by Mike Sabine

Nothing puts your heart in your throat and starts the nerve endings jangling like the explosive surface strike of a giant Rooster fish just behind the breaking waves off Nicaragua’s’ varied and dramatic Pacific shoreline. Nicaragua may not enjoy the reputation as a sport-fishing destination that its Central American neighbors do, but fish are small-brained animals. They don’t understand international boundaries and swim happily around in Nicaragua’s waters anyway.

“You’re not fighting a bunch of other sport fishermen here,” said charter captain Robert Brauns, “you get away from the big influx of people and everything costs less.” Brauns, 57, a retired businessman from New Hampshire, has run fishing charters from San Juan del Sur for two years. “It´s really a lifestyle business, a way to offset expenses.” We set off from the San Juan del Sur dock and immediately began trolling a variety of lures and dead minnow baits from Brauns 23-foot deep-V skiff, known locally as a panga. Hugging closely to the shoreline was both a necessity and a treat on this typically windy January day. The shoreline view passing slowly before us is a mix of cactus studded-steep rock bluffs and isolated white sand beaches at the base of green hillsides. Local hand line fishermen tried their luck from rock points and beaches.

Strong winds blowing off the ocean cap the turquoise waves white, sending a fine spray across the boat. Hanging close to the outside of breaking surf for wind protection makes for a constant gentle undulation. Pelicans diving to feed on the sardines that roiled the water surface around us kept us company as we made our way south parallel to the coast. Bigger splashes among the bait fish schools signaled what we waited for - active feeding game fish.

First one line, then a second, reeled off as two four pound Bonito tuna hit the diving plugs. Moments after we pulled them in, another rod bent over, the fish pulling on this one far larger. I grabbed the rod and began the tug-of-war, lifting the rod tip, then reeling down. A fish’s head appears with a splash on the surface and the lure flies from his mouth back with the line tension back toward the boat. Upon examination, the rear treble hook was torn off and the side of the wooden lure split. “Sierra Mackerel,” Brauns said, “they can tear a lure apart. I caught one 16.3 pounds that would have set the record, but there’s no certified scale here to verify it.”

We continued on like this, trolling at about seven knots south between the shore on the left and obelisk-like rock islands jutting from the ocean floor on the right. The schools of small sardines flipping about on the surface were almost constant, we pull a couple of ten-pound Jack Crevelle from a school feeding aggressively on the surface, then head in with the setting sun as a back drop.

The inshore Pacific waters off Nicaragua offer various tuna species, Rooster fish and Snook in the 30-60 pound range and especially in the May through September “winter season” the big game Wahoo, Dorado, and Sailfish. However, a true deep-sea sport fishing industry for Marlin, big tuna and consistent sail fishing has yet to develop, partially because the continental shelf lies farther off land then many places on the Pacific coast.

“It’s 35 to 40 miles offshore to consistent blue water of 600 feet or more,” said Brauns, “in Costa Rica and other places it’s closer. Since there’s not much specific bottom structure here I seldom troll more than a few miles out.” Another option Brauns offers is drift or still fishing around the small islands with either live bait near the bottom or artificial casting lures. “It’s a good place to set line records on light tackle inshore. This area is especially known for large Sierra Mackerel.”

Nicaragua’s sport fishing industry is in its relative infancy, not yet the destination for the high roller sportsman crowd looking for big boats and crowded tourist traps to spend lots of money on. The country “felt immediately good, the people friendly, lots of opportunity for sport fishing in a country getting on its feet,” Brauns said.

So if you are the average vacationer looking for a days’ activity that combines great scenery and aquatic life viewed from the ocean side, or a traveled outdoorsman looking to add another country to the list of those fished, try the Nicaraguan Pacific coast before the crowds arrive. Robert Brauns at Nica Sport in San Juan del Sur and most accommodations including Hotel Colonial, Hotel El Pacifico and Casa Oro offer fishing adventures or you can direct you to where to line-up your own.