This was my husband’s and my first time sport fishing and Andres and Arita truly made it memorable. The snacks, lunch and drinks were plentiful and delicious and you could tell that Andres and Arita were really working hard to get us a catch. As fishing goes (some times you’re lucky and sometimes you’re not), we were down to our last hour and finally got a Mahi Mahi. It was also impressive how Arita filleted our fish. We are now forever hooked and can’t wait to get back on the water. If we are ever back in Herradura, we would definitely book the Mad Marlin again. Thanks for such a wonderful time!

~ The captain and first mate are friendly and kind. The first mate is a hard worker.
~ The boat is in good shape but would not recommend more than two additional passengers for comfort due to size.
~Feeling about the experience: very disappointed - felt more like a boat ride at the end than a fishing trip
~Facts about our experience: We did the 10-hour trip. This was something my husband and son had looked forward to for quite a while and was hoping to be a highlight of our trip to Costa Rica after hearing about the great fishing. Out of 10 hours, we had 3 hits. One, we didn’t get to reel long enough to know what it was. The other two were brought into the boat but were bait fish. The same technique was used all day with no action. We did not request to fish for any particular kind of fish but just to have fun and catch fish. The ocean was beautiful and lots of dolphins and some sea turtles were seen, but extremely little fishing action or hits.

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!