Is there good fishing in and around Granada, Nicaragua?

Granada, Nicaragua, is on Lake Nicaragua. On the menu of most of the Nicaraguan restaurants you’ll see a fish that comes from Lake Nicaragua called  guapote.

 

Guapote is a cichlid a lot like a tilapia, except that guapote are carnivorous while tilapias are herbivores.  So tilapias aren’t aggressive, and you can’t catch a tilapia on a hook.   But a guapote (which you may know as a rainbow bass or a peacock bass) can...

Granada, Nicaragua, is on Lake Nicaragua. On the menu of most of the Nicaraguan restaurants you’ll see a fish that comes from Lake Nicaragua called  guapote.

 

Guapote is a cichlid a lot like a tilapia, except that guapote are carnivorous while tilapias are herbivores.  So tilapias aren’t aggressive, and you can’t catch a tilapia on a hook.   But a guapote (which you may know as a rainbow bass or a peacock bass) can get up to six to ten pounds, and they are great fighting fish.  Bass fishermen will tell you that the peacock bass or the rainbow bass is an excellent sport fish, and it’s also delicious.

 

So most Nicaraguan restaurants will have guapote on the menu, and they’ll serve it whole; head, tail, eyes, and spikey teeth and all on a plate.  A small guapote will be six inches and a big one will be 18 inches.  An 18-inch guapote will serve two people easily.

 

An hour and a half away from Granada in the Pacific Ocean, the sport fishing is fantastic.  We have blue marlin, sailfish, tuna, mackerel, etc.  I’ve gone a few times and we’ve never come back with nothing.

 

The San Juan River goes from the eastern side of Lake Nicaragua all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.  The Spanish galleons and British warships got to Granada by taking the San Juan River.  Vanderbilt brought steamships on the San Juan River.  Taking the San Juan River is how the forty-niners came across from the east coast of the US on the Atlantic Ocean to the west coast of Nicaragua, on the Pacific Ocean.  They brought paddle wheelers up the San Juan River to Lake Nicaragua, then across the lake to Rivas, and then from Rivas overland to San Juan del Sur and then on another boat north to California.

 

I recently went on a fishing trip to the San Juan River.  The San Juan River has six foot, 350 pound tarpon.  It’s catch and release.  We caught two.  One of them was caught by the gill, so after 45 minutes to an hour of playing time on 20-pound test, my friend brought in the tarpon.  When we tried to take the hook out, the fish died, so we had to bring it into the boat.

 

You don’t normally get an opportunity to see a picture of a tarpon out of water because its against the law to keep them.  However, this was a special circumstance, so we kept the fish, called the police, and donated the fish to the police.  The police donated it to an orphanage, but not before we had the opportunity of hanging it and taking a picture of it (at the top of this answer).   Tarpon fishing on the Rio San Juan is world class.

 

The San Juan River also has snook, which is a good eating fish and an excellent fighting fish.

Yes, there is good fishing in Granada, Nicaragua. You can fish on the Lake Granada (also called Lake Nicaragua). You can take a boat and go out to the lake and go fishing. You can catch guapote, which is the local name of the fish you can catch on the lake. Guapote is the fish that you eat in restaurants in Granada. It’s very good. There are even fresh water sharks in the lake, too.

 

Lake Granada covers a good portion of Nicaragua. It goes up to...

Yes, there is good fishing in Granada, Nicaragua. You can fish on the Lake Granada (also called Lake Nicaragua). You can take a boat and go out to the lake and go fishing. You can catch guapote, which is the local name of the fish you can catch on the lake. Guapote is the fish that you eat in restaurants in Granada. It’s very good. There are even fresh water sharks in the lake, too.

 

Lake Granada covers a good portion of Nicaragua. It goes up to Ometepe and over to the sea. If you look at the map of Nicaragua, you will see the lake in the middle and that lake ends at the sea.

 

There are no rivers in Granada. You can just go to the lake and to the isletas (“small islands”) if you want to fish. There is a trail around the lake and you have some islands. You have to move around the isletas to catch the fish. What people usually do is go to the lake and go to Ometepe and they go fishing there because there is more open water over there.

 

If you want to go fishing in the ocean, you can get from Granada to San Juan Del Sur in an hour. You can go there by car but not by boat. San Juan Del Sur has great fishing on the ocean.   

 

(Pictured: Island in the lake in Nicaragua)