Adam Vinatieri´s Record Roosterfish in Costa Rica

By Todd Staley

NFL Star Releases a Slightly Different Kind of Record Roosterfish

Costa Rica Snapper Guru — FECOP Communications Director Todd Staley

Over the years we have been blessed to have many celebrities visit Costa Rica including actors, musicians, and athletes. One of my favorites was Adam Vinatieri, who at the time was placekicker for the New England Patriots.

Vinatieri had just come off a season where two last second field goals, first against Oakland in the playoffs, and then the game winner as time ran out against the heavily favored L.A. Rams in the Superbowl, giving New England there first Superbowl championship and making Vinatieri a household name among football fans. While at the time most pro athletes were proclaiming after winning a championship, “I´m going to Disney World,” Vinatieri decided to go fishing. He soon arrived at Crocodile Bay.

The first couple of days we played off shore with 20 lb fishing gear. The sails were very cooperative and Adam landed quite a few. It was very apparent he was no stranger to a fishing pole and picked up the bait and switch method rapidly. We were goofing around at the pier when we got back and parked a Strike boat at the end of the pier. Adam walked back and stopped, handed me a football and asked for me to be his holder. His kick ran straight as an arrow and right through the middle of the outrigger poles. Latter I marched off the distance. Granted there was a slight fall
going from the main pier to the floating platform, but the kick was 65 yards. On day three we decided to chase some roosterfish and I picked Captain (three joke minimum) Will Kitsos who is a die-hard New England fan to take us out. We decided to try the far reaches of the Golfo Dulce and ran as far up the gulf as we could to an area called Mogos. Mogos is a large reef as shallow as a few feet of water that drops off rapidly to over 200 feet deep. There are usually roosterfish and other surprises that run the ledge.

Fishing was pretty slow and nothing much was happening until the tide changed and started to come in. We began to notice life in the area. We saw fish sending wakes as they moved across a mud flat next to the reef that separated two deeper bodies of water. As me moved over towards it, a school of jack crevalle moved within casting range and we caught several in the twenty-pound range. Captain Will noticed a large circular ripple moving in deeper water. It looked almost like schooling baitfish make, only on a much more magnified level. What Captain Will eased up on was something I had never seen before. It was a school of at least 500 roosterfish all cut out of the same mold, around 40 pounds apiece. My heart racing, I grabbed my rod to make a cast. What happened next was not on of my finer moments of my angling career. My back cast wrapped around Adam´s rod tangling us both and we watched helplessly as this giant herd of roosterfish casually swam just under the boat and disappeared. I was desperately wishing I had a place to hide. I am fishing with a guy who constantly performs under pressure, kicking last second 50-yard field goals sometimes in opposing team stadiums with 70,000 people screaming for him to fail. And I choked!

We never saw the school of roosterfish again and went back to fishing the ledge. Adam had a smaller than usual size sardine on for bait when he got a bait. A quick hook set and the rod barely bent over. He easily reeled in the smallest roosterfish any of us had ever seen. We couldn’t imagine how that little guy managed to eat a sardine almost the size of itself. That´s how our day ended. I joked with Adam that although I blew our chance for a really nice roosterfish, he still finished the day with a record. The smallest roosterfish caught at Crocodile Bay, Costa Rica.

After his Costa Rica fishing experience, Adam asked if I would give him a tour of our tiny town, Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica. The town can be seen from one end to the other in about ten minutes. As we passed the soccer field, every Costa Rican town has one, there was a match going on and he asked me to stop. In High school Vinatieri was a letterman is of course football, as well as soccer, wrestling, basketball and track. He asked why some of the people were playing in old sneakers or barefoot. I explained they could not afford cleats. He explained to me that several athletic shoe companies send him boxes and boxes of shoes every season to try and even if he changed shoes every kick, he couldn´t go through all of them in a season. “If I send you some, can you make sure these guys get them,” he asked. Of course, I said yes.

Several weeks later a large box showed up at my house with 25 pair of cleats. Also arriving was a notice saying I had two more boxes from the same sender down at the customs office at the Panama, Costa Rica border about 2 hours away and I needed to show in person to retrieve them. Why one came direct and the others didn´t still baffles me.

I went to the border and walked in the office to pick up the boxes. After examining my paperwork, I was escorted into a small interrogation room with only a small desk and a couple of chairs. Just like you se on the crime shows. There I was informed by an extremely serious gentleman that I was being investigated for trying to import counterfeit athletic shoes into the country.

By now I had lived here long enough to know this was not a crime that could be punished by a life sentence in a Costa Rica prison and I burst out laughing. Not a good idea. After the scowl left the face of my interrogator, I told him those shoes were sent he by the owner of probably the most famous foot in the United States as a donation to the soccer players in Puerto Jimenez and there wasn´t a snowball in hell chance of them being fakes. I forgot to think that being in the tropics, the snowball analogy was not probably my best choice.

I could see the customs agent talking to what appeared to be his supervisors and returned and told I was free to go but no decision would be made on the shoes till the next day. I made the two-hour trek home. The next day I headed back down there after I got our clients out fishing in the morning. Things went much smoother and they decided to give me the shoes after I paid $200 in import duties. I thought, Wow it cost me $200 bucks to give these shoes away. Little did I know it would be worth every penny.

So, I had around 75 pair of very expensive athletic cleats all size nine. Not a large foot for one that is so powerful I thought. Rumors fly through our little pueblo faster than Paul Revere screaming, “the British are coming,” and soon there was a constant knock at my door when word was out, the gringo was giving away soccer shoes. The only stipulation I set was they had to fit. I wanted to avoid someone taking a pair to sell it to someone else. That is when the fun began.

They came in droves and all shapes and sizes to try on a pair of the magic soccer shoes. If they fit you walked away with a brand-new pair. It was the soccer players version of Cinderella. I had eight-year-olds who´s foot looked like it was inside a boat saying in Spanish, “Señor it fits, it fits.” Some kids, if the shoes were just a little big, I let them
have a pair to grow into. I also had adults with size 12 feet with their toes all scrunched up protesting that they fit perfect. They got sent on there way as if they were wicked step sisters. Eventually all the shoes had new homes.
The whole process was quite comical but I have to admit, it was really rewarding putting big smiles on so many faces. Thank you again Adam Vinatieri.

Note: Adam Vinatieri finished his 22 year in the NFL this last season, Playing 10 years for the New England Patriots and 12 years with the Indianapolis Colts. He has the record for most points scored with 2,673. At 47 he is deciding whether to play another season or retire. I for one hopes he keeps playing.