A marlin airs it out during the Quepos Billfish Cup.
Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rica, welcomed some of the top teams from around Costa Rica and the U.S. for the 6th annual Quepos Billfish Cup. The sailfish bite was definitely hot, with many teams posting some incredible daily catch totals in the days leading up to this year’s tournament. The weather conditions were also near-perfect as well. The Quepos Billfish Cup is held the weekend before the Superbowl, which creates an incredibly exciting level of competition prior to the big game.
This year it was the team aboard Billfish emerging victorious. They led the first day but gave up the lead to Fish Tank on Day Two. However, they rebounded on Day Three with an incredible performance that included 15 sailfish and three marlin releases for the win. Matt Rabenstine from the Billfish team was the tournament’s top angler.
The Fish Tank team came on strong but settled for second place with their 39 sailfish releases in three days. Seventeen of those came on Day Two, where they were the top team. Laura Jessen was the event’s top lady angler. Wybulu was third with 25 sailfish releases in the tournament. The top junior angler was Sebastian Holmann from Showtime.
Next year’s Quepos Billfish Cup will include the largest purse and prize money in tournament history, and event organizers are expecting the largest and most competitive fleet of boats in tournament history. Marina Pez Vela will also host the Offshore World Championship, slated for April 22 to 28, 2017.
Team Billfish earns first place honors in the 2017 Quepos Cup
FIsh Tank takes second place. Laura Jessen was the event's top angler.
In third place was Wybulla
Matt Rabenstine fishing on Billfish was the event's top angler.
Sebastian Holmann, fishing aboard Showtime, was the tournament's top junior angler.
Captain Josh Ruskey accepts the top tagging award.