
The 2016 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown tournament “kicked it up a notch” and ended with a “BAM!” Quoting celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, who recently fished out of Los Sueños, best describes the events that took place last week during the third and final leg of the 2016 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown Series. Boats reported between 70 and 100 billfish releases per boat just days before the start of the third leg of the tournament. Expectations were high and the dock was buzzing.
On the first day of Leg II in February 1,103 fish were released. Although that number was not outdone this leg, the fish were here, there and everywhere; they were just too full to take the bait. At the end of Day One 651 billfish, including 2 marlin, were released. That is more than one fish per minute or an average of 15 billfish per team. “Kind of a slow day.” Really? Words one only hears in Los Sueños! By the afternoon of Day 3 though, the fish were hungry and attacked en masse. All told, there were 6,570 fish released by an average of 43 boats over the nine days of competition that made up this year’s Signature Triple Crown. Last year’s all‐time record of 5,732 fish was beat by 838 fish with an average fish to boat ratio of 51. Where else, we ask?
Day One ended with an exciting finish, Tarheel winning over Agitator on time, each with 2,800 points (28 sails) and only 5 minutes between them. Agitator who placed 2nd in Leg One and 1st in Leg Two, was able to move even further ahead in the running for Series Champion.
Day Two brought a reversal of fortunes. A total of 460 billfish were released during the eight hours of fishing. When lines out was called at 4:00 pm Agitator had relegated Tarheel into second place for the tournament win. Sea Angel had a great day moving up to third position after having placed 14th at the end of Day One.
Day Three was not only the last day of the tournament but also the final day of the Triple Crown Showdown. The day started off promising with 80 billfish released during the first hour. As time progressed things slowed down a bit. At 1:01 pm though, Jaruco called in a quintuple (5 fish released at the same time) and initiated a hail storm that continued past lines out! While doubles, triples and quadruples are commonplace in Los Sueños, quintuples are still considered a special event. At 1:33 pm another quintuple was called in by Jaruco. A total of 455 billfish were released in the same period. BAM! Pelese who had a slow start in the morning with only 4 fish by noon, released 38 billfish in the last hour and a half. Jaruco released 43 billfish, the highest number of releases in a single day during the entire Series.
One could not have asked for a more exciting finish of the third leg of the 2016 Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown tournament. With this amount of fish anything was possible until the very end of the competition. All set and done Agitator dominated winning First Place of the Third Leg and was crowned Series Champion, Pelese having an incredible come back after Day One took second place and Sea Angel took Third Place. A total of 1,855 billfish were release during the Third Leg of the Series. Overall during the 9 days of competition 6, 570 billfish were released kicking it up 832 “notches” compared to 2015.
Series Champion Captain
We introduced an all‐new category this year – Top Captain for the Triple Crown billfish series. Captain Jon Duffie of the Agitator drove off with a brand new 2016 Aprilia STX 150 sponsored by Moto Desmo, the exclusive Ducati and Vespa dealership in Costa Rica, a custom Triple Crown trophy and a gold pendant designed by Vanmark, Inc.
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