I booked this somewhat last minute and off-season. Had the itch. I was floored by how much fun I had. I have way more money in gear/bigger boat at home to do the same thing, and just had the Costa Rica itch. I might sell my stuff and keep coming back for this trip. Andres speaks great English if you need that. He listened to the radio the entire time. Andres was attentive and paid attention to what I wanted to do. I asked him who the boat belonged to. He quickly answered, “Sir, today this is YOUR boat.” Then be made good on that. Andres was an absolute delight, kind of a really tan, bi-lingual Santa Claus delivering big fish to all the good boys and girls. I want to invite him to come fish with me at home!

Mad Marlin is a little 23 foot walk around, but she is actually much larger than she is. She rode well in 2 to 3’s. She had 2 Yamaha 115’s for redundant reliability. My years of wrench turning and checking out the boat’s condition say it is well maintained.  The radio, raw/fresh washdowns, outriggers all worked. The gear provided was middle weight Shimanos mostly, capable of most anything they would run across here. It wasn’t ready for a grander marlin, but neither is my overweight self.

Alexa was a great deckhand. I saw a 110 pound 20 year old girl when I boarded and did not expect her to work like a pair of caffeinated gorillas. She ran up to a 6 line spread no problem and cleaned fish in the dead time. The boat stayed clean no matter how much fish I piled on.

All in all, I was really impressed. The boat was a bit small, the gear was a tad light, but the damn crew pulled it all together so well that I had an amazing time and piled on all the fish I cared to catch.

Thank you Andrea and Alexa. Puro vida!

We had an amazing day with Captain Andrés and first mate, Arixa! This was my first time deep sea fishing and the second time for my husband. We were offshore about 40 miles when my husband reeled in a 7 foot Sailfish! Both Andrés and Arixa leapt into action to get the other reels in to ready for his catch coming in. It was about 20 minute fight but he got it in. Later he got a Blue Marlin on the line but just couldn’t get it all the way to the boat. We then went halfway back in towards shore when the red snappers were biting nicely. We got a few of those and a golden tailfish we were able to bring home for dinner. While out there, a huge pod of dolphins came by and seemingly “performed” for us. It was amazing! We had a fantastic time talking with both Andrés and Arixa. Their knowledge about fishing and the ocean area in general was really cool! They have lots of good stories and their English is wonderful (especially for us with my husband knowing no Spanish and me having just some basic language skills). We enjoyed not only the fishing but the time spent on the water with the two of them! Would definitely book with them again on a return trip!

Well where to begin! I was the only angler on Mad Marlin with the amazing Capt Andrés and his first mate the beautiful Arixa!

We went out 31 miles for sailfish, Marlin and tuna. (43 miles). 

Boom right at 8:30am Sailfish on!!! I start reeling her in and what? The reel broke! Not to be deterred I asked Capt Andrés for gloves. We are going to reel this on by hand!  Capt estimated 115 lbs! Arixa was on the spot in helping me get the sailfish tagged. My first ever!  He even put together an amazing video of it as proof! (Along with seeing thousands of dolphins and catching a 16 lb Tuna later in the day!). **hidden content**

So after trolling and trying different baits and lures Capt Andrés asked me if I wanted to go for tuna, i said hell yeah! I really appreciated that he wanted my input. So we headed out further which as I’ve experienced most charters try and take you back in saving gas but not Capt Andrés! He was all for it and us getting some sashimi baby!

So we come up to the grounds and thousands of dolphins jumping around! Capt Andrés shared that tuna like to play with the dolphins. After seeing another boat catch a tuna i knew we were due And sure enough, I’m jigging the line and boom! Fish on!!! I thought it was a baby at first not putting up fight but as soon as I got it close to the boat it took off!! This happened 4 times! Finally was able to win the battle and got it on board! Arixa was spot on again in hooking it onboard. 

We trolled all the way back and Arixa cut up the tuna and made amazing sashimi on the way back! She’s amazing on top of being beautiful!

I can’t recommend Capt Andrés enough. The best charter I’ve ever had! I will definitely be back and go again!

Went out for the full day trip today and caught a few smaller fish. Nothing was biting but the deck hand kept busy all day trying to get us onto the fish. We went out about 52 km to a school of tuna. The captain showed us on his monitor where they were but we could not get them to come after the lures. It did not matter though as we were driving among a pod of probably 500-1000 dolphins the whole day. It was a great time watching them flip out of the water and even leaning over the boat to touch them. I will post the pictures of the fish a little later when I get them but overall a fun boat ride to say the least. Only wish the captain would have communicated and explained the fishing aspect a little bit better.

Awesome fishing trip on the Mad Marlin!  My two boys and I caught five Mahi Mahi, one Bonita, and a beautiful Sail Fish on a half day trip.  As good as the fishing was, it was matched by the fresh ceviche made be the first mate with one of the Mahi Mahi we caught.  Fantastic!  Captain Andres and First Mate Arixa make a great team who are a pleasure to fish with.  The best fishing experience I have ever had.