Year over year, Los Sueños Resort and Marina, located in beautiful Playa Herradura, Costa Rica, has proudly continued to be a presenting sponsor of the world’s most competitive billfish tournaments. The tournaments at Los Sueños Resort and Marina continue to draw teams from the United States, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Brazil, and Russia, with anglers from around the globe. Sixteen years later and the events have become some of the fiercest anywhere and this year, Leg II of the 2020 Signature Triple Crown was no exception. Everybody looks forward to this tournament every year and it’s easy to see why. The event began on February 26th – 29th with 41 boats participating and things kicked off with a lot of excitement!
The fishing exceeded expectations by far in Leg II. On Day One alone, there were over 350 releases. Needless to say, everyone was excited to see the numbers go up!
Overall, there were a total of 870 releases in Leg II. As always, the marlin like to keep things interesting, pulling in 500 points each. There was a lot of jumping around on the scoreboard this year during Leg II, keeping everyone on their toes.
At the end of Day One, the top 3 finishing on the scoreboard were:
- Off Duty with 2200 points
- War Party with 2100 points
- Team Galati with 2000 points
Every boat in the top 10 on Day One caught at least one marlin. A wild Day Two saw twice as many marlin released as Day One. Tarheel perhaps got the best show of the day moving into 3rd place overall with 1 marlin and 7 sailfish.
Reel Joy had the best day on Day Two, with 3 marlin and 7 sailfish, pushing them into 2nd place overall and Team Galati led the pack heading into the final day with a 500-point lead.
Part of the reason why everyone loves this tournament, is that anything can happen at any time!
Day Three came in the blink of an eye. Outage crew caught the 1st fish of the day followed by a flutter of activity from all the participants.
Finishing the tournament:
1st place went to Team Galati, releasing 25 sailfish and 5 marlin for a total of 5000 points.
Winning $61,000, on a 62’ Viking, captained by Tony Carrizosa, with Anglers Carmine Galati, Pat Healey, Drew McDowell, Erik McDowell and John Lagrone. Team Galati clearly had the right combination of luck and skill this go around. Team Galati has been on the podium no less than 11 times over the years, since 2004.
2nd place went to Outage, releasing 23 sailfish and 5 marlin for a total of 4800 points.
Winning $36,600, on a 61’ Jim Smith, captained by Ian Wickers, Outage is starting to feel comfortable on the podium as they finished 3rd in Leg I of this year.
3rd place went to Tarheel, releasing 33 sailfish and 3 marlin for a total of 4800 points.
Winning $24,400, on a 62’ Bayliss, captained by John Bayliss, Tarheel knows the stage very well. Tarheel finished 1st in Leg I and Leg III in 2015 making them the series champion that year. They also finished 2nd in Leg II and became the series champion in 2018.
Congratulations to all the participants! We can’t wait to see what’s in store for Leg III: March 25-28, 2020!
For more information about sport fishing at Los Sueños or the upcoming tournaments, check out our website or contact the HRG Concierge Team directly by calling us at +506 2637 8484 or writing to us online.