The 2008 WBS Grand Championships is now underway! After a great captains and anglers meeting last night, the boats left Herradura Bay here in Los Suenos just about an hour ago for the fishing grounds--looks like most are heading to some good-looking water off Quepos to the south. For the last few days the bite has been off and on ranging anywhere from 32 to45 miles offshore from the reports we've been hearing.
This year there are 32 qualified anglers fishing the tournament on 16 boats, including SFC.com members Andy Levy on the Desperado and Tim Hake fishing with Capt. Howwoood on the Tuna Bite, which arrived just in time for the tournament off the Yachtpath ship.
I'll post a full list of anglers and some boat **** from the check-out in a few minutes once we call for lines in at 8AM Costa Rican time. Fishing is from 8AM until 3PM so we'll also try to post regular updates as long as our Internet connection holds up.
Thanks for checking in and for supporting John and the SFC community,
Here's a list of the anglers fishing in this year's tournament--I think the competition this year is even stronger than we've had in years' past in terms of angler experience and past tournament participation. We also have four past champions in this year's field: Mark Wodlinger, Scott Rickert, Karl Knudsen (two time champion) and last year's winner, Mainor Oporto.
And the fishing looks pretty good. It's just about an hour and a half into Day One and so far we've already had 16 sailfish and three marlin released by the fleet so we're hoping the bite keeps up for the rest of the tournament. Thanks for checking in, more to follow as time permits.
Anglers Name Home Port Boat Name
Pat Logue Cape Coral, FL 1st Strike
Scott Logue Atlanta, GA 1st Strike
Chris Domel Buda, TX Adios
Greg Voell Leesburg, VA Adios
Bill Royster Los Suenos Let It Ride
Artie Kontos Los Suenos Let It Ride
Dave Dickerson Jupiter, FL Carolina Magic
Dave Perry Destin, FL Carolina Magic
Bob Del Vecchio Little Torch Key, FL Desperado
Andy Levy Warwick, PA Desperado
Larry Drivon Napa Valley, CA Draggin Fly
Mainor Oporto Costa Rica Draggin Fly
Chris Wood Fair Haven, NJ MisBehavin
Peter Cherasia Rumson, NJ MisBehavin
Sari Turner Baton Rouge, LA Penguin
Chris Lepping Collegeville, PA Penguin
Rocky Jones Gulf Breeze, FL Pescadora
Scooter Porto Pensacola, FL Pescadora
Jim Vaughan Lake Wales, FL Reel Screamer
Scott Rickert Bradenton, FL Reel Screamer
Karl Knudsen Raleigh, NC Spanish Fly
Bim Lebo Costa Rica Spanish Fly
Bill Easum Port Aransas, TX Super Fly
Jimmy Taylor Biloxi, MS Super Fly
Erik Walden Palm Beach, FL The Bite
Mark Wodlinger Tequesta, FL The Bite
Dwight Wolf Newport News, VA Tres Amigos
Dell Dembosky Bennetsville, SC Tres Amigos
Tim Hake Mechanicsburg, PA Tuna Bite
James Kontos Crested Butte, CO Tuna Bite
Brooks Smith Atlanta, GA Uno Mas
Matt Traber Los Suenos Uno Mas
As of almost noon here, Mainor Oporto is still leading with 600 points with a blue and two sails but Jim Vaughan has moved into second with a blue and two saildogs and 600 points as well. Larry Drivon is in third with 500 points (one blue, one sail), with Dwight Wolf and Peter Cherasia in fourth and fifth respectively with one marlin and 400 points each.
Jimmy Taylor is making a move on the leaderboard though, just having released his fourth sail to get to the 400 point mark--a marlin could really vault him into the lead in a hurry.
Andy Levy just got on the board with a sailfish release and Tim Hake has a pair.
We're having a helluva time with Photobucket here for some reason but we'll try to post up pics later today when we have a chance. So far the fleet has released 40 billfish including six marlin.
Awesome stuff Sam - I can't believe I am missing this. The WBS Grand Championship is my favorite tournament.
If you are timing out or if it is taking forever to upload on photobucket, try resizing the pics prior to the upload. I had to do that while I was in lsla last year and it worked much better.
Draggin Fly must be on fire this morning with two anglers in the top 5. If they stay on the fish Mainor is gonna be tough to beat.
Last edited by Squidnation; 12-04-2008 at 02:06 PM.
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