Pura Vide Costa Rica by Warren Koch

"Beware, you will be consumed wholly by this take for the rest of your life - when you kiss your partner, while you drive to work and with your last thought at night"

Pura Vida is a common saying in Costa Rica that translates in English to Pure Life. This is the essence of the Costa Rican people, extending to their culture, outlook and mentality to their world-class coffee. Little did we know that it also extends to fishing.

Few places in the world can offer both saltwater prizes of the Pacific like roosters, sailies, marlin, etc. and then on its east coast jacks, snook and the ultimate fish known as the ‘silver king’. We read and see plenty of pics on social media of tarpon but there is something fundamentality soul-enriching about being in the vicinity of giant ‘yellowbelly’ tarpon. These ‘poons’ migrate along the Caribbean coast and seemingly enter into some special brackish river inlets. One of these famous inlets lead to Lake Nicaragua, which has become the home of these infamous beasts.

I had the pleasure of another great hosted trip by Tom Lewin and Frontier Fly Fishing to this very special place in a very special country. I previously had the good fortune of catching these giant poons on conventionaltackle but not on fly. We as fly fisherman often question four weight versus six weight fly rods and the merits of a seven versus a nineweight. This is the land of fifteen and sixteen weights! You pretty much know this is a

place of jurassic beasts and their stories when your charter plane flies near a volcano that is constantly in the distance with her trail of smoke.

This is definitely not another fishing story of meeting new good friends for life, smashing personal targets and fish measurements. To qualify the last point, most people dream of catching a tarpon anywhere near a 100lbs - every poon landed by our group was upwards of 100lb to 200lbs. Every fish a fish of a lifetime. We decided shortly after the first day that fishing in this place carried a different ethos. No numbers, no weights. Jus pura vida.

The accommodation was perfect in every way and was situated on the landing strip that runs through the middle of this quaint, peaceful jungle town and a was short walk to the river pier to board a fleet of first class boats. We are privileged in South Africa to have some amazing guides that will impart knowledge about many species in many environments across the globe, but the guides here are dedicated giant tarpon fishing guides. They were born in this village and giant tarpon is their life. I’m again reminded of the difference between a boat guide and proper world-class fishing guide.

As we headed out for the first session I started to get excited and nervous. Excited at the prospect that I could finish with a world record and nervous about the tides as my sea legs are not always the best. I had done significant research on the topic of seasickness and brought along meds ranging from epilepsy stabilisers to pure ginger root. By the end of the day I had dispensed with all of them as the gentle neap currents along with the one-directional currents were in fact relaxing and comparable to those in a river. I believe I had just taken my first step to curing seasickness. A truly special place indeed.

On previous trips we had to deal with stronger spring tides and fast 700 grain sinking fly lines were used. In the true spirit of flyfishing flexibility and adaptation is key and in the slower tides we changed to a mix of 500 grain and even intermediate lines. We had tied a range of large tarpon flies with the usual purple and green colours but we did not know that some shrimp boats would be in the area. This resulted in an orange fly delivering some beasts. It must be noted that the fly out-fished the odd ‘insurance bait’ at the back of the boat!

Some people have asked what it is like hooking, fighting and landing giant tarpon on

fly. Many have ventured educated views based on experience, but it’s true that when you hook a 100lb club poon no education will prepare you. Time seems to slow down and even though the guide and your mates volley a chorus of instructions for a split second you just try and ‘manage’ the violent and brutal chaos. The truth is that you simply hang on for dear life and hope the years of muscle memory guide a finger of forgiveness. The trick is hooking the bugga in the first place!

The 'pain cave' - a place where for two hours your strength, endurance and humour are tested

The first 10 minutes is prolific with massive aerial jumps and drag-breaking runs before you enter the “pain cave”. This is a term created for the time after ten minutes and the next hour to two where you will test every side of your strength, endurance and humour. However, beware, you will be consumed wholly by this take for the rest of your life - when you kiss your partner, while you drive to work and with your last thought at night.

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Watching the Rugby World Cup opening game at 3AM

A personal mark on this story is my own overcoming obstacles (in fishing and perhaps in life, which is fair, because fishing is life). After returning from the last morning session I discovered that I was the only angler to have had zero action.

I do not compete at life/fishing and live for myself and my own dreams, yet I felt a failure. An honest and open reflection resulted in my fellow SAFAs coming together within an hour to give me a new leader, a new fly, a new outlook, a cold beer and a pep talk.

motion of the waves against the boat best trying to sync everything and most importantly smiling in gratitude at this thing we call life. Did it work? Four takes, a double hook up and two landed.

As the boat gently steered us home it was nothing less expected than to see the fishing gods see us off with a tarpon shaped cloud in the sky. This is the reason some of us live.

I listened.

As a sort-of-guitarist I immediately kindled the wise words from Tom who linked this passion to the water and fish. “Play those strings”. So, with a smile and the expectation to catch (yet no grading on the trip if I caught) I set out for the last cast. I cast my line out and started to retrieve, listening to the

Picture credits: Woz (Warren Koch), Schalk Van Rensburg, Tom Lewin, Reghard du Toit, David “Frikkie” Spangenberg, John Riddle