Being a past World Billfish Series champion I have a perennial invitation to fish the Grand Championship tournament held each year in December. I had not had the opportunity though to compete in this great event for many years. However, having recognized that I am getting older I thought it was about time to reverse this trend. For the past four or five years the tournament has been held at the spectacular Los Suenos Resort in Costa Rica. My wife Teresa and I therefore made our way there in early December.

I had arranged to fish with my good friend Richard Richardson on the Abra-Ca-Dabra, a pristinely clean 1976 53-foot Monterey powered by a pair of Cummins straight-6 diesels with a cruising speed of about 22 knots. It was captained by an American ex patriot Floridian Rocky Howland with two Spanish mates. Our first mate was Miguel from Cancun, Mexico who had been with the boat for a number of years in Venezuela, St. Thomas, and Cancun before it came to Costa Rica and the second mate was a local named Jorge who was an ex-long-line fisherman.

Teresa and I arrived early Tuesday afternoon after a short flight from Atlanta. We had arranged for transportation to the Los Suenos resort in advance but it took nearly an hour to find our driver after another hour had been spent negotiating immigration and customs. Finally we were headed toward the coast. It took a full two hours to make the trip over the mountains to the Pacific resort.

53' Monterey "Abra-Ca-Dabra"	Mates Jorge and Miguel	Terry on a black marlin

Richard and his new fiancé multiple world record holder Pam Basco had arrived Sunday and they had practice fished on Monday and Tuesday. In contrast to the usual situation for this time of year the marlin bite had been very good but surprisingly there were just a few sails around. I took the boat out practice fishing on Wednesday accompanied by Teresa, Pam, and Richard. We left the dock at about 6 am and headed about 40 miles northwest to blue water which took about 2 hours. We saw a few free-jumping sails in the green water on our way out but they didn’t stay near the surface long enough for us to take a crack at them. Shortly after reaching blue water we saw one striped marlin sleeping on the surface but could not entice it to eat. He just sunk out when we trolled over in his direction and never came back up.  A few hours later I had one sailfish come up and briefly pick up my bait but he didn’t hold it long enough for me to set the circle hook. Overall the bite was fairly slow and not as good as it had been the previous few days. We trolled until about 12:30 in the afternoon and then went in so that we would have time to clean up and make the tournament registration and captains and anglers meeting which was scheduled for 4 o’clock. It was partly cloudy throughout the day with an occasional sprinkle but it was warm and the water was flat.

Out of the 30,000 anglers fishing the WBS affiliated tournaments throughout the year there were 50 qualifying anglers competing for the world championship at Los Suenos with the winner taking home a beautiful Geoffrey Smith sculpture trophy, a gold championship ring, and a new 320 Mercedes Benz. The tournament format involved two days of qualifying fishing with two anglers per boat. It was a full release tournament with 400 points being awarded for a marlin release and 100 points for a sailfish release and all anglers were required to use circle hooks.  The top 5 anglers after the first two days of fishing then advanced to the final day of competition with one angler per boat. The angler scoring the most points on the final day of fishing then won the championship.

Teresa Watching the Baits	Richard and Pam	Richard on a Sailfish
Terry During a Long Drop-Back	Mexican Mate Miguel	Costa Rican Mate Jorge

The morning of the first day of qualifying was mostly cloudy with scattered showers in contrast to the usual sunny and warm weather Costa Rica experiences in December. That however did nothing to dampen Richard and my spirits as we boarded the Abra-Ca-Dabra. Captain Rocky steered the boat out toward the mouth of Herradura Bay where we waited for the call on the radio at 7:00 representing the shot gun start. When the call came out all 25 boats put the hammer down and raced out of the harbor toward the spots they felt gave them the best chance for victory. Rocky headed southwest where Richard and Pam had enjoyed such good luck on Monday and Tuesday. We did not have the fastest chariot and therefore had not quite reached “the spot” when the “lines in” call came over the radio but we arrived there within about 15 minutes.

Richard and I quickly put out our lines and accompanying teasers and Rocky started trolling northeast along a color break.  We were each allowed 2 rods in the water at any one time according to the rules of the tournament and we could have one teaser for each line. Our outfits were composed of 30-pound Shimano TLD-30 2-speed reels attached to matching stand-up rods. Terminal tackle was 10-0 what appeared to be Gamakatsu or Owner circle hooks snelled onto 150-pound monofilament leader and we were using weighted naked ballyhoo as bait. The teasers that Miguel and Jorge put out were one daisy chain with the other three being large marlin lures (Black Bart Brazilianos and Joe Yee Super Plungers) over horse ballyhoo. We were about 35 to 40 miles offshore in nice clean and blue water.

We had seen a free-jumping sail in the distance over in the green water as we started trolling at about 8:45 but raised nothing as we headed over that way. Rocky then went back to working the color break. About 10 am I got a knock-down on my rigger bait. I fed him a long count of 20 and then slowly inched up on the drag lever to pull the circle hook into the corner of his mouth. Voile! Success! The line started streaming out with the drag screaming that beloved tune as Richard cleared his lines and the mates cleared the teasers and my other line. Rocky jammed the engines in reverse and we headed back on the fish at warp speed. I had to wind like crazy to keep from getting slack. Normally we would have taken more time, but in a tournament time is of the essence and one wants to catch the fish as quickly as possible. And with circle hooks the fish are usually hooked well enough that one can survive even if he transiently gets slack. The battle briefly became very entertaining when Rocky lost one engine during the fight but he quickly righted the ship and the 250-pound black marlin was released after only a ten-minute fight.

Los Suenos Condominium	Mate Miguel and Captain Rocky	Los Suenos Marina

Then about an hour later Richard had his short or flat-line transom bait knocked down by a sail. Being a very experienced and accomplished angler he set the circle hook with a slow increase in the drag after a long drop-back, the technique proven to be the most successful when one uses circle hooks. The fish took some line and started jumping away but then abruptly came off. I also got bit by a sail on my short bait just as I started to clear my lines and it did exactly the same thing. Having fish come unbuttoned like that after the hook has been set is very unusual with circle hooks. About 30 minutes later I had a small blue marlin come up and play with my bait. I set up on it repeatedly but it didn’t ever have the hook in its mouth and the fish then disappeared. Other than the black I caught earlier these fish were doing what I call sport-feeding this morning rather than biting aggressively.

Thirty minutes later I got a knockdown on both of my baits by a large sail. It kept coming back but it also didn’t eat well. Finally I only had the head of my bait left but I couldn’t pull it in right then as we were on a turn and I didn’t want to tangle up all of the lines with an interested fish around. Then after I had missed the fish about three times the sail surprisingly came back once more and aggressively ate the remaining bait. After a long free-spool drop-back I set up on the sail and this time I hooked it. We were able to release this fish in only about three minutes with Rocky’s aggressive boat handling. I caught another sail about a half-hour later. This was the first sail that bit well from the start. In the meantime Richard had caught 4 large Dorado. I also had hooked one Dorado but was able to get it off without wasting any fishing time.  We would have normally been happy with catching Dorado since they make such excellent table fare but they were worth no points in the tournament. Richard also had a sailfish come up and knockdown his short bait and then come back and bat it, follow it for about thirty seconds and then disappear without ever really trying to eat the bait. Then he had another sail come up and strike at his rigger bait but it didn’t stick. The fish however kept coming back and Richard finally hooked him and the sail was released unharmed after again only a three-minute fight. Yet another sail came up on the teaser behind my bait but steered over and knocked down Richard’s bait choosing to ignore the morsels I had out. Richard set up on the fish and started to wind but it had dropped the bait after running off some line before Richard could set the hook. A small striped marlin jumped across the spread just after that but we couldn’t interest it in eating. The remaining hour-and-a-half of our fishing time was quiet. We had however had a somewhat productive day having raised 7 sails and three marlins. We also had seen three free-jumping sails. I had gone 2 for 3 on sailfish and 1 for 2 on marlins. Richard was 1 for four on sails and 4/4 on the non-counting Dorado. I actually had climbed into third place earlier in the day but after the late afternoon lull I had dropped to sixth. There were four anglers with 800 points and I was tied with another angler at 600. He had caught his last fish earlier than I and therefore was in fifth place.

Terry on a Sailfish	Teresa Watching the Action	A Sailfish at the Transom
Boats Waiting in the Harbor for the Shotgun Start	Captain Rocky on the Bridge	Boats Racing Out of Herradura Bay

Day two of qualifying began much like the first day. We headed out to the bay at 6:30 and waited for the okay to leave at 7:00. All boats once again raced out of the harbor with the “shotgun” start. It took us just under 2 hours to reach our destination. We decided to start where we had finished the previous day since we had experienced some success there. Richard and I placed out our typical spread and Rocky started trolling southwest. It was surprisingly sloppy for Costa Rica. The wind and ground swell had gradually increased throughout the previous afternoon and was still active with a 6-foot ground swell and a 1-2 foot wind-driven sea on top. It was a rough ride out but much less arduous at trolling speed. After about an hour and a half Richard had a sailfish come up on the short teaser on his side of the boat. It looked at his bait after the teaser was pulled but quickly disappeared. It was then very quiet again. We started out in green water but gradually found the color break and fished the clean edge of it as we continued south toward the area where other boats had been successful the previous afternoon. About three hours later Richard had a marlin come up and knock down his long bait. The black grabbed the bait and started to run. Richard tried to set up on the fish several times but it kept dropping the bait before he could set the hook. The marlin dropped the bait without turning and swallowing it explaining the lack of a hook-up. The fish once again were not at all aggressive and were “sport-feeding.” Other boats reported experiencing the same pattern of behavior. Then after another two hours or so of lack of action at 3:15 a sailfish came up on Richard’s short bait. Much to our chagrin the sail once again dropped the bait before he could set the hook. It came back twice but obviously didn’t ever swallow the bait. The fish kept going back and forth between the teasers and finally settled once again on Richard’s bait. After following it for several minutes though the sail just disappeared. It was only about 30 minutes later when a small black marlin came up on the short teaser and again it was on Richard’s side of the boat. The marlin transiently hung behind Richard’s short bait as he dropped it back and the teaser was pulled but it never struck at either the teaser or the ballyhoo and finally just sunk out. The fishing remained quiet the rest of the day until “lines out” was called out on the radio except for Richard catching a plastic bag. We ended the day having seen four fish but only two had attempted to bite and we were 0 for 2 on those, one a marlin and the other a sailfish. I had had absolutely no activity on my side of the boat even though we had switched sides every hour per tournament rules. As we started the day I had been within striking distance of the finals as the top five anglers made the final day fish-off but fell out of competition as other anglers experienced the good luck that had deserted us. I ended out in fourteenth place. Looking at the glass as being half-full I considered this not to be too bad for an angler that doesn’t do much dead-bait circle hook fishing.  

Richard Richardson and Pam Basco	"Abra-Ca-Dabra" at the Fuel Dock

The five finalists enjoyed a great last day of fishing as the bite turned on and was far more representative of the typical Costa Rican December action. The winner was a local Costa Rican angler who released 18 sailfish and one blue marlin that day alone. The second place finisher caught eleven sails and a black marlin the final day. Too bad the bite had not picked up a little earlier so that the rest of the competitors could have participated in the improved action. Overall though the tournament had been quite successful with 102 fish released by forty-seven anglers on twenty-four boats (one angler had to leave early because of a crisis at home) although nearly half of them were caught by the five finalists on the last day of fishing. About two-thirds of the fish released were sailfish with the remainder being black marlins along with a smattering of blue and striped marlins. The Los Suenos Resort was spectacular and the staff and local residents were extremely helpful and friendly. Although a trip here is not inexpensive it was well worth the cost.
 

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