We did a half day trip with Captain Mendez. The day started a little later than expected due to motor issues with the boat; however, Captain Mendez was very prompt with letting us know and keeping us updated. We ended up staying out on the water longer than the “half day” description as a make-up for starting late. We caught a big needle fish and he filet’d it and made fresh ceviche which was amazing (I’ve never liked raw fish). We also caught several sea bass and grouper which they filet’d for us as well. Captain Mendez was clearly very knowledgeable about the fishing spots and him and his son were very friendly throughout the trip. As an added bonus, they cut up fresh pineapple for us and provided sandwiches, snacks, waters, soft drinks, and best of all, cerveza. I highly recommend doing a trip with Captain Mendez, it was a blast!

Gran experiencia con el Capitán Juan Carlos Méndez.
Un experimentado pescador, muy conocedor de la zona, que lo da todo para conseguir satisfacer a los clientes.
Intentamos un buen rato capturar algún pez vela / dorado / atún, pero no era el día a pesar de que atravesamos varias pajareras, sin éxito. Pero el capitán supo prever un plan B y nos acercamos a uno de los lugares que conoce y pudimos sacar 3 groupers (4-5 kilos cada uno) y un pez margarita que nos preparó el capitán como sashimi.
Luego nos fileteó los groupers (o cabrillas o meros) y nos los cenamos con el grupo de 9 personas con los que viajamos.
Llegamos a entrar hasta 27 millas y el capitán no dudó en extender el viaje de 8 horas para maximizar los resultados.
Muy recomendable.
Volveremos a vernos Juan Carlos.

We had an amazing time fishing with these guys! They put us on fish throughout our trip and accommodated us and made the trip ours. We did a few techniques and landed a good size rooster which was my wife’s first catch! Afterwards they have some friends on the beach that will cook your catch as well and it was the best vibe and food ever! I definitely recommend booking these guys to go out and have a blast! We will go back and hang out with them soon! Pura Vida!

Captain Juan and his first mate were awesome. We took three kids and three adults for a full day. We caught a small tuna trolling in the morning and then they put us on the grouper and snapper where we caught a ton of them. We then went to a beautiful cove to play on the beach where the captain and first mate caught bait. We then trolled for rooster fish and landed a massive cubera snapper and a giant needlefish. These were the biggest fish both kids had ever caught in their lives. They filet the fish on the boat ride in and we had kore fish than we could eat. Captain Juan was super nice and would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a great fishing trip.

We started by jigging for Grouper, tried going out(~10miles) for Mahi-Mahi/Sailfish, and finished the day closer to shore targeting Roosters/Jack’s. 

We did well with the Grouper, unfortunately we weren’t successful on the high seas, as it was unseasonably windy and we started to feel sick so we asked to turn back to shore for calmer waters. Once we got back to shore the Captain/First Mate jigged up some baitfish to use for Roosters and we were able to catch a beautiful >20lb Jack before returning to port.

While out on the water we enjoyed watching countless Ray’s jumping out of the water(they were EVERYWHERE within 3 miles of shore), 5 huge turtles surface, a mother and calf sperm whale, and a few pods of dolphins swimming near the surface.

Captain Mendez speaks good English, and is clearly very experienced in catching fish in this area. He is very personable, and the trip felt less like a charter and more like a trip with friends. The boat is incredibly stable despite its lower gunnels, and narrow beam. Even going across 8’ rollers/white caps we never felt we were in danger, a little bit of sea spray is part of the experience.

All in all I would highly recommend this trip to anybody, but if you are not familiar/comfortable with rolling waves stay closer to shore if the wind is up.

Muchos gracias amigo!

Edited to add: We went out again before leaving CR and had another great day on the water! We caught 3 red grouper between 15-25lbs, and a tuna! While we were jigging for grouper another boat pulled up beside us, with four fisherman on board. They caught a few 1lb red grouper while we were catching our +15lb grouper with just two rods in the water. They were pretty sour about it! Still no Rooster, but we had a ton of fun, and caught a pile of fish! According to the captain when the winds are high the roosters are low in the water column. Skittish, and hard to find. They did their very best to get fish in the boat, and we enjoyed every minute of it!