Leg II of the second annual Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown beat the previous year by over 600 billfish
Los Sueños Resort and Marina, located at Playa Herradura on Costa Rica’s Central Pacific Coast, is home to the annual Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown billfish series, presented by Poms & Associates. The second leg of this year’s triple header, held February 25‐28, 2015, beat the total releases from the same leg in 2014 by 629 billfish. Forty participating teams comprised of 161 anglers released a total of 1,688 billfish, including 21 marlin and 1,667 sailfish, in just three days of fishing! This was the fourth highest number of billfish released during a Triple Crown tournament and the 761 billfish released on the third and final day represented the third highest number of fish on any single day of the Triple Crown; this record is held by the first day of the third leg in 2014, when 836 billfish were released by 37 teams in just eight hours.
DAY 1
The docks were grumbling going into Day 1, with the all too familiar phrases “Fishing is slow” and “I hope the fishing gets better”. The week before, boats were reporting double and sometimes triple digit releases. The last few days immediately prior to the tournament though, boats were coming back with as little as two. Come tournament time, history repeated itself once again and as soon as lines hit the water at 8:00 am on February 26th the bite went off with Billfish calling in the first release at 8:09 am. Exactly one hour into the first day, it was Billfish calling in again to report the release of fish #50 at 9:00 am. By 10:00 am, Team Galati had gained an early lead with 800 points, followed by Southern Pride, Trophy Box and Xta Sea, each with 700 points. A total of 90 sailfish had been released. At 10:24 am, Tranquilo released the first marlin of the tournament, Trophy Box called in the first triple, followed by Team Galati and Enjoy each with a double, bringing the fish count to 118 in two and a half hours. At 4:00 pm when lines out was called, Tarheel and Family and Friends were both still hooked up to marlin. Tranquilo had secured a first place finish for the day with 3300 points (23 sails, 2 marlin), but Tarheel had Trophy Box on the edge of their seats. The confirmed marlin released at 4:08 pm by Tarheel, bringing them to 2900 points (24 sails, 1 marlin), bumped Trophy Box out of their second place standing and into third for the day with 2800 points (28 sails). Family and Friends also released their marlin at 4:12 pm for 1000 points for the day. A total of 463 billfish were released, including 454 sails and 9 marlin.
DAY 2
There were exactly 118 releases in just under two and a half hours on Day 2 as well, including one marlin by Jaruco, for 581 billfish overall. By 10:30 am, Team Galati was still in first place with 4100 points (1500 on Day 2 alone), Tranquilo was in second with 3900 points, and Tarheel in third with 3200 points, on time, over Trophy Box. A little over an hour before lines out the teams had achieved a total of 823 billfish releases, including 13 marlin and 810 sails, and they didn’t let up. At the end of the day, Gringo Honeymoon released their last sail precisely at 4:00 pm and 10 more teams released fish after that, including Trophy Box, Sea Angel and Morgasm each with a marlin release. Morgasm’s marlin was the last release of the day at 4:35 pm. A two‐day total of 927 billfish overall, including 17 marlin and 910 sails had been released. At the top of the leaderboard going into Day 3 was Team Galati yet again, with 5600 points (3000 points Day 2 with 30 sails), followed by Tranquilo with 5300 points (2000 points Day 2 with 20 sails), and Trophy Box in third with 5200 points (2400 points Day 2 with 14 sails and 2 marlin). There were 464 billfish released on Day 2 alone, including 456 sails and 8 marlin. Trophy Box and Tarheel went into Day 3 tied for the top spot on the Signature Championship leaderboard, with 15,400 points each.
DAY 3
Fishing was excellent over the first two days, but it nearly doubled on Day 3. While 118 fish were released in two and a half hours on the first two days, 211 were released in the same amount of time on the third and final day of the competition. The leaderboard remained relatively constant with head‐to‐head competition between what we’ve jokingly nicknamed the “Four T’s” ‐ Team Galati, Trophy Box, Tranquilo and Tarheel. By 1:30 pm, the fleet had released 1381 billfish and the leaderboard had Team Galati in first on time, tied for points with Trophy Box (each with 7100 points), Tranquilo in third with 6800 points and Tarheel 700 points back in fourth with 6100 points. At 1:46 pm Trophy Box knocked Team Galati out of their comfort zone and took over the top spot. Roughly an hour later, the teams reached 1500 billfish releases. It looked like Trophy Box had solidified the win, especially after reporting a triple at 2:45 pm. Team Galati starting bridging the gap at 3:06 pm with a sailfish release and sealed the deal with a single sail at 3:45 pm, almost immediately followed by a double at 3:47 pm. Tarheel fought valiantly, making up quite a bit of ground with a triple at 3:49 pm, followed by a quadruple at 3:56 pm. No one was going home early. In fact, there were 11 sails released after lines out, including a double by Penny Perfect and a quadruple by Sea Angel. Blue Eagle released the last fish of the tournament at 4:06. At the end of the day, the 161 anglers had released a three‐day total of 1688 billfish, including 21 marlin and 1667 sails. On Day 3 alone, there were 761 billfish released, including 4 marlin and 757 sails; the third highest number on any single day of a Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown tournament. Chasin Tail took the honor of top boat for Day 3 with 27 sails and 1 marlin for 3200 points. Team Galati finished first overall with 8000 points after releasing 80 sails, Tranquilo in second on time, achieving 7900 points (69 sails and 2 marlin) just three minutes prior to Trophy Box, who ended in third, also with 7900 points (69 sails and 2 marlin).

BACK STORIES

Team Galati’s anglers Bob Hixson; Pat Healey, Drew McDowell and Don Gemmell of Viking Yachts, and Carmine Galati of Galati Yacht Sales, have been participating in the Los Sueños billfish tournaments since their inception in 2004, although not always together. Capt. Tony Carrizosa has been on stage seven times total and has the record for the most first place finishes of any captain in Los Sueños tournament history (four since 2007), including a first place win during Leg I 2007 on Stephanie Lee, the Series Championship 2007, and second place during Leg I 2013 on Rebel. 2009 was the first time this year’s team joined forces on Game On and together they have placed first three times, including Leg I 2011 on Game On, Leg II 2014 on Team Galati and now. They also placed third during Leg II 2009. Team Galati finished ninth during the first leg of the 2015 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown and this time around moved up to third in the race for the Signature Championship going into the third and final leg of this year’s triple header.

Tranquilo participated in a Los Sueños tournament for the first time during the last year of the Los Sueños Signature Billfish Series in 2013, finishing in the middle of the pack. This year, with Captain Victor Julio Lopez at the helm and anglers Bill Pino, Ken Coffer, Amanda Coffer and Craig Johnson manning the rods, they finished fifteenth during the first leg of the 2015 Signature Triple Crown, but made up a lot of ground during the second leg, finishing second overall and fifth in the running for the Signature Championship.

Trophy Box was a new addition to the Los Sueños boat list in 2015; however, owner Gray Ingram, and fellow anglers Watson Caviness, Paige Robertson, and Jimmy Fields are familiar faces on the docks. The Trophy Box team upped their game this year. Captain Ronnie Fields is no stranger to the limelight either, having stood on stage more than any other captain in the history of Los Sueños tournament fishing – no less than ten moments in the spotlight since 2010. He has amassed three first place finishes (Big Oh Leg II Signature Billfish Series 2010, Big Oh Marlin Invitational 2010, Bandolera Signature Billfish Series Leg II 2012), one second place finish (Big Oh Leg I Signature Billfish Series 2010), four third place finishes (Big Oh Signature Billfish Series Leg II 2011, Bandolera Signature Billfish Series Leg I 2012, Trophy Box Leg I Signature Triple Crown 2015, Trophy Box Leg II Signature Triple Crown 2015) and two series championships (Big Oh Signature Billfish Series 2010, Bandolera Signature Billfish Series 2012). Trophy Box finished third during Leg I 2015 and is in second place in the race for the Signature Championship going into Leg III.

On behalf of the tournament committee, congratulations to this leg’s tournament winners and all of their challengers!