Golfito, Costa Rica, traces its origins to the humble banana, which is pretty ironic for a world-class fishing destination. Chiquita Banana began investing in Central America in the late 17th century, building railroads and utilities and planting bananas along the way.

Situated on the calm shores of the Golfo Dulce in southern Costa Rica, Golfito provided the company with a safe, deepwater harbor to build a large pier. Chiquita used the facilities here to load its boats, known as the Great White Fleet (the banana boats were painted white to reflect the hot tropical sun). As Golfito grew, the company put up hospitals, schools and banks for its employees — turning the town into a true Banana Republic.

Golfito thrived until 1984 when Chiquita closed down the division. When the fruit company pulled out, the town's economy suffered. But, thanks to a burgeoning sport-fishing industry and the construction of Bahia Escondida Bayside Village & Marina, Golfito's future looks brighter than ever.

Southern Costa Rica houses one of the most varied ecosystems on the planet, and offshore the sailfish, marlin, dorado and tuna thrive in large numbers. "I fell in love with Golfito in the early 1990s," says Jim Lynskey, a Miami native and the pioneering developer of Bahia Escondida. "This town is surrounded by national park and some of the most biodiverse rainforest in the world. We want to develop this area and generate a source of income for the people of Golfito without ruining it."

Lynskey and his partners also love to fish. For the 2007 season, the group brought down the Shamrock, a classic 51-foot Whiticar, and hired on Lynskey's brother Tommy to run the boat. Tommy spent nearly 20 years fishing the tournament circuit along the East Coast and Caribbean and quickly fell into his new role. In his first full season, Tommy put up some impressive numbers with the local sailfish population and released a surprising number of blue marlin. In one 10-day stretch in April, the Shamrock raised 241 sailfish. And in early May, he raised 29 blues in four days.

"I don't think people realize how good the blue marlin bite can be down here," Tommy Lynskey says. "People think the bite is over in April. We're fishing the entire rainy season. We'll find whole trees that the rains washed offshore, with blue marlin all around, greyhounding after dolphin. It's a pretty amazing sight that I've only ever seen here."

I flew down to Golfito in early April for a three-day fishing trip and to get a feel for the new development. I stayed in the Bahia Big Game Lodge, a fully staffed plantation-style home in the "American Zone," the area of Golfito where the wealthy Chiquita executives lived.

On our first day of fishing, we boarded the Shamrock and made the 14-mile cruise up the Golfo Dulce, with the lush Osa Peninsula sitting off our starboard side. We rounded Matapalo Point into the glassy calm Pacific and dropped the lines in about 15 miles offshore. Lynskey's preferred spread of naked ballyhoo on the long 'riggers and teasers on the shorts makes for exciting action. Watching a sailfish come charging in on the squid chain and switching to a pitch bait would give goose bumps to a corpse.