Costa Rica offshore bite delivers marlin, sailfish and yellowfin tuna
Big yellowfin anchored a late-May mixed bite off Nosara, where the Wanderer and Explorer stacked marlin, sailfish and tuna in the same stretch.
Big yellowfin tuna were part of a full offshore sweep off Nosara on May 21, with the Wanderer and Explorer both putting fish in the boat while billfish kept the rods bent. For anglers watching Costa Rica’s Pacific side for a real tuna window, that combination matters: it was not just a sailfish show, but a mixed bluewater day with dinner fish and release fish in the same spread.
Jay Stewart’s group had the standout ride on the Wanderer. Master Captain William and Mate Elias put them on a beautiful blue marlin, two excellent sailfish and several big yellowfin tuna. That is the kind of mixed bite traveling anglers plan around in Guanacaste, where one trip can deliver both a marlin release and a serious yellowfin box. The Explorer matched the theme the same day, welcoming FishingNosara Hall of Famer Brian Burke and producing multiple sailfish releases for Brian and Tom Keefe, along with yellowfin tuna for the table.
The strength of the May 21 action was not isolated. The surrounding stretch showed a steady offshore pulse: May 19 brought more action, May 18 featured a double sailfish release, May 15 produced monster yellowfin tuna on the Explorer, and May 14 added another big yellowfin to a sailfish day on the Harvester. Put together, those results show a late-spring run where crews were finding both billfish and tuna across multiple boats, not just one lucky hookup.
That fits the broader Costa Rica pattern. Nosara’s waters hold sailfish, blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, yellowfin tuna, dorado, roosterfish, snook and cubera snapper, and the nearby 100-fathom ledge bends close to shore, pushing deep blue water within easy reach. The Pacific coast is one of the world’s most productive billfish grounds, and the green season from May through November often brings nutrient-rich runoff that draws in large numbers of yellowfin tuna and mahi-mahi. Conditions still shift with currents, water temperature, El Niño or La Niña and bait movement, but the late-May run around Nosara showed the signal clearly: marlin and sailfish were still in play, and the yellowfin were there in numbers that made the bite worth the trip.
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