The first Ladies Only Tournament was held at Los Sueños Resort and Marina in Playa Herradura, Costa Rica, with a total of 17 teams and 49 lady anglers to kick off the sixth annual Signature Triple Crown Series. In a one-day shootout, it seemed that the battle between D.A. Sea and Family and Friends would be fought to the end, because the two teams were tied in points and on time.
But just a half-hour before lines out, the team of Laura Jessen and Michelle Keeney, fishing aboard Fish Tank, hooked the marlin that ultimately won them the tournament, finishing with eight sailfish and one marlin for a total of 1,300 points.
D.A. Sea ended up placing second with a total of 1,100 points for their six sails and one marlin release, while Family and Friends finished in third place with 10 sailfish releases for 1,000 points.
And then came Leg One. The team fishing on Numero Uno started the tournament scoring with an 8:05 a.m. release, and by mid-morning the first day, the 44-boat fleet had released 89 billfish. The first half of the day belonged to the team on The King and I, who had a solid 600-point lead over Tranquilo.
At the end of Day One, The King and I was ahead of the fleet, finishing 400 points over the second- and third-place teams, Wire We Here and Blue Eagle, which both scored 1,600 points for the day.
Day Two had the team on Reel Pushy in the mix, and Fish Tank pushed The King and I to third place by noon. Family and Friends kept digging and had earned enough points by releasing seven sails and two marlin for a two-day total of 2,600 points to keep them on top. Reel Pushy was now in second at the end of Day Two, and Fish Tank in the third-place spot with 2,500 and 2,400 points, respectively.
See Last Year's Competing Fleet in the Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown here.
The same morning-bite trend continued on Day Three, and by noon, it was still anyone's game. Fish Tank was now in first with 3,500 points, followed by The King and I just 100 points behind, and Reel Pushy had dropped to third, but was holding steady at 3,200 points. By 2 p.m. the leaderboard predicted the winners of Leg One, even though Fish Tank soared ahead, releasing another four sails by day's end to finish first with a total of 4,600 points. The King and I placed second with 3,400 points, and Reel Pushy finished up third with 3,300. In three days of fishing, the fleet's 210 anglers released a total of 582 sails and 66 marlin.
