Wales Tourism and Visit Planning

Trolling for Treasure

Author: By Andy Hahn
Since the early 1800s, Cocos Island has beckoned to hardy souls in search of adventure. Pirates often visited this tiny chunk of real estate jutting out from the Pacific 300 miles off Costa Rica, and tales of buried riches lured several men to risk their lives and life savings on ill-fated treasure hunts around the turn of the century.

Holiday In Wales Despite hand-drawn maps and cooperation from captured pirates, these expeditions failed to turn up more than a few gold coins. Modern-day buccaneers, however, stand a much better chance of striking it rich and returning from Cocos Island carrying a wealth of lustrous fishing memories.

St. Director of Tourism Since 1998 Mr. Peter Hilary Modeste has served, as the Director of Tourism of the St. Lucia Tourist Board. President of the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Association, Mr. Modeste has been employed within the tourism sector for a number of years. He was educated at the University of Wales and is married with three children. A former Minister of Education, Mr. Modeste has served on a number of national organizations including the St. Lucia Development Bank.

Holiday Wales Owing its existence to prehistoric volcanic activity, the 10-square-mile island rises sharply from the Pacific to heights of over 2,000 feet. Sheer cliffs and steep-walled valleys tumble down to the surrounding sea, where the rough yet sheltering underwater terrain attracts schools of baitfish. Pelagic gamesters such as tuna, wahoo and billfish patrol the island's precipitous perimeter like soldiers holding a castle under siege.

For many, offshore trolling for tuna and albacore is a game of chance. They may start off at the 181 or the 209, but once they arrive they just troll around with out a plan. MAP offshore contour charts, I can target my trolling along a specific depth curve, underwater ridge or high spots that create upwellings and currents that can concentrate pelagic species.

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Plans are already underway to pay tribute to this beloved part of the island's history says the Aruba Tourism Authority.

Camping Holiday Wales Cocos Island - awarded national-park status by the Costa Rican government and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site - also hosts a tremendous population of hammerhead and other sharks that use the area as a spawning ground. In order to protect the sharks from overexploitation by commercial interests, Costa Rica declared a no-fishing zone around the island. This mandate applies to all types of angling, including catch-and-release sport fishing, and a contingent of rangers remains on site to enforce the law. (Working in 45-day shifts, only 10 rangers at a time live here, making Cocos the world's largest uninhabited island.)

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Accommodation Holiday Wales For several years the buffer zone extended two miles from shore, then it was increased to five. A recent ruling now prohibits fishing within eight miles of the island. Charlie Tombras, an avid fisherman from Tennessee who specializes in catching marlin on fly, has visited Cocos five times since 1995 and calls it "a premier striped marlin fishery." I joined Tombras and Capt. John LaGrone aboard the Permit for a six-day trip to Cocos in August 1999. To Tombras' surprise, we saw 13 striped marlin while raising 16 blues.

Holiday Last Minute Wales "When the limit was set at two miles, we could troll along an undersea ridge about three miles from the island, working over structure the whole time. Stripes were everywhere," Tombras remembers. "Now, with the eight-mile limit, we have to work harder to find fish. Maybe we're seeing more blues because we're fishing deeper water."

Catering Holiday Self Wales With the obvious inshore structure now out of bounds, anglers must search greater depths for signs leading to the presence of billfish. LaGrone locates marlin by working near bait flagged by wheeling birds and boiling tuna. A watchful eye on the sounder also reveals deeper schools of baitfish as well as several submerged points rising from 1,500 to within 800 feet of the surface.

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Holiday Riding Wales Tombras set two world records for striped marlin on fly while fishing at Cocos in August 1995: a 182-pounder that still stands as the mark for 16-pound tippet and a 185-pounder that has since been surpassed on 20-pound tippet. That same trip also produced a 147-pound striped marlin on 12-pound tippet, falling one pound shy of the existing record. Knowing he'll get multiple shots at fish that are the right size for a fly rod keeps Tombras coming back. A typical day's effort usually means five or six marlin crashing the spread. Striped marlin range from 100 to 150 pounds here while most blues rank in the 200-pound category, making Cocos an ideal light-tackle billfishing destination. (LaGrone prefers 30-pound gear when using conventional tackle.) Larger fish, including black marlin, can appear at any time. During our recent trip we raised an estimated 350-pounder that refused to strike; LaGrone couldn't make a positive identification, but he says it "sure acted like a black marlin."

Adventure Holiday Wales Although we raised one or two pods of sailfish each day, this species prefers to frequent the shallower waters that are now off limits. The island's eight-mile buffer zone has all but forced recreational anglers to focus on marlin and enjoy sails as a bonus whenever they light up under the teasers.

Holiday Park South Wales LaGrone estimates he's fished a total of 130 days at Cocos, which he first saw while working as mate aboard the Hooker on Tombras' record-setting jaunt in 1995. When asked about the best time of year to schedule a trip, LaGrone answers, "It's hard to tell since Cocos is so rarely fished. Striped marlin seem to be prevalent from May through September and blues are more common during the rest of the year."

Cottage Holiday Wales Unfortunate circumstances marred what would have been an excellent opportunity to determine seasonal patterns. "One year there were different boats and mother-ship operations visiting Cocos almost every month," says LaGrone. "But," he laments, "that was during the height of El Niqo, so we can't consider it a normal year."

Holiday In Wales To give you an idea of El Niqo's effect, Tombras had booked the Permit for eight days of fishing in August of that year. After raising just a couple marlin in three days, LaGrone and Tombras packed up and headed back to Flamingo rather than waste any more time. Under normal conditions, anglers can expect to present baits to at least five or six marlin per day.

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Caravan Holiday In Wales Visiting vessels have two options for safe anchorage along the island's rocky outline. Chatham Bay, though not much more than a cove situated between two small islets, offers the most shelter from the open Pacific. Wafer Bay can get rocked by 4-foot waves, so most boats avoid it. The park rangers' main quarters were built in Wafer Bay because of its flatter, friendlier terrain, while a small outpost in Chatham Bay allows rangers to keep an eye on the dive boats that make regular excursions to Cocos.

Camping Holiday Wales As we approached the island - obscured by low, gray clouds - nearly 30 hours after leaving the mainland at Flamingo, Tombras asked LaGrone, "How far out can you see Cocos when it's not cloudy?"

Accommodation Holiday Wales Pausing briefly to rack his memory, LaGrone replied, "I've never seen it without clouds."

Holiday Last Minute Wales Indeed, my visit taught me that normal conditions at Cocos include plenty of R&R: Rough and Rainy. Seas often build to a choppy 6 to 8 feet while precipitation varies from intermittent drizzle to steady rain. Respite comes along occasionally with blue skies and gently rolling swells.

Catering Holiday Self Wales When clouds part and sunshine kisses the lush, verdant forest, Cocos Island reveals priceless natural treasures that maritime bandits could never conceal. A diamond in the rough becomes a glowing emerald wrapped in silver-ribbon waterfalls cascading to the sea. And the only attack comes from a marlin slashing into the spread, brandishing its bill like swashbuckler's cutlass.

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