WBS Grand Championships, Los Suenos

[Swami]

Morning everyone:
Just thought I'd check in to let everyone know that the World Billfish Series Grand Championships is now underway out of Los Suenos Resort and Marina in Costa Rica. The weather is perfect, hot and sunny with light winds, and the fish are biting pretty well. A couple boats scored grand slams during the prefishing days prior to the start of the tournament, including Vince Austin's Adios with one blue marlin, one for two on striped marlin and five for 12 on sailfish (his anglers were just getting up to speed on using circle hooks). Another SFC.com favorite, Howard Lynch on the Tuna Bite, has been consistently on the billfish down here as well.

Competing in this year's event are SFC.com members Tim Hake and Andy Levy, fishing with Howard on the Tuna Bite. Several other notable boats are here including Gray Ingram's Big Oh, Brooks Smith's Uno Mas, Tom Russell's Cerveza, Artie Kontos' Let It Ride and many others. Local favorites Spanish Fly, Super Fly, The Bite, Drum Roll, Clean Sweep and Reel Screamer are all fishing as well. This year we have 17 boats fishing with a two angler per boat format.

We also have none other than Bill Pino as our tournament photographer--everyone has always clamored for more photos from the tournament so we listened. Bill is photographing the action today aboard the Let It Ride but he will be posting up plenty of shots from Costa Rica later this afternoon once he returns to the dock.

We will also try to post fairly regular updates here so stay tuned for the action. The entire fleet will fish today and tomorrow, then the top five anglers will move on to fish on Saturday in a one day shootout to determine the champion.

Thanks for tuning in.

PS: Bob Osborn just released the first billfish of the tournament, a sailfish, at 8:23AM Costa Rican time, just 23 minutes after lines in. The bite's on!

[Double D]

Sam

Time for an update, please

Bill is on the Let It Ride? You should have him bouncing around on a 50 knot chaseboat. Although we wouldn't want him spilling his drink.

[Swami]

Sorry about that, the lack of action made me think nobody was watching. Here's the unofficial results from Costa Rica--we'll post the official standings tonight or tomorrow morning once the scorecards are verified.

1. Tim Hake, Tuna Bite, 700 points
2. Richard Ricardson, Family and Friends, 600 points
3. Rodney Williams, Cerveza, 400 points
4. Bob Del Vecchio, Hatta Boy, 400 points
5. Andy Shapiro, Clean Sweep, 400 points

There's a big knot of guys at 300 points and more at 200 points. There were 56 billfish released today, 54 sails and two marlin. Tomorrow's another day and with any marlin species worth 400 points it could be a game-changer.

[sportfishingusa]

Wasnt whitey fishing with tim?

[Squidnation]

yes whitey was fishing with Tim today and tomorrow. Nice day on the water but we didn't get too many shots. Goods news is James Kontos did take advantage of the shot he got and released a sail on the Let it Ride. That was it for us though. Saw Bob on the Hattaboy release a blue and the guy from Friends and Family release a Blue. Also left at lines out while a small charter boat fandango was fighting a blue(not in the tournament). On another note I heard Tunabite on the radio so often I thought it was sept in OC Congrats on your day Howard, Tim, Andy and Alacran. Catch em up tomorrow. Will post a few shots later.

[tunabite]

thanks buddy we got lucky in 11000 foot.............. i love it there!!!

[WhiteMarlin]

Our angler Rodney Williams looked great until the last half hour....thanks howard!!!

[Swami]

2009
World Billfish Series
Grand Championships

December 2-5, 2009 Los Suenos Resort & Marina, Costa Rica

Day One Results

Place BOAT NAME ANGLER
1 Tuna Bite Tim Hake 700 pts.
2 Family and Friends Richard Richardson 600
3 Cerveza Rodney Williams 400
4 Hatta Boy Bob Del Vecchio 400
5 Clean Sweep Andy Shapiro 400
6 Drum Roll Ken Moore 300
7 Spanish Fly Larry Drivon 300
8 Tuna Bite Andy Levy 300
9 Shotgun Dwight Wolf 200
10 Uno Mas - Bayliss Brooks Smith 200
11 Macushla Davis Clapp 200
12 Reel Screamer Too Scott Rickert 200
13 Reel Screamer Too Jim Vaughan 200
14 Super Fly Jimmy Taylor 200
15 Adios Chris Domel 200
16 Macushla Mary Temple Mullis 200
17 Uno Mas Bob Osborn 100
18 Super Fly Sari Turner 100
19 Family and Friends Chad Jackson 100
20 Cerveza Tom Russell 100
21 Shotgun Dell Dembosky 100
22 Drum Roll Dean DeSantis 100
23 Let It Ride James Kontos 100
24 Clean Sweep Jordan Hammell 100
25 The Bite Justin Walker 100
26 The Bite Boyd Mothe, Jr. 100

[tunabite]

Our angler Rodney Williams looked great until the last half hour....thanks howard!!!

thanks buddy we gotta get lucky 2maro also...... RODNEY????? and here alll day long i thought u were hookin out of the rodholder .......... ghost angler style......haha good luck 2maro

[Swami]

We're off and running today, the boats left the bay about a half hour ago. We'll call lines in at 8AM Costa Rica time and do periodic updates throughout the day. The top five anglers from today will move on to tomorrow's final shootout to determine the WBS Grand Champion.

Pino is riding along with Howard today on the Tuna Bite; looks like an all-SFC.com boat with Whitey and Tim in the cockpit. Stay tuned!