January 18, 2010: Costa Rica Fishing: BANG BANG BANG!!! Too bad the economy is holding some back from fishing this year, because the season is off to a phenomenal start! There has been a consistent Marlin bite for about the past 10 days. They are giving a good show, but have given anglers a challenge actually getting them to the boat.

The Dorado and Tuna have also been plentiful. Yesterday Michael and Kurt fished with Don La Ruffa and went 4 for 8 on Sailfish and 4 for 7 on Dorado.

This week is a big wedding week with our dear friend Elizabeth Oden preparing for her big day!! We are so happy for her and Andrew and today was Andrew's bachelor fishing trip...another great day of fishing and a few more ziplocs of Mahi Mahi have been added to the wedding stash of fish!

We have returned to Costa Rica to see the Fishack in the absolute best shape we have ever seen it...our new caretakers have tended to our property so beautifully and seem to have done years of work to our gardens in a matter of months...

We are excited to report that the mangroves backing the Fishack (which also run through town) have become home again to a family of crocodiles...so it seems like this year our guests will be feeding the Crocodiles off the back deck, as well as hand feeding the monkeys!

 

October 27, 2009: Little Fish Big Payoff!! Capt Michael and his mate Jason were out 3 days off Chatham last week and landed a 500 lb Tuna on the last day. She dressed out at around 380 lbs which is small by his standards, but she was a great looking tuna.

He brought home a few headsteaks for dinner, fried them up in a dry pan and when he was done it looked liked he had cooked up 15 strips of bacon! So fatty!

She hit the market in Japan yesterday and she went for $18 a pound! Fantastic price for a great fish! Made it all worth it...

October 17, 2009: Our summer season on the Cape was fantastic. Michael had his best year lobster diving with over 15,000 lbs being sold on the local market!

He started tuna fishing off with a bang - first day out in August he nailed an 800lber! The tuna have been around and so far he's boated another 4, but the price in Japan has taken a fall. Looks like any future ones will be sold on the local market.

We also purchased a BEAUTIFUL new house here in Truro. Our dream home really...surrounded by National Seashore land (permanent privacy!) and with a breathtaking great room addition. It's been super exciting and will likely keep us up north a little longer this year!

Michael has been considering purchasing a local Clam permit. Really really exciting as well. It will mean buying another boat...even bigger than the Bad Dog, so that's a little nerve racking. That'll mean 4 boats, but he's thinking ahead. He can't dive forever...

As for Costa Rica, sounds like it is wet wet wet down there at the moment. I have heard that they had the most wonderful summer...great weather! But the rain has moved in. It's hard to forecast what the season will be like for our community. We are most definitely concerned for some of the smaller business that barely made it through last season. For many locals, the income they earn during the short tourist season must support them all year long.

On the bright side, the downturn in the economy has forced us and I'm sure many people to reevaluate many aspects of their lives. We are fortunate that we can reevaluate and still eat!

We are looking forward to heading down and doing what we can to help some locals in need. Jacob is going to start collecting donations of school supplies from his school and classmates up here. We were able to help 15 children in Costa Rica with their required supplies and we hope to help more this year.

Costa Rica is on the verge of a presidential election. It will be a very interesting year...the combination of the economy, the free trade agreement and the election.

Keep the locals in your thoughts...

June 21, 2009: Our Costa Rica fishing season was a great one this past year. We encountered more technical problems, and lost our fish reports when we changed to a new computer.

I'll work on recreating them...

We are back on Cape Cod, things are going excellent for Capt Michael Packard. He and his mate Josiah Mayo have been diving for lobster just about everyday for about 6 weeks. In that timeframe they have already landed over 10,000 lbs of lobster. Just a phenomenal start to the season!!

Capt Michael has had some help from Capt Johnny Woods in totally redoing the cabin of the Bad Dog. It looks wonderful! All mahogany trim, bunks, etc. It is a million times better and so comfy!!!

We want to thank our clients for helping us make this past season probably one of the best we've had! We had some wonderful and memorable trips and thank you for your support and for keeping on returning!!

We have decided to nominally increase our rates this year...last year they were raised at all, but realistically we need to at least raise them the same amount our suppliers are raising our costs.

If any of you would like some live Cape Cod lobster, let us know. We are happy to work out a shipment.

January 31, 2009: Our Costa Rica fishing season has started off with some of our most faithful repeat anglers.

Frank Rybarcyk and Tom Sharpnack were down again mid-January for their annual trip with Mar Huron. They saw consistent action offshore, with the action happening at about 15 miles from the rock. During their 6 day fishing trip they caught a wide variety of fish, including an excellent trip up to Drake's Bay where they had some excellent bottom fishing action. Tom was the hotrod this trip!! Sorry Frank, had to mention it. Tom filled my freezer with Dorado, Snapper & Grouper for which we are all thankful!!

Oct 17, 2008: It's been a busy month of fishing, but we are finally reporting on the birth of our newest son, Josiah William Packard, born Sept 15 at Cape Cod Hospital. He weighed in at 9lbs 2 ounces, and is already at 13 lbs. He's another bruiser. We are all adjusting well to the change in the family and look forward to you all meeting him this fishing season in Costa Rica!

Sept 8, 2008: Between February and now has been an excellent season for both the Mar Huron in Costa Rica, and the Bad Dog on Cape Cod. We ran successful fishing trips until April in Costa Rica with consistent fishing and happy anglers.

Michael spent from April until late August diving for lobster here on beautiful Cape Cod and his catch for the season was 15,000 lbs. Yes. An incredible 15,000 lbs. It was his best season to date, and he's quite likely outnumbered alot of the trappers in poundage.

He started tuna fishing about 2 weeks ago and has landed 5 so far, the most recent about 15 minutes ago - a 900 lber. The first was 700 lbs, the second 600, the 3rd a 400 lber and the 4th another 600 lber. A huge improvement over last season...we hate to go there but it was 28 days before his first fish and he ended the season the highliner with 4 caught.

So we have high hopes for this tuna season with another 2 months to go!

On a personal note, we are expecting our second son next week.

All is well, fruitful and peaceful on Cape Cod. We plan to return to Costa Rica sometime in December to get prep'd for another season of Costa Rica fishing.

Feb 25, 2008: Costa Rica Fishing: It's hard to believe it's been so long since the last update! Fishing has been excellent this year! Since the last update we've hosted 3 great regular groups: Capt Cal and group, Freddy Hernandez and group and Chris Parody and friends. We've had a smattering of day charters in between and all trips have seen decent offshore action and a really diverse catch. Chris Parody's group caught 3 species of Snapper in 1 day!

Jan 20, 2008: Costa Rica Fishing: May and Jamie from Miami are down celebrating May's birthday out at Encanta La Vida

The fished a great day offshore going 3 for 3 on the Sailfish and boating 3 Dorado up to 45 lbs. On the way in they snagged a Jack at the rock.

The good fishing has stayed consistent since the Marlin bite - we had a challenging season last year as most who fished anywhere in the country found out! So this hot Marlin and Dorado fishing has been great. The water temp has been 2 degrees colder than normal. Last year we experienced record highs water temp wise.

Jan 18, 2008: Costa Rica Fishing: Frank & Tom from Ohio wound up there 6 day trip with an excellent day of fishing offshore despite a late start due to a presidential visit and a swarm of Secret Service.

They ran out to La Chancha and the water turned green and they headed out to 21 miles 34 degrees and found the Sailfish going 7 for 12. They also released 8 Dorado.

Scherrie - can Frank come back in March? He needs to celebrate what we've calculated to be 54 days and over 400 hours aboard the Mar Huron. Must be something good going on down here!

Jan 16, 2008: Costa Rica Fishing: Boated 10 of 12 Dorado, missed a Marlin and Sailfish bite, but went inshore and caught Roosters and Jacks.

Jan 15, 1008: Costa Rica Fishing: The Mar Huron had an excellent day offshore yesterday - action all day and a little fun with a greedy Sailfish and a Bonita about 4 inches too long for him to bite. 1 for 3 on Sails, 100 lb yellowfin tuna, 2 Dorado, 1 Grouper and aSnapper.

Jan 14, 2008: Costa Rica Fish: The Mar Huron headed to Burrica today and boated a Horseeye Jack, Roosterfish on light tackle 15 lb test on a 40 yr old Fin-nore #4 reel. Then offshore about 20 miles off the rock California casted to a wolfpack of finning Sailfish led to a double hook-up.

Jan 13 2008: Costa Rica Fishing: The Marlin bite has died down somewhat. Mar Huron was one of the luckier boats yesterday with 1 Sailfish and 3 Dorado. Some did better, most not. One Marlin was caught out of the fleet.

Jan 12 2008: Costa Rica Fishing The Marlin bite has continued consistently the last week with boats averaging about 6 raised a day. They are running about 20 miles for this bite. We are in the new moon phase at the moment, so the Ballyhoo bait catcher has had a hard time finding the Ballyhoo. Hope the bite stays consistent through the new moon!

Janaury 7, 2008: Costa Rica Fishing The Marlin bite is still really hot at the moment. Boats are running 12 miles and some have raised up to 6 in a day.