March 29, 2012
By Joe Richard, Assistant Editor
You buy the ticket, you take the ride…
It isn't every day you find a marlin “honey-hole,” but Capt. Mark Corn out of Puerto Jimenez in Costa Rica has been hammering blue marlin at a pair of fish-attracting devices (FADs) marking a deepwater hump in the Pacific for the past eight months. Though 40 miles offshore, the hump is surrounded by 6,000-foot depths, rising to 1,200 feet—and the marlin just won't leave it alone.
Or the baitfish around it, anyway. Mark has been jigging up 10- to 15-pound yellowfin and skipjack tuna around the buoys, and then bridling them for slow-trolling. “It's an amazing sight, watching a 400-pound marlin grab your tuna only 20 feet off the transom,” he says. “It's the biggest concentration of marlin I've ever seen. On our worst day while visiting there, we caught three marlin.”
Action has been so consistent, Corn now offers a guaranteed marlin or the charter is free. His new policy of “no marlin, no pay” may sound sketchy for those who have trolled many days in bluewater without even seeing billfish, but apparently this new spot is worth the ride. On their best day they landed seven out of 12 marlin in just four hours. He had only a pair of anglers that day, who found themselves hooked up to a double-header, and then an amazing triple-header. They were all blue marlin from 150 to 400 pounds. Four hours of fun was enough action for that day. It was a life-time of marlin action, for most anglers.
“October is the middle of the downpours here, but our biggest marlin are caught in October/November,” Mark says. “The black marlin also arrive in October, so we have a mix of both species. Our dry season usually starts in mid-December and lasts through May, and January-March is our high season.”
Depending on their budget range and their vacationing style, visitors can stay in the simple and pleasant town of Jimenez. Corn, originally from Southeast Florida but a resident of Costa Rica closing in on two decades now, also recommends a choice of three nearby eco lodges. Corn also fishes out of a lodge on a remote island in Panama to reach the famous Hannibal Bank, where big yellowfin and marlin are the order of the day. Corn normally runs a 38-foot Merritt and has a 25-foot open fisherman for inshore, but the Puerto Jimenez marina has a variety of boats available. Depending on angler needs, they can fish in the 25-foot open boats on up to diesel-equipped vessels ranging from 30 to 51 feet. FS
