Dear Tarponville Friend,

 

 

News from Tarponville:  2006
 

www.tarponville.com        e-mail:info@tarponville.com

US phone: 406-586-5084        Costa Rica: 506-759-9115

 

The Fall of 2006 was one of Tarponville’s best tarpon fishing seasons. All our FAll groups were return clients. This really pleases us.. We hope it  is a good indication of the quality of the fishery and our service.. Dolfi, our Lodge manager and CArlos, our head guide, were a welcome and helpful addition to our staff. Also, Dolfi  did a great job booking tours for our non-fishing guests. You will find below, a list of the non-fishing activities which, you, your friends and spouses can enjoy while in Manzanillo.

 

 

The Fall fishing;

 

As I mentioned earlier, the tarpon fishing was excellent this past Fall. Our clients broke six of our rods and some of their own rods on large tarpon. Due to the number of rods that are normally broken, we always have spare rods for clients. The fly that tore more lips then any other this season was “ The Killer Jim”. Tarponville supplies all the fly fishers with plenty of our specialty flies and 100 pound shock leaders. I was up most nights trying flies and leader to keep everyone supplied with enough of the “right” stuff.

 

Some numbers that might interest the hard core fly fishing tarpon “nut’ are:

 

 

·        M. Cowan hooked two permit and landed one during a short stop over near the state park. We will be doing more investigating in that area. Mark had friends come two times during the first two weeks of September. The first two of Mark’s guests hooked 36 and landed 6. A number of the hooked fish were 100 pound plus tarpon. The second group hooked 56 tarpon landed 12. Also, they caught 20 large jacks the biggest being 36 pounds. These guys had plenty of fly rod action.

 

D. Sharon reported “Dennis and I hooked 20 and boated 10. Howard hooked 3 and landed 1. I'm not sure about Wes and Chris...they were kind of tough to get info from. As far as I know, they hooked 6 to 8 and landed a few.” Dick landed two tarpon in the 150 range.

 

·        Chris, Wes’ wife and one of D. Sharon’s group when out with her husband for two days and was able to land two tarpon over 125. It was her first tarpon trip and she as able to break two rods  while fighting  her impressive catch.

 

 

D. Lewis’ group had their “best tarpon trip ever”. Del has booked two weeks for next fall and M. Cowanha booked three weeks.

 

Cabela’s Outdoors where at Tarponville to do a TV show to be aired this winter. The first day out the team claimed “they had not seen that many tarpon before”. Joel, one of the hosts compared it to Boca Gran or Homosaso. Al though we all hooked lots of tarpon the first two days of that week, the last two days we saw plenty but few wanted to “pick”.

 

All and all it was a pretty good Fall season and we expect the same this Spring.

 

 

Side notes: JJ, one of the Cabela team’s cameraman, filmed two sloth mating in a tree right in front of The Dolphin Lodge. To top things off, the female after their loving making, decended the tree to the ground to defecate. The female then went back up to join her mate. We will notify you by e-mail to when the TV show is airing. I am afraid we did not get video of the male sloth smoking.

 

 

Accommodations:

 

 The Tarponville Lodge was used for all groups groups and everyone really enjoyed the wildlife refuge ambiance. It is an ideal situation for couples and family that want to do additional activities. The lodge, located in The Gandoca/Manzanillo Wildlfe Refuge, has its own cook who  prepares special meals and  will plan for special events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Also,  high demand for The Lodge especially during the Winter/Spring season, groups that anticipate requesting The Lodge, should book early. For information and photos of The Dolphin Lodge go to: www.dolphinlodge.org.

 

 

Ending Notes:

 

·        April is starting to fill in. There are spots every week, but there are many tentative reservations that have not sent deposits. March and May are still pretty open.

·        We are working on a special addition to your daily options. For an added cost of approx. $30 per/day/ fishermen, we will take you into Panama and the rivers, lagoons and island flats. Permissions and other arrangements are being worked out. These special arrangements can be added while in Manzanillo.

·        The 2005 increases go into effect Jan. 1 2005. The gas prices in Costa Rica are extremely high, plus the transportation cost to haul gas has also increased.

·        Our new transfer services from San Jose to Manzanillo will allow groups of 6 or more, to have a private driver for the week (  for groups of2 or 4 people , there will be a small added cost for the  private driver). The driver will pick you up at the airport, transfer to our Bed and Breakfast inn in San Jose if needed. The driver in a 15 passenger van will drive you to Manzanillo, be at your service during your fishing days and then drive you back to San Jose and the airport. Door to door service plus a driver at your disposal while in Manzanillo. No hassles.

The rental car services are still part of the normal package. Please ask about these options.

 

·        We hope to see you and your family and friends in Manzanillo this season

 

 

Non- fishing Activities;

 

We have found that more than half of our client groups come to Manzanillo with non-fishing members. Tarponville will be delighted to plan, at no cost, adventure activities for our special guests. Our manger Dolfi is head of the local guides association and is a trained  travel agent. He has been able and willing to make our non-fishing guests stay, as exciting as our fishing guest. Many of our guest have gone out on dolphin excursions with Ann my wife, who has been doing dolphin research in the area for the past eight years. Willy, Tino , Ricki and other local guides have shown our guests some pretty amazing things. Here is a partial list of local tours and activities available while in Manzanillo: