It was congratulations all around at the Los Sueños Signature Triple Crown awards banquet on Saturday, January 21, 2017. The Los Sueños Beach Club hosted 237 anglers, who came off of 50 boats, after they released 997 billfish during the first leg of the three-leg competition: 785 sailfish and 212 blue and striped marlin. Day 1 of the competition saw Tranquilo in the lead, Tarheel in second and Agitator in third. By the end of Day 2, Tranquilo was still in the lead and Agitator had moved up to second with Blue Eagle in third on time. Xta Sea would change everything by lines out on Day 3. The Team Xta Sea, with Alexis and Julio Chamorro, Emilio Munkel and Jacob Graves and captained by Ronnie Riebe released 18 billfish, including 12 marlin, to win first place with 6,600 points. Agitator released 30 sails and 7 marlin for a total of 6,500 points to finish second. En Joy reeled in third place with 6,400 points: 19 sails and 8 marlin. The marlin made all the difference in scoring for Xta Sea, giving them a slight point advantage that Agitator and Reel Screamer couldn’t quite catch. Although the bite was off previous years’ record breaking numbers, Leg I 2017’s marlin release (212) eclipsed 2016 (15). The first four years in the tournament’s history saw astonishing numbers for billfish releases. The Triple Crown’s predecessor tournament, Los Sueños Signature Billfish Series, ran for 10 consecutive and very successful years. In their 15th tournament year, Los Sueños has clearly demonstrated it knows how to host a tournament. Costa Rica’s Central Pacific coastline is one of the best global fisheries and Los Sueños Resort and Marina on Herradura Bay is a short cruise across usually calm waters to one of the top-ranked billfisheries in the world. The Billfish Report ranked the area Number 1 in 2015 and 2016. The Triple Crown includes three legs, one during each of January, February and March. The teams are back at Los Sueños Feb. 22, for Leg II. Leg III sets sail March 22. For more tournament information, follow Los Sueños on Facebook or Twitter (@Lossuenosresort) or visit the official Los Sueños Tournament page.
