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Our Piper
Navajo hummed as it effortlessly climbed to about 8,000 feet and skimmed
through a cut in the mountains outside San Jose, the capital of Costa
Rica. In the mountains below we could see large cascading waterfalls
creating several rivers which wound their way eastward through the Costa
Rican farmland. Gena' and I had just finished spending two days at the
Hotel Cariari in San Jose and playing 36 holes of golf each day on the
gorgeous Fazio-designed course next door to the hotel. We were headed to
the Rio Parismina Lodge to do some tarpon fishing. I wondered which of the
rivers below was the Parismina.
This whole trip started right before Christmas when we learned that both
of our boys and their families would be going out of state to the "other
in-laws" for Christmas. Never having experienced a Christmas alone
before--and the weather turning cold in Dallas--we started thinking about
a place to go. Gena's requirement that the location be tropical narrowed
the choices. I did not want to go to Hawaii because of the time
commitment--I could only be gone five days plus travel time. I had heard a
number of people talk about the Rio Parismina Lodge and after getting some
more information about the lodge sent to us by Rebel Blackwell, and
checking it out on its website, we were sold and ready to go.
We could finally see the coastline from the Navajo and we saw where the
eastward-travelling Rio Parismina crashed into the westward-travelling
waves of the Caribbean. It looked like it would be rough getting out to
sea. We landed on a small asphalt airstrip that paralleled the coastline
where we were met by Fernando Gonzalez, the Manager of the Lodge. He
arranged to have our bags taken to the lodge where we quickly changed into
our fishing clothes, received a safety lecture, and headed out to go
fishing about 9 AM. We quickly saw that there was a trick to getting out
of the mouth of the river and through the high waves created by the ocean
water rushing over a sandbar and meeting the outgoing river. But, our
guide, Melvin, had no problem getting us out without incident as he timed
the boat to go back and forth between the waves until he saw a brief lull
and pushed the 21 foot boot through at almost full throttle. It was pretty
exciting, and quite good boatmanship!
We fished for a couple of hours with a lure (Coast Ghost?) that had two
treble hooks on it. We would drop it to the bottom in water ranging from
30 to 110 feet deep, and constantly pull it up several feet and then let
it fall back down. A jack cravalle liked the way my lure looked and took
off running with it. After a brief struggle, I brought it in and we saved
it to give to one of the villagers around the lodge. Nothing more was
interested in what we had to offer so we went in for lunch around 11:30,
had a siesta and then set out again at 2 PM.
The highlight of the rest of that day was Gena' hooking a 97 lb. tarpon
and bringing it in without any assistance from anyone. She fought it for
35 minutes using a spinning reel with 20 lb. line. The tarpon jumped, and
jumped, and jumped again as it tried to shed the hook. Melvin and I
continued to encourage Gena' while she protested several times that she
wanted help. Finally, it was boarded and we took it back to the lodge for
great pictures as dark descended upon us. (Normally, the lodge has a catch
and release policy but Gena's tarpon had swallowed the hook so far down
that its gills were damaged and it would have died if released; so, we
brought it in for the natives to eat.)
The next day we went out again but we got hit by a persistent rain storm.
More importantly, the wind came up and created enough whitecaps that it
seemed prudent to go in and fish in the river that ran through the
rainforest surrounding the lodge. We saw crocodiles on the banks, colorful
toucans in the trees, a large iguana resting high in a tree and other
wildlife. Gena' caught one small snook which we also saved to eat. That
afternoon we went surf fishing without much luck.
On the final day, I hooked a tarpon estimated at over 100 lbs. I brought
it in in eight minutes! That was a shock to everyone, and someone said it
must be a record to get one that big brought in that fast. I felt really
proud of myself. But I shouldn't have been so cocky as the next one I
caught-- estimated at about 85 lbs--took two hours and 10 minutes to get
to the boat. It wore me out.
We both caught and released, or caught and lost, other fish. Gena' and I
agreed that fishing for tarpon was much more fun than the interminable
trolling and waiting for a marlin or sailfish to hook up and then wearing
yourself out getting it in. The tarpon we hooked all jumped several times
right after being hooked. It was quite a sight to see them jump completely
out of the water and shake their heads back and forth in an effort to
throw the hook. Gena's tarpon even jumped out of the water about 8 feet
from the boat and shook water all over us! That was a thrill.
We cannot recommend Rio Parismina Lodge too highly. We were provided with
large, comfortable rooms. The food was outstanding every meal. We finally
told them to quit making deserts for us as we could see the pounds being
added to our waistlines each day. The lodge is very attractive, the bar is
complete with anything you would ever need, the store in the lodge has all
the tackle you could dream of, and the people there do anything and
everything they can to make your trip a delightful experience. They offer
3, 4 and 5 day trips. If you want more information about the lodge,
call Rebel Blackwell at 214.363.2525. Rebel will be happy to send a
brochure to you.
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