We travelled to the Silver King Lodge, in Limon, Costa Rica with the intent of catching triple digit tarpon on the fly.  We made it there late afternoon on Thursday and left early Monday ..  We met up with old friends.  We ate well.  We caught fish. And we are already planning our 2025 return trip. If you want the details, keep reading.

The 4 of us, Clark, Don Mc, Kurt, and Puck met up at the terminal in Houston for just a few minutes before boarding the flight to San Jose, Costa Rica.  This flight was uneventful. 

The weather in San Jose was perfect when we landed, but that would quickly change.  Glenda had warned us that San Jose had been having rain in the afternoons for about a week, while the lodge hadn’t seen rain in a week, or more.

We made it through immigration and customs quickly, with no trouble.  There wasn’t much of a crowd this time, and we slipped right through. 

The duty-free shop had changed from last year, and some of the items that I wanted to buy were no longer offered.  I was a bit disappointed, but now I had something else to add to next year’s packing list.

We missed out on our regular Sansa flight by adding people late, past the published deadline, to the group. To be able to get to the lodge we had to pay a bit out of pocket for an air charter. We were informed that the charter plane leaving San Jose into the fishing grounds was so small that it had a max load of 850 pounds.  Puck was the only one with real luggage, the others just had carry-ons. A quick tally and we decided we were withing the weight limits.  When we first arrived at the small airport, after travelling across town, in the heavy rain, we had a surprise waiting for us.  The airport was closed due to weather.  They have a safety rule in place for these small aircraft that involves storms, lightning, and rain.  After a short wait the airport opened back up, our paperwork was processed, and we were loaded, carefully, onto the plane.  All 4 of us, plus the 2 pilots, along with our bags, were a bit of a challenge, but it got done, and we took off after putting on some noise cancelling earmuffs.  A bit of wind and rain as we approached the mountains had our small craft swimming in the sky.  It wasn’t too bad, but it was memorable.  Once we crossed the mountains, the sky cleared, and the flight was smooth.

 The pilots circled the runway once to get a visual.  They explained later that sometime a cow, or a dog, will wander onto the landing strip and it has to be removed before they could land.  These 2 guys are skilled.  Our landing was as smooth as silk.

Our guides, Clifford, and Marvin, along with Glenda, greeted us at the runway, and we made our way, in the light rain, to the SKL shuttle boat.   A quick trip upriver and we were at the lodge’s boat slip.  Evonne, our bartender, was waiting for us with a big smile. Our guides showed us to our rooms and talked with us for a bit.

Since we arrived too late to do any fishing, our small group sat around the bar, going over fishing ideas, and sharing stories.  This is about the time when Susan and Tim came off the water.  They had been fishing with Manuel, and had a great day.  New stories were swapped, and laughter filled the bar, as Evonne kept our glasses full.

The dinner bell rings, (yes, a real bell,) and everybody moves into the dining hall.  I have a fascination for food, so I took pictures of everything I could. The kitchen staff are an efficient bunch that know exactly what they are doing.  These pleasant ladies kept us fed well the entire time, with smiling faces.  Some of the dishes served were new to us, and these chefs happily described what we were being served.  I had to try everything that was offered, and never left the table hungry.

I offered to make a pineapple upside down cake in the huge cast iron pan they have.  The cake looked more like a pudding than a cake.  This was my error, and not our chef’s.  I didn’t use enough cake batter for the amount of fruit and brown sugar topping.  The taste was great, but the presentation suffered. 

Don Mc. and Clark fished with Clifford. I didn’t get a detailed breakdown of their success.

Curt and Puck fished with Marvin. Stories from Marvin’s boat below.

On Marvin’s boat, we fished Friday morning. The rain came and went, but the seas were calm, and the temperature was just right, so we were comfortable enough to continue fishing all morning, even though we were soaked to the skin.  This is where Marvin educated us on proper techniques and tactics.  Our plan was to keep one fly in the water and one jigging rod constantly working. Our drift on each pass was mostly in a southerly direction.  I’m used to the drift being almost due east, but with the change in the weather, each drift was much longer in the productive waters. We landed one tarpon and hooked up on another, with the 80 pound test leader snapping at the bite tippet knot, losing the first of the red/white size 8/0 tarpon toads as the 100+ pound fish jumped. 

Friday afternoon rained out for Curt and Puck who didn’t want to brave the heavy rain, and decided to sit out the storm.  Dunking bait at the boat slip was entertaining, landing gar, machaca, and catfish.  Not exactly what we had planned, but any fishing is better than being at work.

Clark and Don Mc. braved the storm and Clifford took them up into the canals.  The storm was just too much for a visit offshore.  Neither of these guys brought raingear, so wore large plastic trash bags as protection from the elements.  While they were int the backwaters they were stopped by the Costa Rican Coast Guard and had an interview.  A few questions were asked, and according to the anglers the officials were professional and polite. Sadly, no fish were caught.

Saturday was our best day, with occasional rain and mild seas.  We had the highest numbers on this day.  I’ll roll all of the number I have into the final total.  What I will say about this day is that we lost the last 4 red/white tarpon toads this day. https://texasflyfishers.org/2022/12/26/tarpon-toad-tying-videos/

Sunday the ocean started out great, but got rough in late morning. That afternoon we decided that we could handle it and went out again, this time in 5-8 foot seas. Not our best call. We had some bites with another tampon coming in on the fly, one that Marvin had tied, but missed all the other strikes. The water was too rough at the end of the day for a fly rod, so resorted to jigging the last hour or so.   A lot of hits, but no hook-ups. 

Tarpon fishing totals on Marvin’s boat:

• Hooked 18
• Landed 5, three of those on the fly rod, 2 of these on RWTT, size 8/0

Red/white size 8 tarpon toads were the fly of choice. I lost 5 of them to fish and that was all that I brought of that color.  I had tied 6, but gave one away to somebody before our trip.

Monday morning was once again travel day.  We woke at the same time and had a leisurely breakfast with plenty of coffee.  A trip done the river to the airfield and it was time to say our good-byes. 

The charter plane going back to San Jose didn’t have a copilot as we needed that seat to get the 4 of us back to San Jose. This aircraft was even smaller than the first one. Puck’s suitcase had to take one of the seats on the way back.  Puck had to sit in the copilot’s seat for the flight. 

The people supporting the SKL are the backbone of the adventure, as the food and facilities are top notch, and kept in good repair, but the guides are the lifeblood. As anglers we spend most of our time on the boats with our guides, and after a few trips develop friendships.  At the end of the day the SKL support staff has made everything so comfortable that all we need to think about is “fishing tomorrow.”  This well-run team has made our adventure memorable enough that all 4 of us want to make the trip again.

Some lessons learned:

• Rain gear, bring the good stuff, this is the rain forest and it will rain
• Airplane snacks, as no airline will provide enough food
• Replace your store bought fly leader with fresh 80# test fluorocarbon before fishing
• Also, if you bring lures, or big flies, they can be taken from you by Costa Rica security. Put these in checked baggage
• Use motion sickness medication even if you normally don’t use it.  The seas can change quickly
• Start planning, and packing, early
• Follow the recommended packing list provided by SKL
• Be aware of any construction at the airport
• Allow plenty of time for customs and immigration when returning
• Allow plenty of time for security at all of the airports
• Hand carry all medicines
• Fly rods can be carried for free, but not fly reels, from Costa Rica. Put reels and flies in your checked luggage.
• 3 sets of fishing clothes, complete, to include gloves and buffs, as you may need to change mid-day
• 2 pairs of boat shoes/sandals, again because you may need to change mid-day
• 2 good sun protection hats