Report from Bret Bettison

As regular followers know, I frequently receive e-mails from folks who have come down to fish on the FRENZY. I received this e-mail from Bret Bettison who fished a couple of days with us mid March. I think it, and the accompanying photos speak for themselves!

"Jamie,

For the past 10 years my boys have watched me pack up and head to Quepos usually the week after the GIFT tournament. I would return with stories and pictures of the sportfishing action available there. Over the years my boys have become pretty decent fisherman along the Gulf Coast and began asking me when could they go to Costa Rica. My oldest son, Colton 17, is graduating from High School this year and as a graduation gift to him I thought they would really enjoy a trip to Quepos. My wife had never been herself so we planned to fill the time with some other activities as well. My youngest son, Carson 10, is ready for anything anytime.

Our flight out of Houston was great, No Delays !! I had decided to have a driver pick us up in San Jose and drive us to Quepos, Really is a nice drive and my wife and boys were able to see some of Costa Rica by car. We stayed at Si Como No, as you know this is a fine hotel and is hard to beat.

We were to fish on the Frenzy March 17 and 19, The first day the bite was a little slow but Jose and Marco managed to raise 4 sailfish, 3 were landed, Both boys got their 1st sailfish that day with Colton landing 2 and Carson landing one, refusing any help from his dad. The Frenzy is a fine boat, I had seen the boat last year for the 1st time and wanted to fish the boat the next time I was down.

March 18th we did the canopy tour in the morning, everyone should make plans on a canopy tour at least once. Late that afternoon we had a message that the Frenzy had an issue and would not be able to go out on the 19th, so we were rerouted to one of Jeanette's boats.

March 19th the boys had 6 more sailfish, with both of them releasing 3 each. I had decided before the trip that I was going along for the fun and to watch the boys and help them experience their 1st trip to Costa Rica, so I never touched a rod. I prefer light tackle and fly, now the boys are already trying to figure out how they can make another trip and land those Pacific sailfish on light tackle, I am sure I can make that happen again, as my wife fully enjoyed the trip and has already mentioned she is ready to go again !! Sounds like we will all be going again.

The food is always excellent, you have to at least make the El Gran Escape and El Avion, although I have not had a bad meal ever in Quepos.

Our return to San Jose was great and our flight back to Houston was On Time!!

We certianly look forward to fishing the Frenzy again.

What a great Spring Break the boys along with Mom and Dad had!!!!!

Thanks,
Bret"

Hey Bret thanks for the report and congrats to Colton and Carson on their fish. Nice photos too!

As we head towards the end of the school year and folks start to make their plans for the summer I always encourage people to come to Quepos. There is plenty to do and the fishing is still good through about the end of July when it starts to rain too much. Contact Willy for your reservations and come on down in the summertime as the FRENZY continues ...

Jamie

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Eight

Well it has been a fun week with the kids. As we expected they all had a great time in Costa Rica. As the blog posts reported, they got to do the canopy tour, catch sailfish and roosterfish on the FRENZY, ride jetskis, eat Lizbeth's fabulous guacamole, see boas, monkeys and parrots at the house and, most importantly, hang out in the pool and just chill! This week shows what Costa Rica is all about, having fun enjoying the beautiful country. Sure I go to pursue my favorite sport, fishing, but it sure is fun to spend a day doing a canopy tour with my family and friends. There are just so many fun things to do that you just can't do them all in a week.

The best thing about the week is that Jenny and I survived a week with 12 teenagers!

The fishing continues to be good in Quepos. We have a few open days in April so give Willy a call 'cause the FRENZY continues ...

Jamie
www.FrenzySportfishing.com

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Seven

I was greeted on the dock today by a fellow that heard we had a dozen teenagers at the house this week. He asked me if my hair had turned gray so I took off my hat! He said "Hmm!, Looks like they have turned a few hairs gray." I said "yes but not loose yet!"

Well it was back to the deep water, like 1500 feet deep, off the edge of the Furuno Bank chasing billfish today with Joseph and Bosie. Starting shallow we immediately picked up a pair of sails. Then we followed some rips out to 1500 feet where we saw a couple of free jumping sails but had not bites. There is still plenty of bait up on the Furuno so we headed back into shallower water (250 ft), caught some live bonito and slow trolled them for awhile. We caught another sail on the bonita then headed back in after another wonderful day offshore.

Now we're headed to Kapi Kapi for our last dinner together in Costa Rica!


Tomorrow we load up and head back to San Jose as our Spring Break FRENZY starts to wind down...

Jamie

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Six

It was a day of roosterfish again. This time I was out with Joseph and his crew of Bosie, Emily and Mary. The first hour we caught sardines for live bait then headed down to my favorite roosterfishing hole in Dominical. The tide was low, which I like for roosterfishing, and we were rewarded with 3 nice roosterfish by 10:30 am. Emily and Bosie caught their first roosters and Joseph caught one as well.


By 11 the girls were thinking about lunch by the pool so we took them back to Quepos and headed back out for a few hours around the rocks near Manuel Antonio. Bosie and I both caught nice roosters in the afternoon. For the day we released 6 and missed a few bites as well.


Tomorrow I am taking Joseph and Bosie back to the deep water to chase billfish while the girls go to the park to jet ski. All this as the Spring Break FRENZY continues ...!

Jamie

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Five

While I was down in Dominical today, a group of the girls went out for roosterfish. They caught and released 4 with the biggest one going an estimated 60, 70, 80 or 90 pounds, depending on who was doing the estimating! Regardless of the weight, it took the angler, Margaret Deans, 45 minutes to bring the fish to the boat. What a great fight she had.






Then there is the story of the 8 foot boa constrictor trying to eat our sorta pet iguana. Walter, our maintenance guy, came to the rescue and released the iguana from the boa's death grip. Jenny provided this photo.


And lastly we have all enjoyed our nights of eating out on the veranda! Lizbeth cooked a fabulous dinner for us which included chicken, black beans and rice, typical Costa Rican food and wonderfull!

Tomorrow Joseph's group is out again, this time for roosterfish as the Spring Break FRENZY continues ...

Jamie Walker

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Four

Joseph and his crew of three were rewarded for their early rising today with 5 sails. For Emily, Mary and Bosie they had a particularly fun day by catching their first sails. Joseph, an old hand now at catching billfish had a turn at the rod as well. For the rest of us who stayed at home today, we enjoyed another beautiful March day in Costa Rica. I had the opportunity to check out some solar panel / battery systems and rain water catchment systems. Here are some photos today from Mary's camera. Hope you enjoy them. With all that we're doing we find ourselves turning in early for the evening.

More tomorrow as the Spring Break FRENZY continues ...

Jamie

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Three

Yesterday I took Charlotte and three of her friends out on the Frenzy looking for billfish and some dorado for dinner. The dorado never showed but the girls caught 3 sails. Should have been more cause we raised about 10 and got 6 bites! Go figure. Although Charlotte has been fishing with me all her life, yesterday was the first day offshore for the other girls. They all enjoyed the thrill of catching their first billfish and are looking forward to their next day offshore.

Last night we all went to dinner at our favorite restaurant, El Gran Escape in downtown Quepos. We started off with calamari and sushi and went on from there. The food is always fabulous, the frozen margaritas always refreshing and the service couldn't be better. My pargo entero was "off the hook". We took some of Marsha's famous deserts back to the house where they were quickly consumed.

Today my son Jose and three of his friends are out there so we'll see what their report is when they return this afternoon. And now if I can get the girls up I'll see what they want to do today! Probably back down to the park for more trinkets and lunch. Whatever they decide I'm game 'cause everyday there is something to do here.

Stay tuned as the Spring Break FRENZY continues ...

Jamie

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day Two

Well after a long day yesterday that ended with our arrival at Casa Carolina (www.casacarolinaquepos.com) at 1 AM, we turned in quickly in anticipation of our canopy tour today. This is a great activity for a day off from fishing. Anyone from 5 to 95 should do the canopy tour sometime.

Here are some photos from the day.

Tomorrow we are back on the FRENZY for another crack at the billfish as the Spring Break Frenzy continues ...

Jamie

Spring Break FRENZY 2009 - Day One

Our regular followers will remember that on the way down to Costa Rica for the GIFT Tournament I spent the day in Delta's Crown Room in Atlanta thanks to Delta's delay in Columbia causing us to miss our flight from Atlanta to Costa Rica. Well once again thanks to Delta I have spent the day in the Crown Room in Atlanta. This time the cause was the failure of the Back Up batteries in the GPS in the nav system in the plane in Columbia. I mean give me a break, don't you know where Atlanta is? We finally arrived in Atlanta about 15 minutes after our flight left for Costa Rica.

The really bad thing about this misadventure is that Jenny and I have 12 teenagers in tow for Spring Break in Manuel Antonio. So instead of hanging out at the pool this afternoon sipping on cold beer and watching the boats return from fishing I get to sit in the pretty damn uncomfortable Crown Room. We almost didn't even get to enjoy this "luxury" but the wonderfully kind lady let me slip an extra 2 people in. I won't even relay my conversation with the Delta lady about re-booking us onto the 6:48 pm flight. Thanks a lot Delta. Hope I didn't put you out with the extra two people occupying the lousy room while you're busy going bankrupt. Glad I used the rest of my skymiles to get 4 business class seats on your sorry plane before you go completely out of business. I tried to take a cat nap a little while ago and ended up crawling under the desk in this cubicle to get out of the glaring light. ENOUGH ALREADY!

There are no photos to go with this day as it is just too ugly to document; but, with any luck you'll be seeing some photos of huge sails, tuna and dorado posted this week as we have 5 days of fishing scheduled.

But you say "there is a photo posted, and it's a huge tuna!" Yes indeed, I found this 5 year old photo of my youngest son Joseph "Jose" with a tuna that taped out at 62 inches fork length. He caught it after a 2 1/2 hour battle. This just goes to show you that you don't have to be an Iron Man to catch a big fish. Just persistent!

The bite is still on strong and I expect some good fish stories from our crowd this week. I'll be posting regularly as well as catching you up on what has occurred during the last week or so.

Stay tuned as the "Spring Break" FRENZY continues ...

Jamie
www.FrenzySportfishing.com

I had the pleasure of introducing my wife's sister, Amy and her husband Jeff to the wonders of their first Costa Rican vacation and topped it off with fishing on the Frenzy.  You'll see by Amy's report below that she caught her first fish ever on the Frenzy and now she's hooked.  What she didn't include in her report is that she is already looking for a house to buy and has ideas on a business venture in Costa Rica.  Jeff and Amy are returning with our family in about 3 weeks and I can't wait to watch the competition as these two battle it out for who catches the most and the biggest fish!  Of course, they will have to share rod time with Olivia, my 12 y.0. who can out-fish them all.  I'll be sure to post their accomplishments while we are there.  I have added a picture of Amy and her first Mahi.  Next, now that Amy is an expert, she is giving fishing instructions to Jeff.  It seems to have worked as Jeff soon lands a nice sailfish.  Finally Jeff, Amy, and my wife Lisa are discussing strategy for the next trip with the famous Willy of Frenzy Sportfishing.

The Frenzy Continues!

Kerwin 

"Jeff and I feel very fortunate to be learning the sport from such a great leader.  Not only are we receiving private lessons from the winner of the GIFT Tournament who also happens to be the top angler but we are privileged to be on such a fine boat.  My first day fishing I had zero expectations and wasn't really interested in doing much but getting a great tan!  With much reluctance......I finally got up of the comfort of my lounge cushion and decided to reel in my first catch ever! (a nice sailfish)  The fish just kept hittin' all day!  Not only did we catch several sailfish, but I caught my first Mahi-Mahi and was fortunate enough to share it with many others that night for dinner.  The Frenzy is a top-notch boat with an outstanding crew.  I don't think Marco sits down all day, not even for lunch and Jose is an awesome Captain, always knowing where the fish are!  The combo of Marco and Jose along with an immaculate boat are all very impressive.  I feel sorry for myself for future fishing adventures if I ever have to go without the Frenzy and it's crew.  Everything about my most recent trip to Manuel Antonio and Quepos was stellar.  The days cannot come quickly enough for my next trip in April!  I am addicted and now find myself watching fishing on the ESPN channel.  I cannot wait to see Willy and Misael's smiling faces greeting us at the airport in a few weeks.  Bring on the Marlin!!! or is that to much to ask?!"

Fishing Report - March 3rd - March 9th

Last night Willy sent me this quick update for the last few days. As you can see the action continues at a pretty steady pace.

March 3rd - 7 Sails released and 1 mahi kept for dinner!

March 4th - 7 Sails released

March 5th - 4 Sails released

March 7th - 8 sails released

March 8th - 8 sails released

March 9th - 8 Sails released and 2 mahi kept for dinner!

Come on down and fish with us.

The Frenzy continues ...

Jamie
www.frenzysportfishing.com

The Frenzy Sportfishing Team grows!

I am excited to announce that Frenzy Sportfishing has added two new members to the team. The first is Brian Thielicke an old friend of mine from Tacoma, Washington. Brian joins the team as Frenzy's fly tier and advisor on fly development for all the saltwater species we target. Having tied professionally for many years Brian has been instrumental in the development of the flies that we use to chase billfish. Kerwin and I recently used Brian's "Frenzy Billfish Fly" to win the GIFT Tournament. We plan on doing a series of videos showing how to tie the FBF and some of Brian's other creations.

I am also extremely pleased to add as Frenzy's science advisor Dr. John Dean, retired marine science professor from The University of South Carolina. Dr. Dean and I frequently get together for lunch and discuss the science behind fish stocks and international fishing regulations. I always learn a lot from him. In the future, Dr. Dean will be contributing his thoughts on why Costa Rica has such a great fishery and what we can do to help conserve it.

Frenzy Sportfishing is very lucky to have Brian and Dr. Dean on the team. I know our many followers will enjoy what they have to offer. I'll be back on the boat in a couple of weeks and plan to shoot a video with our mate Marco showing how he rigs circle hooks for sailfish. You can use this back home to catch everything from dolphin to billfish.

Tomorrow I'll have a current fishing report from Willy. The calendar is full in the weeks ahead so there should be plenty to write about. Until then ...

the Frenzy continues!!!

Jamie
www.frenzysportfishing.com

Fishing Report for March 4th - More sailfish!

Another good day for the team. A couple from the States were down fishing and hanging out for a few days. Today the Frenzy team put them on the fish resulting in 7 sailfish released.
This is a good day by any standards but pretty typical for fishing out of Quepos, Costa Rica!

The rest of the season remains promising. The water temp is perfect and plenty of bait is still around so the billfish should remain in their feisty mood for several months. The calendar is filling up fast. March is pretty much shot and April is going fast so if you want to get in on the fantastic fishing we've been experiencing this season you should contact Willy Jimenez immediately. Willy can be reached by phone at 011-506-8851-0935 or e-mail at willy@frenzysportfishing.com.

Come on down while the Frenzy continues ...

Jamie

Fishing Report - It's still going on!

Sorry for the delay in posting but I've been in Isla Mujeres, Mexico trying to catch some Atlantic sails. Unfortunately the front that brought so much snow and cold weather to the US made it's way down to Mexico. The weather was cold and the seas rough. We did the best we could but finally gave up and came on home.

Here's a quick update on the Frenzy's results over the last few days:

The Kerfoot's fished 3 days with us and released 13 sails , a nice 250lb marlin and 1 dorado.

A walk-in charter caught 8 sails and 2 dorados.

On Monday the Frenzy didn't fish but Jose and Marco went to the river and caught 2 machacas. Just ask Marco if he now believes in broken-back Rapalas!

Fishing remains great. March is pretty much filled up and we have limited openings in April so if you have any interest in coming down for a few days you should contact us right away. You can find all our contact info at www.frenzysportfishing.com.

The Frenzy continues!!!

Jamie