Bad equipment ,poor fishing value and exaggerated fish reports

So you may be wondering why is the blog titled "What a Croc"????? Well here goes.

I am very fortunate to fish most weeks if not at least a few times every month . I understand fishing is not always catching . I also understand that sometimes the fishing is just OFF!!!
What I don't have time for is false/misleading catch reports and bad equipment .

Before heading down to Crocodile Bay I went to the trouble of phoning Tod Stanley the resort's fishing director and specifically asked him if it would be worth my while to bring my popper fishing gear as I wanted to fish for Rooster fish on a popper. .. Oh no he said we have all the necessary gear and our inshore specialist Anthony will take care of you ..
Upon arrival I couldn't wait to fish inshore my first day. I headed down to the dock and met Anthony the "Inshore Specialist" . Anthony is the nicest person you would ever want to meet and so is his Mother who also works at the resort.
I got on board the inshore boat and immediately started to eye the fishing gear . What i was looking for was any kind of popper rod with some backbone and a decent reel. What i was given was a badly maintained old reel with old line . Personally I would have thrown in the trash years ago. The rod was also in my mind a piece of junk .There was obviously no back up equipment if this equipment had issues. I always take 3 rods and reels[shimano stellas] with me when serious popper fishing with new braid and a few spare spools on hand..

Ok so this was what I had to deal with . I figured I better make the best of is as there were no tackle shops around... I asked Anthony what we had for lures and it was minimal to say the least. So bad equipment , bad line and no lure selection . Not exactly what I would expect from a world class fishing resort..
If you choose to go to Croc for inshore fishing take your own gear and don't listen to Tod Stanley....

It seemed that each day there was a boat breakdown of some sort. At least when the inshore boat broke down they didnt want to risk taking it out and found another boat for me right away...

As always after fishing the fishermen would gather at the bar to discuss their catch , or in this case drown their sorrows. We were all amazed to see that the catch board from the day had a column for "hook ups". After talking together we all agreed that some of these "hook ups" were actually fish sitings and not all actual hooked fish ..It obviously sounds better if the board shows that a client was 1 for 5 .. than if it said "caught 1 fish and saw 4 which maybe only came up to take a look at the baits or kind of swirled near a popper"???


Personally I only keep track of fish which I catch, not the lost fish, hook ups or fish sitings..LOL

It became obvious that I was also not the only last minute guest . Two other groups of fishermen had made a last minute decision and flown down at the same time. We were all having a poor fishing week and wondered why did we all rushed down to Croc bay ... Then it dawned on us as we all scrabbled for our Blackberrys and read TOD STANLEY's fishing reports for the prior month. The fishing in his reports sounded great BUT it really depended on how you read the report.All I can say is READ BETWEEN THE LINES WHEN READING MR STANLEY'S REPORTS ...

I have tried to access the reports from that same time period but they are no longer available for 2010 so I cannot get any exact quotes . Up to 2009 and 2011, 2012 are there but not the ones I based my fishing trip decision on.. I am in no way calling Tod Stanley a liar just that he is quite selective in what he writes .

For example he might say " every family caught bill fish Christmas week " it was a fantastic holiday" .. So if 5 families caught 1 bill fish each in 6 days of fishing that's 30 fishing days and only 5 fish caught ....yes they may have had a great holiday but for 5 boats of serious fisherman 5 fish in one week would not be good . READ BETWEEN THE LINES..

The reports from the actual week i was there went up the next month and again you would think that everyone caught the fish of their dreams and lots of them ...




I think that Crocodile Bay is a high end family resort in a beautiful area of the world. I dont however think that it is a place that a serious group of fisherman should go for a fishing only holiday ... My suggestion is that if the fishing is really that good that Croc Bay show more "RECENT" catches in their monthly fishing reports.
A good example a reel report would be the monthly fishing report from a place I visit in Thailand called Gillhams fishing resort..www.gillhamsfishingresorts.com

Also keep an eye out for the latest fishing fiction from Tod Stanley in your local book shops:).

"Bright orange cubera snapper hover just below the slick surface like a field strewn with huge Halloween pumpkins. An angler tosses a lively blue runner over the side and the nervous bait races back to the boat.

Like a huge fireball, a cubera explodes on the surface and throws water in every direction. Line screams off the reel. Even the blister raised on the thumb, as extra pressure is applied to the drag, is not enough. The snapper's power is too much and it escapes into a rocky cavern below. The fisherman is left with the lasting memory of having a runaway freight train on the end of his line."

Could it have been , the old line?? the bad reel or maybe the poor drag setting ????
Even in Tod"s Creative writing direct from the Croc website the fish ultimately gets away .

The Positive!! A natural paradise and a few good fish.

The Resort is beautiful and in a really fantastic setting . The rooms were very nice ,clean and well maintained , no complaints .It was a short walk out to the pool and a short trek down to the boat docking area.

One of the key factors in choosing Crocodile Bay was that i wanted to catch an average to big Rooster fish. The website and fishing reports had explained that there was exceptional Rooster fishing and inshore fishing in general....

I did catch one small rooster fish in 4 days of inshore fishing .The guide Antony did his best and worked hard to find the best spots. I popped and cast the waters to a froth trying to get a big rooster.

There were some good photos opportunities.

I did catch a Marlin in the week but nothing big .

This snapper was an ok catch on a popper . The guide Anthony was really quite excited which worried me as i thought this was just an average fish . He actually said it was a big fish ?? Not good news coming from their "inshore specialist"

There were a few small fish caught inshore but nothing to write home about.

I unfortunately didn't take the time to really view the wonderful nature which The Osa has to offer as I was really just there for the fishing .I have visited Costa Rica before and was amazed by the flora, the wildlife, volcanos, spas and even bullfights.. so much to see and do.

The Blue fin Trevally is always a beautifully coloured fish to catch.

I think for a family all round vacation with some fishing here and there Crocodile Bay is a good choice yet definitely not cheap compared to many other options in Costa Rica.

I did catch a sailfish which are always nice . Again if you were a family or a first time fisher person this would be a fish of a life time ..Any talk of catching 6 sails per day or 12 on a good day as it states in the species section of their website is absolutely ridiculous ..
Unless of course you total the fish sitings from all the boats out that day and count them as actual hook ups.

My main beef is obviously the fishing which I will expand on in a specific post..


The staff were great. Helpful and friendly .They even put on a firework display for new years .
The breakfasts were decent and the evening meals excellent .. Great quality food and lots of it. I think i could eat tuna sashimi until I exploded ...

I have studied the fishing reports ALL sounds good. I'm off to Crocodile bay.

I had heard about Crocodile Bay resort through fishing circles over the years and I wanted to learn more . I mentioned it to a friend of mine from the UK and he explained he used to go there and that the fishing had been ok . He did say he hadnt been recently and there may be better options in Panama.
My only opportunity to go would be over the Christmas holidays /New Years .. This was kind of a last minute decision . I researched Crocodile Bay from their website and it looked like a great spot . I got a price and it wasn't cheap especially as I was going by myself .
The deciding factor would be the fishing reports.. I read the recent fishing reports carefully and they looked good from what I could tell and how they were written. So the decision was made and I was off to the airport.

I flew from Toronto into San Jose on Air Canada . I stayed the night in San Jose at a nice Hotel and flew Nature Air Direct to Crocodile Bay the next morning ..

The pickup times and flight arrangements were all great and I was on my flight on schedule.
As always I was grilling the taxi driver [who worked for Crocodile bay} about the recent fishing ,. ..When the taxi driver is already using the fishing is fishing and not always catching line before you even get there then maybe its time to worry..i was hoping it was just a language thing....

The flight was smooth and there were some amazing views on the flight down to the Osa Peninsula.
I was really excited to be going to such a reputable world class resort.

After a smooth landing I was met by the Crocodile Bay representative at the airport gate and was at the resort in minutes .. A warm greeting by the reception staff and time to get settled into my room .

Fishing Costa Rica

I had fished Costa Rica for a few days on a prior holiday and caught some good fish .I had found the charter through a taxi driver and decided to take my chances. The boat was simple tackle was simple but it was a good day and not expensive.

A couple of nice Dorados.

A really nice Wahoo. Wahoo are so fast when they hit .. A strong fight and a lot of fun that's for sure .

A decent Sailfish ... They are always a beautiful fish even though they are a relatively small bill fish.










After a good first Costa Rica fishing experience I was looking forward to my second trip, but wasn't sure where to go.