Casa de Campo, La Romana, D.R.

July 17th, 2015

The Marina Casa de Campo fishing season ended with 618/1084 blue marlins released in 113 days of fishing, averaging 5 blue marlins per day. Other species that were released included 40/55 white marlins, 20/21 sailfishes, 8/9 spearfish and 9 swordfishes, including the swordfish caught by the boat Speculator, which weighed in at 369lbs. In total, 696 billfish were released during the 2015 fishing season.

More than 37 fishing boats from the U.S., specifically from the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and well renowned anglers and captains visited the Marina during this year’s season. Amongst these boats that participated during the season were the usual: Reel Passion, Blue Heaven, Betsy, Shoe, Shark Byte, and Reel Tight; boats that visited the Marina during the 2014 season that also participated this year, include Contango, Whoo Dat, Committed, Thunder and Black Gold. The Marina was also visited by first timers, including Fully Occupied, Blueline, Blue View, Intents, Piece O’ Work, Last Stall, Speculator, amongst others.

The Marina saw more participation from Puerto Rican boats this season than it did last year. Amongst these Puerto Rican boats were: Doña Lucy, Blue Bird, Legal Drug, Let It Be, Mojito, Islamar, and Dulce Coco.

The pre-season, which occurred during the month of January, closed in with 30/42 blue marlin releases in only 7 days of fishing. Betsy, Committed, and Shoe were the boats that fished the pre-season. Committed lead the pre-season with 24 blue marlins released.

The 2015 fishing season officially started on February. By the end of the month there were 161/258 blue marlin released, in 28 days of fishing, with 19 boats fishing during this month, averaging 6 releases per day. Other species released during this month were 2/2 white marlins, and 7/8 sailfish.

March continues to prove that it is the peak of the Marina Casa de Campo fishing season, with 237/444 releases, in 31 days of fishing, averaging 8 releases per day. 30 boats fished during this month.

During March the Marina Casa de Campo celebrated its annual tournament, the Casa de Campo International Blue Marlin Classic, which had the participation of 17 boats. Forty blue marlins were released during 3 days of fishing. The 62’ Spencer Shoe won the tournament, winning first place during the third and last day of fishing, taking home the championship and attractive prizes. Contango took the second place with 2050 points, followed by Betsy, which took the third place with 2030 points.

March was also the first month of the Marina Casa de Campo Cup, a competition of 30 days of fishing in which the boat with the most blue marlin releases is crowned as champion of the Cup. The cup began on March 15^th and concluded  April 15^th with 158 blue marlins released amongst the 17 boats that signed up to partake in this competition. During the first half of the Cup, 90 blue marlins were released and during the second half, 68 were released. Reel Passion was crowned as the first champion of the Marina Casa de Campo Cup, with 29 releases during 21 days of fishing.

April concluded with 157/286 releases in 30 days of fishing with a total of 21 boats, averaging 5 releases per day. During this month, specifically the 23^rd, the crew aboard Speculator landed a 369lbs. swordfish.

The conclusive month for the 2015 Marina Casa de Campo fishing season was May, totaling 33 blue marlins released in 17 days of fishing, with a total of 11 boats fishing during this month.

Besides billfish, other species were caught during the 2015 fishing season. This includes mahi mahi, wahoos and blackfin tunas, two of which weighed in at over 100 lbs. One was caught by the crew aboard Black Gold (March) and the other was caught by the crew aboard Intents (May).

The 2016 fishing season will be in effect from February to May. The Marina Casa de Campo Cup will take place during the same date as it did this year, and the Casa de Campo International Blue Marlin Classic will take place from April the 13^th until the 17^th.