All Day Fishing Trip

I went out on the Gamefisher 2 on Sunday and here are some of the things I saw.  I was part of the crew with Junior, Scooby and Diego as we took out 4 men from California for some deep sea fishing.  We went about an hour 1/2 out, on calm seas, clear skies.

Fighting Chair with 5 rods

Spinner Dolphins in the water

A 40 lb. Dorado

Catch and Release Sail Fish

Long line...

Dolphins swimming and jumping

A Tuna

More Dolphins chasing the boat

50 lb. Tuna

Sail Fish

Tanker Ship going by

Dolphins and birds

Sailfish in the water

Birds 

Bird taking flight

Meeting the Crew

I met up with Richard at his house on Tuesday morning at 7:30am.  After introducing him to my dad, I rode over to the beach in front of Las Brisas restaurant with his crew, Junior, Scooby and Diego.  We rode out to the boat in an inflatable dingy to where the Gamefisher II was anchored off shore.  Once we were in the boat, we filled up the water and gas tanks, they showed me how to tie up the boat and how to tie different knots, and gave me a tour of the boat.

  

The Gamefisher II is white with blue stripes.  The bow of the boat is hollowed out and has one toilet, and an area where they store all their rods and gear.  They also showed me that they use small fish that they catch for the bait if they don't use live bait.  There is also a fighting chair on the back of the boat with built-in rod holders all around it.  This boat holds 4 fisherman plus the crew of 4.....up to 8 people at a time.

There is a hatch built into the back of the boat that can be opened to pull in extra large fish.  The cockpit is located in a tower where the Captain steers the boat.  This tower is elevated up from the rest of the boat.

After my tour, the crew took me out in the bay to do a little fishing.  We used two spinning rods with a jig (no bait) and even though we did not catch anything, we had a good time.

In the Beginning

Yesterday I had the honor of meeting with Captain Richard Chellemi of the Gamefisher II.  Richard has over 23 years of deep sea and inshore sport fishing experience and is Captain of the #1 sportfishing boat in Costa Rica.  I will be an intern for him during my first trimester on my LEEP program.  Here is a photo of his boat...  

According to their website, the Gamefisher II is a 31' custom-built Palm Beach design sport fisher powered by twin Volvo turbocharged diesel engines. She was tailor made and is immaculately kept, for comfortable offshore day charters for up to 4 anglers.

Richard told me that he would like to teach me about the art of sport fishing in Costa Rica, but that I need to start with familirizing myself with the boat, the equipment, and Spanish names for fish and other commands used on a boat.  Here are a couple examples:

1. Rod = cama

1. Reel = carreta

1. Hook = anzuelo, enganchar

1. Striped Marlin = marlin rayado

1. Bait = carnada

1. Rig = preparer

1. Cast = castiar

1. Mackerel = makerelia

Richard also gave me 2 DVD's to watch.  One is called "Cockpit Chaos:  The does and don'ts" and the other is called "Winds of Papagayo."  Papagayo is the name of the gulf we live in here in Costa Rica.