Kingfisher Sportfishing

Part of our complete guide: Fishing the Nicoya Peninsula: the complete guide

A Carrillo fixture

Puerto Carrillo is a small bay a few kilometers south of Sámara, on the Pacific side of the Nicoya Peninsula. Only a handful of boats fish from here, and the Kingfisher has been one of them for about 30 years. Captain Rick Ruhlow, originally from California, has owned and run the business since 1995. His FishingBooker listing says he fished from Quepos to Flamingo before settling on Carrillo, where he's now spent about 35 years on the water.

Rick has also written fishing reports from this coast for Coastal Angler Magazine, and his crew hasn't changed much either: his mate Orlando has worked the boat for 31 seasons. The charter's most recent FishingBooker reviews are from December 2025 and January 2026, and reviewers keep coming back to the same 2 names.

The boat

The Kingfisher is a 31-foot sportfisher built in 1985, powered by a single 320 hp Caterpillar diesel. It isn't fast, with a listed cruising speed of about 18 knots, but a heavy diesel boat rides comfortably on a long offshore day. It's set up for big-game fishing, with a tall tuna tower, a Murray Brothers fighting chair, outriggers, tuna tubes and a live bait well, plus a Garmin GPS and fish finder. There's an enclosed cabin with a marine head and a bunk, which helps on a 9-hour trip. It takes up to 5 anglers, and it lives on a mooring in the bay.

What you'll fish for, and when

Most trips are offshore. The listing says the boat runs up to 30 miles or more for blue, black and striped marlin, sailfish, yellowfin tuna, dorado and wahoo, and it also fishes nearshore for skipjack, amberjack and sierra mackerel.

In his reports for Coastal Angler, Rick describes the start of each season in November and December, after the rains: dorado show along the trash lines that river runoff builds on the current breaks from October, tuna travel with the dolphin schools, and billfish build toward December. That matches our seasons guide, where dorado peak from July to December and blue marlin are strong from May to September and again in November and December. On this northern stretch of the peninsula, sailfish, yellowfin and wahoo tend to be best from about May to August.

Catch and release is welcome, and billfish are always released under Costa Rican law. The crew cleans and fillets the eating fish you keep, but the listing notes that the boat can't freeze or pack fish, so plan to cook it locally or bring a cooler.

Trip types

The Kingfisher runs full days only, about 9 hours, leaving around 7:30 in the morning, either offshore or nearshore. A mate, rods, reels, tackle and lures, live bait when it can be found, fish cleaning, snacks, water, beer and soda, and lunch are included. You'll need an INCOPESCA fishing licence for each angler, and there's no hotel pickup.

If you're staying in Sámara, Carrillo is a short drive south. Our Sámara guide covers the area, and Carrillo's hillside hotels put you closest to the boat.

How to book

The charter has no website of its own, so the simplest way to book or ask questions is through its FishingBooker listing, which also lets you message the captain before you pay. Rick's long-running TripAdvisor page has older reviews if you'd like more background.