Los Sueños Resort and Marina — The second leg of the seventh annual Signature Triple Crown billfish series, presented jointly by Los Sueños Resort and Marina and Chantilly Air, was held at Los Sueños February 26-29, 2020. Forty one team comprised of two hundred two individual anglers worked through the heat and the adrenaline of competition to release a three-day combined total of 870 billfish, including 703 sails and 67 marlin.

DAY 1

The tournament kicked off with a sailfish release by Shoe eight minutes after lines in was called at 8:00 am. Gallo Pinto took an early lead with a marlin release at 8:24 am, but HT Hook moved into first at 9:05 am with a striped marlin and three sails and stayed there until after 11 am, ahead of Team Galati and Gallo Pinto. By noon the field had released 164 sails and 8 marlin, and it was HT Hook still in first, but on time only, with 1200 points, followed by Tarheel also with 1200 points, and Team Galati with 1100 points. Off Duty made their first appearance on the leaderboard, moving to first with a marlin release at 12:44 pm, but were bumped out by Team Galati with a double sailfish release at 1:28 pm, only to take the lead back at 1:44 pm with another marlin release. Game Changer entered the fray, moving to second with a marlin release at 3:06 pm. War Party plucked away at the sailfish all day long, finishing with 16 sails, the most releases of any boat on Day 1, but secured their second place finish for the day with a marlin release at 3:12 pm. As the sun set Thursday evening, the official scores showed Off Duty in first with 2200 points (12 sails, 2 marlin), followed by War Party in second with 2100 points (16 sails, 1 marlin), and Team Galati in third with 2000 points (15 sails, 1 marlin).

DAY 2

D.A. Sea started the day off with a sailfish release at 8:07 am and by 10 am the 41 participating teams had released a two-day combined total of 415 sails and 20 marlin with Off Duty in first with 2300 points, War Party in second with 2200 points and Game Changer in third with 2100 points. Between 10 am and noon, War Party went on to release three more sails, taking first with 2500 points as of the midday update. Reel Joy enjoyed the top spot with two marlin releases at 12:30 pm, which they kept until Team Galati released their second marlin at 1:17 pm, taking them to the front of the pack, where they remained for the rest of the day. At 4 pm, it was Team Galati in first with a two-day total of 3500 points (20 sails, 3 marlin), followed by Reel Joy in second on time with 3000 points (15 sails, 3 marlin), and Tarheel in third, also with 3000 points (20 sails, 2 marlin).

DAY 3

Outage started the day off with a marlin hook up at 8:04 am, which they released five minutes later. In under an hour, seven more marlin had been release by the fleet and by 10 am the leaderboard looked almost completely different, with Off Duty in first with 4100 points, Team Galati in second with 4000 points, and Outage in third with 3300 points. Team Galati was in first at noon, over Off Duty and Fish Tank. Outage went on to bump Fish Tank out of third just before 1 pm and then moved to first with a marlin just 20 minutes later. Team Galati took the top position back with a double sailfish release before 2 pm. At 2:21 pm Team Galati, Off Duty (who had just released a triple), and Outage were all tied on points. No sooner had this report been shared on the official tournament radio, Outage released a double and moved ahead of the pack. Team Galati then took first with a marlin just before 3 pm and stayed there until the end, where they finished with a three-day combined total of 5000 points after releasing 25 sails and 5 marlin. Team Galati was followed by Outage in second on time, with 4800 points after releasing 23 sails and 5 marlin, and Tarheel released 33 sails and 3 marlin, also for 4800 points and third place.

On behalf of the tournament committee, congratulations to all winners!

TOP ANGLER LEG 2

The top angler award is usually always a surprise and it was so much so this time around that the man of the hour, Mike Ivancevic of Fish Tank, wasn’t present to receive his award. Mike achieved the highest score out of all the non-professional anglers after releasing 8 sails and 2 marlin for 1800 individual points. Congratulations!

SERIES CHAMPION

Going in to Leg 3 Outage has the highest score, with a two-leg total of 8400 points, 400 points ahead of Tarheel, in second position, and 900 points ahead of Team Galati, rounding out the top three.