vendors add a 13% usage fee.

Climate- Weather in San Jose between November and April is dry and warm with temperatures between daytime highs of 85 and evening lows of the upper 60’s. Between April and November, the temperature variations are the same, but you can expect late afternoon and evening showers.

The temperatures at Silver King Lodge will be mostly tropical with intermittent showers. Temperatures range from the 90’s during the day to the lower 70’s at night. You are close to the equator where the sun is very strong, so be sure to take appropriate precautions.

What to take- Since you are going to a fishing lodge and flying small planes, it is best to pack light. Casual light cotton attire is the norm. Since the lodge has daily laundry service provided, less changes of clothing are necessary. You should also consider rain gear as showers are common. Some other items to bring are sunscreen, a wide brimmed hat, polarized glasses, your fishing tackle if you desire, a small flashlight and of course your camera.

Gratuities- As always, tipping is an individual, voluntary practice, but here are some guidelines. The lodge suggests that the tip for your fishing guide is $ 50.00 per day, per angler, based on 2 anglers to the boat, so, $ 100.00 a day for the boat. House tips total about $ 25.00 a day ($ 8.00-10.00 a day for the housekeeping staff, $12.00 a day for the kitchen crew and $ 5.00 a day for the bar staff). So, if you figure $ 230.00-$ 250.00 all in for your 3 days at the lodge, you’re covered and the lodge staff will appreciate it greatly.

In case of emergency- Trek maintains regular office hours 9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. We also have a 24 hour answering service who will contact a principle of Trek at any hour of the day or night. (904) 273-7800

MEDICAL INFORMATION- Please check with your personal physician or the Center for Disease Control (800-311-3435, or WWW.CDC.GOV) regarding inoculation information for the area you are visiting.

Silver King Lodge U.S. office 1-800-847-3474

Silver King Lodge in C.R.(office cell)- 011-506-8447-5988

Mike Murley- Silver King Lodge General Manager- 011-506-8527-6260 Jose Garmendia (transfers in San Jose) 011-506-2441-0397

Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Cariari- 011-506-2239-0022 Sleep Inn- 011-506-2222-1010

TRAVEL PROTECTION INSURANCE- You will find enclosed information related to optional travel insurance. We at Trek strongly recommend that you consider taking out this coverage. With the cancellation penalties imposed by hotels, lodges and airlines, this is your best protection in the event you are unable to travel. Plan details and contact numbers are on the brochure.

THE MAIN THING TO REMEMBER IS THAT EVERYTHING IS SET FOR YOUR TRIP AND ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TO RELAX AND HAVE A GREAT TIME.