Bait and Tackle in Costa Rica

The short answer

If you're booking a charter, you probably don't need to buy anything. Almost every Costa Rican sportfishing boat comes with rods, reels, terminal tackle, bait and ice, and the crew rigs it all before you step aboard. The FECOP billfish guide lists the tackle each major operator carries, from 20 lb spinning outfits to 80 lb trolling reels, and that's the normal standard here.

Tackle shops matter when you fish on your own (from the beach, a river or a rented kayak), when you bring your own outfits and need to top up, or when you want something specific: a certain popper, fresh fluorocarbon, a spare spool of braid. Costa Rica has more of them than most visitors expect. We found 106 shops, distributors and bait sellers across the country, checked each one's listing and newest reviews on 14 November 2026, and kept only those that looked to be trading in 2025 or 2026.

This guide goes zone by zone, then covers the wholesalers, the local lure makers, live bait, ice, fly gear and getting your own rods here. Shops are listed because they looked open when we checked; nobody pays to be on this page.

How tackle works on a Costa Rica charter

On a typical day trip the boat provides everything. Mates spend the early morning catching or buying bait, rigging ballyhoo, checking leaders and filling the fish box with ice. Your part is to show up with sunglasses, sun protection, a hat and something to drink.

A few things are worth asking when you book:

• Spinning or conventional? If you'd rather use a spinning rod for roosterfish or a fly rod for sailfish, say so in advance. Not every boat carries fly tackle.
• What's the bait plan? Inshore trips often start by catching live bait. Offshore trips usually troll rigged ballyhoo and teasers. Our fishing techniques guide explains both.
• Is the licence included? Everyone fishing from a boat needs an INCOPESCA sport fishing licence. See Costa Rica fishing rules.
• Can you keep a fish? The regulation allows up to 5 fish per trip to be landed for eating, and billfish, roosterfish and tarpon go back. Ask about ice for anything you keep.

If you're still choosing a boat, our guide to planning a Costa Rica fishing trip walks through it.

Shops in Guanacaste

Guanacaste has the most tackle shops of any coast, partly because so many locals fish from the beach and the rocks. Playas del Coco has 2 dedicated shops a short walk from the beach, and the Flamingo and Tamarindo area has a handful within a 20-minute drive. There's no tackle shop in Tamarindo town itself; the nearest are in Huacas, Flamingo and Brasilito.

Inland, Liberia has several shops, which is handy if you're flying in and want to pick up a few things on the way to the coast. For the boats, marinas and towns of this coast, see our Guanacaste fishing guide.

CR Marine Supply also has stores at Marina Flamingo and Ocean Marina in Playas del Coco (more on them below). Boats out of Marina Papagayo generally bring everything aboard, so there's no need to shop before a trip there.

Shops on the Nicoya Peninsula and the Gulf of Nicoya

The peninsula is lightly served, which makes the shops it does have more useful. Nosara has one dedicated shop. On the southern tip, Santa Teresa and Cóbano each have one, and the Santa Teresa shop's owner also guides trips. Across the gulf, Punta Morales is a good place for bait. Our Nicoya Peninsula fishing guide covers the towns and launches.

Shops around Puntarenas and the Central Pacific

The Central Pacific is where the serious tackle lives. CR Primo, at Ocean Plaza outside the Los Sueños marina entrance in Playa Herradura, is the shop most traveling anglers end up in. El Mundo CR (May 2026) describes it as having grown from a small shop into the largest distributor of sportfishing gear in the country, and Shimano lists it as a Costa Rica distributor. Reviewers describe a full range of inshore and offshore tackle: rods, reels, line, jigs, poppers and bait-catching gear. An older forum post says it doesn't sell frozen or natural bait, so ask your crew about bait.

In Quepos, the shops cater more to local fishermen than to visitors. Asoproquepos, the fishermen's association, runs a supply store, and there's a tour desk in Manuel Antonio that also sells spearfishing gear. Pelagic lists a branded store at Marina Pez Vela, but we couldn't confirm it's open, so check before you go. For the fleets, see our Central Pacific fishing guide.

Los Sueños is the closest big marina to San José, so a stop at CR Primo on the drive to the coast is the easiest way to pick up anything you forgot.

Shops on the Southern Pacific

Down south the shops are small and spread out, but they cover what a local angler needs, and a few sell live bait. Golfito has a bait and tackle shop near the water, and Puerto Jiménez has one that reviewers call the best in town. The lodges here, such as Crocodile Bay and the Zancudo Lodge, run their own tackle rooms for guests. See our Southern Pacific fishing guide for the towns.

CR Marine Supply's fifth store opened at Marina Bahía Golfito in 2024, and the Banana Bay Marina is nearby for boat services.

Shops on the Caribbean coast

The Caribbean has a lively local fishing scene, with river, lagoon and sea tackle sold in Limón, Guápiles and Guácimo. Kraken in Guácimo stands out: it makes its own Kraken lures, stocks sea, river and mangrove patterns, and ships across the country. If you're heading to the tarpon lodges at Barra del Colorado or Tortuguero, the lodges supply tackle; buy anything extra on the drive through Guápiles. Our Caribbean fishing guide covers the coast.

Shops in the Central Valley and the north

Most visitors land in San José, and the Central Valley has the country's best spread of shops. If you need something specific before heading to the coast, this is where to look.

In the Northern Zone, near Lake Arenal and Caño Negro, there's a separate cluster of shops that serve freshwater anglers: Tienda de Pesca Santa Clara in San Carlos (with its own website and nationwide shipping), Tierra de Pescadores in Chachagua near La Fortuna, Pargos de Altamar in La Fortuna, D'Pesca Shop in Santa Rosa de Pocosol, Neo Fish in Aguas Zarcas and FishingCraftCR in Upala. Our freshwater fishing guide covers guapote, machaca and trout.

Wholesalers and distributors

Behind the shops sits a small group of importers and distributors. Most aren't set up for walk-in visitors, but it helps to know who they are if you're stocking a boat, running a lodge or looking for a particular brand.

• CR Primo (Playa Herradura): the biggest name in sportfishing tackle in the country, per El Mundo CR in 2026, and listed by Shimano as a Costa Rica distributor. It's both a public shop and a supplier to the trade. El Mundo notes that big tackle houses like this often sponsor the national tournaments.
• Full Pesca S.A. (Lagunilla, Heredia): also on Shimano's Latin America distributor list. Its online store carries Shimano, Daiwa, Rapala, Yo-Zuri, Williamson, Power Pro and many more, for both fresh and salt water.
• CR Marine Supply (Grupo Montecristo): a marine supply chain that La República reported in March 2024 had become the only company with stores in the country's 5 main marinas: Los Sueños, Pez Vela, Flamingo, Ocean Marina and Marina Bahía Golfito. It stocks around 5,000 products from 40 brands, including fishing, cleaning and maintenance gear, and holds exclusive brand agencies. Its website wasn't loading when we checked in November 2026, so call ahead.
• Borbón Marino (Tibás): a long-running marine dealer that also sells tackle from the big American and Scandinavian brands.
• Rather Outdoors / Productos Deportivos KF (Cartago free zone): a factory that makes lures for Rather Outdoors brands, Strike King among them, and exports them. It isn't a shop, but it's a reminder that some well-known lures sold in the US are made in Costa Rica.
• Maxindustrias (Jardines, San José): the Costa Rica branch of a Panamanian industrial supplier whose parent catalog includes a marine and fishing range. We couldn't confirm what fishing stock the Costa Rica branch carries.

Lure makers: Coope Brujas del Mar and the local craft

The best tackle story in Costa Rica comes from Puntarenas. Coope Brujas del Mar is a cooperative of women from Bellavista de Puntarenas who used to peel shrimp. When shrimp trawling ended in Costa Rica in 2018 and 2019, they lost that work. INCOPESCA and FECOP, the sport fishing federation, trained them to make lures instead.

According to FECOP's 2023 report, the cooperative turns driftwood collected on the beach and offcuts from cabinet makers into hand-sanded, hand-painted wooden lures, made to the weight and size each client asks for. It employed 14 people at the time, 12 of them women. An American tackle company, El Jefe Tackle Co, began exporting their lures that year, carrying the Costa Rican Tourism Institute's artisan seal. Our research found their lures sold in the marina shops at Pez Vela, Herradura and Los Sueños, and El Mundo CR named the cooperative again in May 2026 as an exporter whose work is valued abroad.

If you want a souvenir that will actually catch fish, ask for their lures in the marina shops. Other local makers worth knowing are Kraken in Guácimo (sea and river patterns), Jova Lure in Bagaces and JM Lure's in La Cruz.

Live bait: where it comes from

Live bait is the backbone of inshore fishing in Costa Rica. For roosterfish, snapper and many offshore sailfish trips, crews want live sardines, blue runners, small bonito or other small jacks. Most of it is caught at first light with sabiki rigs or cast nets near the harbour or around buoys and rocks, which is why inshore trips often start early.

You'll rarely need to buy it yourself, but these sellers came up in our research:

• Carnadas del Golfo, Punta Morales, on the Gulf of Nicoya
• Venta de carnada Leo Ramos, Cerro Bajo near Orotina
• Carnada viva Los Quesadas, Sierpe, for trips toward Drake Bay and Caño Island
• Happy Fisher Uvita, which sells live bait as well as lures
• Golfito Bait and Tackle, on the Golfo Dulce
• Ferremar in Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste, which reviewers say now sells bait

At the big marinas, the charters handle their own bait. An older forum post says the Los Sueños fuel dock sells ballyhoo; ask at the marina office, as that may have changed.

Two rules matter here. Under INCOPESCA's regulation, sport fishing for big pelagic fish uses live or dead natural bait on circle hooks, and the circle-hook rule doesn't apply to fly fishing or trolling artificial lures as long as no natural bait is on them. INCOPESCA's agreement AJDIP/280-2014 also sets rules on catching and using live bait, including limits on using commercially important species as bait. Good crews know all this; just don't bring a box of J hooks expecting to fish live bait for sailfish.

No dedicated fly shop

We searched every coast and the Central Valley and found no shop in Costa Rica that specialises in fly fishing. Fly anglers bring their own gear. That makes sense when you see what the boats use: the FECOP guide lists 14 to 18 weight rods with heavy saltwater reels on one fly-focused Flamingo and Quepos operator, and 10 and 14 weight rods at Crocodile Bay.

For local help, Fly Fish In Costa Rica in Pozos de Santa Ana is a guide service rather than a shop, and Stone Mountain Outdoors in Santa Ana has a fishing department with some freshwater gear. A few general tackle shops carry fly line or the odd fly, but don't count on finding a 15 weight or a box of billfish flies in the country. Pack them.

What to bring from home and what to buy here

If you're on charters only, bring your personal kit and leave the tackle to the crew. If you fish on your own or have favourite gear, here's how we'd split it.

Bring from home:

• Polarised sunglasses, a long-sleeved sun shirt, a hat or buff and reef-safe sunscreen
• Any fly tackle, including spare fly line, leaders and flies
• Your favourite reels, packed in carry-on
• Fluorocarbon leader in the strengths you like (shops have some, but sizes vary)
• Good pliers, a dehooker and a small knife (in checked luggage)
• Your own circle hooks in your preferred pattern if you'll fish bait on your own
• A soft cooler bag if you plan to take fish to a restaurant

Buy here:

• Terminal tackle, swivels, sinkers and basic hooks (every shop has them)
• Lures that suit local water: wooden poppers and plugs from Coope Brujas del Mar, mangrove and river patterns from Kraken
• Jigs and poppers in local sizes from CR Primo or Full Pesca
• Live bait (through your crew, or one of the sellers above)
• Ice, every day you fish

Bringing your own rods through the airport

Plenty of anglers fly in with their own rods. A few tips keep it painless:

• Use a hard rod tube. Travel rods that break down into 3 or 4 pieces fit in shorter tubes and are far easier to handle. Many airlines count a rod tube as one checked bag, but rules and fees vary, so check with yours.
• Carry-on rules. The US TSA allows rods in carry-on or checked bags but leaves the size limit to the airline. It says large hooks and other sharp tackle should be sheathed and packed in checked bags, and suggests keeping valuable reels and small flies in your carry-on.
• Reels in carry-on. A lost bag with your rods is annoying. A lost bag with your reels can end the trip.
• Small planes inside Costa Rica. If you're connecting to Golfito, Puerto Jiménez, Drake Bay or Tortuguero on a domestic flight, the planes are small and baggage limits are tight. Ask the airline about long items before you book.
• Label everything. Put your name and phone number inside and outside the tube.

Your gear is for your own use, so it travels as ordinary luggage. Leave any fish, bait or plant material at home; those face separate import rules. Our planning guide has more on flights and transfers.

Ice and cooler tips

Ice is easy to find on the coasts: every marina has it, supermarkets in fishing towns sell bags of hielo, and fish receivers (recibidores) that buy from local boats usually sell it too. Recibidor Gómez in El Jobo near La Cruz is one example. Your charter will normally fill its own fish box.

If you're keeping a fish for dinner:

• Bleed it and ice it straight away. Ask the mate to bleed the fish and put it on ice right after it's landed.
• Use slurry ice. A mix of crushed ice and a little seawater chills a fish much faster than cubes alone.
• Keep the cooler shut and shaded. Tropical sun warms a cooler fast.
• Have it cleaned at the dock. Most crews will fillet your fish at the end of the day. Bring a sealable bag or soft cooler to carry the fillets.
• Remember the limit. No more than 5 fish per trip can be landed for eating, and sport-caught fish can't be sold.

Many beach restaurants will cook your catch; each zone guide explains how it works locally. For the bigger picture on keeping fish and letting them go, see our conservation guide.

Which species need what

A quick guide to the tackle Costa Rican crews reach for. Each species page has more detail.