FIRST ANNUAL PESCADORA BILLFISH CHAMPIONSHIP MAKES HISTORY
During last month’s First Annual Pescadora Billfish Championship, not only did we crown the world’s top lady anglers, but 512 billfish were released by 81 female anglers aboard 22 boats in 2 days, an average of 23 fish per boat! THE MOST FISH RELEASED IN ANY LADIES TOURNAMENT IN HISTORY!!
That . Is . Getting . The . Job . Done!!!
18 countries followed the leaderboard as women started racking up their releases and making a run to be the Female Angler of the Year. On Day 1 Kelly Nutt on the Kelly Dawn released the first fish of the tournament at 8:13am, assisted by the early morning good luck mimosas delivered personally by Samantha Mumford, Tournament Director. The day ended with a total of 241 Sailfish along with 2 marlin released by Lacy Ivancevic on the Pelagic Magic and Teresa Coates on the Sea Hag.
Day two was even better!! Shari Burrows on the Game Plan released the first sailfish of the day at 8:07am, followed by a total of 42 billfish in just the first hour! Team Thunder Ladies on the Caribsea released a slam with a sailfish, blue marlin and black marlin. Laura Jessen on Team Hatteras also released a blue marlin bringing the total to 274 billfish for the day. The ladies were greeted with ice-cold, lavender scented cloths upon their return to wipe off the sweat after a long, hot day.
Team Uno Mas took an early lead on Day 1 with 28 releases, and managed to hang on to it on Day 2 even as Team Big Oh made an incredible push releasing 31 sailfish in one day! The Cinderella story goes to the ladies of Team Game Plan, three of which had NEVER fished before, releasing 40 billfish for the tournament landing them in 3rd place overall. What an awesome accomplishment!! Congratulations to Team Uno Mas, who took home 1st Place Overall with 49 billfish, 2nd place winners Big Oh with 44 billfish, and Game Plan with 40 billfish releases.
Team Good Day Girls were aboard the smallest boat in the fleet, and managed to win the honors for the biggest Tuna, with a combined weight of 80lbs. One tuna took an epic 45 minute battle to land, and among many others, Marbely Lopez and Cathy Gilmour caught their first ever billfish!! Team Tipsea on the King and I came in strong winning the Dorado Division with a huge 52.9lb fish!
We are very excited to announce that MARIA MAGALHAES and LACY IVANCEVIC are the Pescadora Billfish Championship Female Anglers of the Year, taking home their coveted pink Pescadora trophies created by Gray Taxidermy!!!! Lacy, fishing on the Pelagic Magic, had 1500 points in the Hook & Hand Division. Maria, fishing on the Uno Mas, held her lead throughout the tournament releasing a staggering 25 fish, 14 of them by IGFA release, making her the Female Angler of the Year in the IGFA Release Division. Congratulations to both of these phenomenal women on your incredible accomplishment!
The Pescadora Billfish Championship is also very proud to announce that our Pescadoras tagged the most billfish in two days anywhere in the world using the Gray FishTag model with almost 200 tags being deployed!!!! This is HUGE in helping the Gray Fishtag Research Program gain the information needed by their in-house scientists to sustain our fisheries for future generations. Bill Dobbelaer, director of the program, was proud to award Kristina Fahmie, of Team Shoe, with a full-size mount from Gray Taxidermy for the most billfish tagged during the tournament.
On Saturday night we awarded the top teams and the two lady anglers of the year at a roof top banquet overlooking the beautiful Marina Pez Vela with the Quepos, Costa Rica lights in the background.
“I am so grateful to all the women for taking a chance on this first, one of a kind tournament. The hard work and determination that each angler showed was inspiring not only to me, but women around the world” says Samantha Mumford, Tournament Director.
PRESIDENTIAL FLAMINGO FISHING RODEO ADDS PRESENTING SPONSOR • WELCOME MARINA FLAMINGO!
The new year brings with it a new Presenting Sponsor of the Presidential Flamingo Fishing Rodeo. We welcome Marina Flamingo aboard our growing list of great sponsors. Also joining our team of supporters is Maverick Yachts from Herradura, Costa Rica. Maverick manufactures fine fishing yachts made right here in Costa Rica, and we welcome them to our team!
Also new for 2019 is an expanded prize list. We will have two divisions:
Offshore Division – Top Three Boats
Inshore Division – Top Three Boats
Top Overall Boat
We will continue to award the heaviest fish for dorado, tuna, wahoo and cubera snapper as well at Top Female Angler and Top Male Angler. The Junior Division stays the same giving three places to boys and three places to girls.
The final registration and Welcome Party will once again be held at Marie’s Restaurant. This is always a fun party with good food and great music. Hostess, Marie Yates, makes sure that everyone has a great time and is ready for the fishing days ahead.
The popular Conservation Auction will be held during our Awards Party. Proceeds will benefit the local Abriendo Mentes as well as projects promoting conservation in Costa Rica.
Make your plans to fish the Flamingo Fishing Rodeo early as moorings are limited. We can also make arrangements for fuel with advance notice. Crew rooms are available at the Mariner Inn. The lovely 360 Luxury Condos offer five star accommodations for our anglers.
The 2019 dates of the Presidential Flamingo Fishing Rodeo are August 9-11, 2019 so make plans now to attend. For more information, visit www.preschallenge.com or email info@preschallenge.com.
WHAT A GREAT TOURNAMENT!
The first leg of the Marina Pez Vela Championship Series, the Quepos Billfish Cup, took place last month, with teams from USA, México, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Canada. Game Plan took home the first place trophy with a total of 4,000 points, followed by Pelagic Magic in second with a total of 2,400 points and Gallo Pinto landed in third place with 2,200 points. And in our small boat Division for boats 34’ and under, it was team Los Koquitos Light, fishing aboard Gunner who pulled away from the pack on Day Two to take top small boat honors.
Congratulations to Ms. Shari Burrow from Game Plan who won Top Female Angler, as well as Top Angler by releasing 15 sailfish over the two day tournament accumulating 3,000 points. Also, a special recognition to Sebastián Ortiz, fishing off Los Gatos, who won the Top Junior Angler Award with 11 sailfish releases as well as a nice Dorado during the QBC. In the meat fish Division, it was Good Day once again finding themselves on the podium with the tournament’s largest Tuna and Dorado, which brought huge applause from the crowd during the weigh in.
And Pacific Fly and Gunner were lucky enough to release the 44th and 77th billfish of the tournament to take home the Sea Hawk Paint Bonus Catches and win themselves the region’s top selling bottom paint.
A big thank you to all of our sponsors for their support and participation, which has helped make this Championship Series and our Marina such a success!