El Residente
28 An Adventure in Paradise by Lee Swidler
Gone Fish’n
W
hen we got to the river, the sun was just cresting over the hills. The stream looked like most other rivers I had thrown a fly in, but there were no trout rising. Here in northcentral Costa Rica, where the nighttime temperatures rarely dip below 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it is too hot for trout; but we were after fish with teeth! Machaca, similar to the North American shad, are abundant in these rivers and lagoons and we were about to have a day to remember.
Dave and I had hooked up on Craigslist and he had hired me to show him some tropical fly fishing; he had flown in from Calgary and I picked him up at the airport yesterday. This morning we had a long drive, and headed northwest, we needed to get within striking distance of the river for an early morning float. After we had driven a few hours we bunked down in some nice cabinas for the night. I had promised him an adventure, and what better way to begin than waking up in a foreign country, trying to make sense of a suicide shower, and climbing into my old Trooper and hitting the road, all before daylight! He was about to experience a day far removed from anything he could find around home.
Arriving at the river, we were greeted by Efrain, our boatman for the day. He had already loaded the small boat, so with little fanfare, we were off. The plan was to head upriver via motor, then float back down to our entry point. Since we wanted to be on the river all morning, we went upstream for close to half an hour. On the way, we saw great blue herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, and other birds that I couldn’t identify. At this hour of the morning the wildlife were having their breakfast and,
