My Fishing Adventure in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica

I come from a long line of fishermen. Each generation has passed down the tradition to the next. My father was taught how to fish by my grandfather, my grandfather was taught by his father – so on, so forth. Well, my father taught me how to fish at the ripe age of seven, and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. Nothing quite like waking up at the crack of dawn, getting your gear together, driving to the lake, and getting your fishing on! Every fishing trip I’ve ever taken has meant something to me, but nothing quite compares to this past summer when I had the opportunity to travel to Jaco Beach, Costa Rica with my father and grandfather for the greatest fishing weekend away ever!

How did we end up in Costa Rica, one could wonder. Well, one night I ran into a friend of mine who had just come back from a backpacking trip in Central America, and he raved on and on about Costa Rica, specifically a town called Jaco – safe to say, I was interested. I did my due diligence, and had some money saved – so I went ahead and bought three tickets to Costa Rica for three generations of Rockford men! I also hired the services of a company over there, that helped me immediately in planning the whole trip. We rented out a beach house, hired chefs and bartenders, arranged transportation, and I booked the services of a Costa Rica Fishing Charter at Los Suenos Marina, just 15 minutes away from Jaco Beach!

Everything in order, I went to pick up my grandfather, and then my father, and then we made our way to the airport on one hot, humid July morning. Luckily, there were no hurricanes or anything in the vicinity, so we checked in and our flight took off on time. We landed in Costa Rica at around noon, and after a smooth arrival through immigration, we exit the airport to find an Air-Conditioned Mercedes Benz Sprinter van waiting for us. Our driver was very nice, and spoke English. After an hour and so drive, we arrived at Jaco. It was a small, scenic town – lots of surfers – and hot, it was hot! We quickly made our way into the Vacation Rental we had booked for the weekend – it was lovely! Located right on the beach, it had a killer view of the ocean, a chill pool deck, an amazing kitchen fully-stocked, a bunch of bedrooms with flatscreens, a game room with a pool table – hell yeah! All three generations of Rockford men, we all chilled out in the swimming pool. Before long, bartenders showed up and made us drinks – cold drinks in the pool on a hot day – perfection! The air smelled of hot dogs, I couldn’t believe it! The Chefs had taken me up on my request, and grilled us burgers and hot dogs! We ate, drank and then all retired for a much-needed nap.

All rested up, we went aboard the yacht an hour before sunset. We cracked open cold beers, enjoyed the remaining sun and the sea breeze. The captain was very friendly, we chatted about fish and fishing for a while, compared notes and all. Before long, it was sunset, and we enjoyed it with a full view of the horizon. It was magical. The sky changed from one color to the next, all powerful and bright, and the little ball of fire finally sank into the ocean as the sky turned purple. Of course, we wouldn’t go fishing that night – the idea was to meet the captain and mate, check out the boat, test the waters – all was well. Content, we sailed back to shore. We went for some tacos for dinner, and before heading home, we checked out a couple of bars – fun! We called it quits early, for tomorrow morning we’d be out in the water nice and early!

Rise and shine! We woke up at dawn, had our Chefs make us delicious pancakes, eggs, bacon and coffee, and our van came for us and took us over to Los Suenos Marina again, to begin our fishing adventure! The sun was up by the time we arrived, and the captain welcomed us on board with a smile, looking fresh. We were all excited to get some fishing done! We sailed off in the semi-cool morning air, which turned hot as soon as the sun began shining on us – luckily the wind kept us relatively cool. My grandfather took out a cooler, gave my father and I each a beer, all three of us cracked open our respective cold ones, said cheers, and took our first sip of the day – this was our family tradition, our ancestors believed it brought good luck. We arrived at our spot soon enough, the captain and the mate set everything up, and we started fishing!

Hours passed, beers came and went, the sun got really hot, and finally, I started feeling hungry again – I guessed it was probably past noon. I grabbed a sandwich, took a bite and rejoiced at getting some grub in me. My grandfather had already caught a tuna, my father too – me, nothing. Just as I was halfway through with my sandwich, something bit! Excitement took over, the whole boat rocked with the movement, and after a long, intense struggle, we brought on board a huge Blue Marlin! My grandfather patted my back, gave me a beer and said, “Good job, son. I knew you could do it.” The three of us raised our glasses to the fruitful day at sea we had just had, and drank our beers. Three generations of Rockford men together, stared out into the horizon, thoughts lost in the beauty of the blue Pacific.