Frequently Asked Questions

Costa Rica expects that all those who are going to catch fish, purchase as well as carry on you, a legitimate Costa Rica sport fishing permit. Anyone will be required to pay for your Costa Rica “fishing” license directly from the INCOPESCA representative. This officer will appear at the dockyard entry off every marina in Costa Rica. Fees are: 1 – 8 days: $15 pp, 30 days: $25 pp, 1 year: $50 pp

When we receive your fishing inquiry, we will immediately check the availability of the boats on your preferred dates. When our captain gives of the green light, we will immediately contact you on the phone or email provided to confirm your fishing date. We will also check with you if we have all the correct info. After this, we will send you the invoice and instructions for the deposit. This deposit is needed to guarantee your trip. No other group will than be booked on your date.

For the reservation of your fishing trip, you can either pay a 50% deposit or the full fee. Our company accepts bank wire transfers or Credit Card payments by means of our PayPal.com account, when it comes to the deposit part for your trip as well as your full balance due.
Your balance due will be payable in CASH on the day you arrive, or may be paid no later than 14 business days prior to your arrival, via bank wire transfer, or simply by Credit card to our PayPal.com account. (Kindly take note that any type of fees we incur for taking any payments which includes wire transfer fees or Credit Card processing fees, are payable by you and will be included in your balance due).

Cancellations for any kind of or all segments of your trip, for any sort of factor, have to be made NO LATER than 30 days from the scheduled date of arriving to qualify for a full reimbursement of your deposit. Cancellations inside of this 30 day time frame will render your deposit Non-Refundable.
In the case that for any reason our company need to cancel your reservation, or any segment of your reservation for any reason, (bad weather) you are going to be offered an alternative date, boat, or option. A full refund will be released for that segment(s)if you are simply not capable to accept another option.

A minimum of around 15 % -20 % daily is actually customary. 20 % is actually standard. Under no conditions should tipping be depended on the number of fish you hook. In case that your Captain and staff work hard at locating the fish, make multiple maneuvers, change bait presentations, servicing your goals, and the bite is simply just plain slow, they are certainly not at fault. There actually are absolutely no Captains that we work with that depart the harbor desiring to not catch fish.
Our Captains know and respect that your expectations are very high as early as you get on board, and will certainly work hard to deliver you a prize time on the water, nonetheless fishing is going to always be fishing, and then in case the fish don’t wish to bite, they will not. We are lucky to have many more successful moments on the water here than not, although like anywhere in the world you fish, slow bites take place. Please don’t fault your Captain & Crew for it.

Most fishing boats allow between 6 – 8 person on a boat. So carefully choose whom to go with.

We recommend you to bring the following:
Sunblock, lip balm
Appropriate clothing/sun protection (hat or cap)
A light rain jacket in Costa Rica’s green season
Seasick medication or any other medication you need
Cameras for those great action shots
White soled sneakers or special boat shoes
Swim wear & dry clothes
Towel
Polarized Sun Glasses
Copy of Passport in case the Coast Guards wants to know who you are.
A positive attitude

We highly suggest wearing light colored clothing. A long sleeves shirt will do the job. The sun can be hard on people if you’re not used to it. Also a hat or cap will help you protect yourself from the sun. Those quick dry Lycra clothing dry much faster than cotton material. The ocean breeze can blow through the Lycra material providing you kind of an air-conditioned feel.

Yes, all charters include a variety of beverages, fruits and snacks. If you have a special preference or diet, you’re most welcome to bring that with you. Although no illegal substances of any kind will be tolerated.

The crew of the boats consist of a knowledgeable captain and a minimum of one mate. Sometime 2 (two) depending on the size of the boat or group size.

Unfortunately we cannot allow wheelchairs on our boats nor do our insurance policies. We totally not recommend taking persons along on the trip with physical challenges.

Each Billfish taken on our fishing boats will be live set free, the minute they have been brought boat side, to insure the best possibilities of survival. Eatable types such as Dorado, Wahoo, Tuna, Snapper, and more, will certainly be filleted by your mates present, at zero service charge. We will happily direct you to one of our sponsor restaurants, in which they can cook your new fish for you at an absolutely inexpensive cost.
You may not transport your catch from Costa Rica, but you can bring frosted fillets home along with you in your checked baggage, having said that it is a terribly complicated procedure. Legislations state that your fillets must be frozen, and can not be included in your carry-on baggage, but inspected luggage only. You can certainly not prepare your frozen fillets with any other style of ice, or foreign material. It is pretty difficult to take fish back with you and we don’t suggest you attempt to.

Yes, all of our crew speak fluent English, Spanish and sometimes another language such as German or Italian.

Yes. When you fill in the bookings form. Please let us know if we need to arrange the transportation to and from the marina.

You should take a look at our Costa Rica Fishing Report page to see the latest reports that come from both captains and clients through a live twitter feed.

All boast depart from a nearby marina or easy access location.

All our boats carry Coast Guard approved safety equipment

Yes. All our boats carry a special professional Public Liability Insurance that must be renewed every year.

Our boats carry top of the line equipment from brands like Shimano/Penn/Loomis.

Yes off course, but not necessary as our boats already are very well equipped.

This depends on the boat size. The larger boats / yachts do have a bathroom on board. But you can already imagine the smaller ones, don’t.

Yes you can. Bring them along for those action shots.

If you are interested in our “Top 10 List Of Must Do Activities In Costa Rica”, please let us know. One of the 10 you already know. That’s a fishing adventure. We’re here to help. Any other question you may have. Just send us a message.

Yes we can. In our “Costa Rica Fishing Packages” page, you can see an overview of the accommodations we carefully handpicked.

If you wish to just charter a boat for fun in the sun, stroll along the coastline, Anchor, surf, swim or snorkel at a secluded beach cove, and do whatever and go wherever you want for a full or half day, just let us know. We have done this many times for families and group of friends that just want to have fun.