July 18th, 2016

In its 15 anniversary, Marina Casa de Campo closed its 2016 fishing season successfully with 641 Blue Marlins released in 110 days of fishing, over 1,020 strikes. The season also produced 30/33 White Marlins and 24/35 Sailfish releases, totalizing 695/1106 Billfish releases.

February brought last year’s expectations. Lots of boats tried their luck going fishing, despite having bad weather almost every day. The total of releases produced by the 18 boats in the 26 days of the first month of the season was 88 Blue Marlins, 2 White Marlin and 6 Sailfish, with an average of 3 boats fishing per day. The usual boats Betsy, Delta Dawn, Whoo Dat, Miss Magnolia, Game On, Reel Passion, Contango, Blue Heaven and our 2015 tournament champion S/F Shoe, among others, were the protagonists of this month, along with some new boats such as: Shenandoah, Mama Who, Outta Here, Miss B Haven, Swagger, Waterman, Patsea VII, AEI, amongst others.

March, one of the most important peak months of the season closed with 179 Blue Marlins released in 31 days of fishing. During this month, Luis Viyella aboard the Lady Shell broke the biggest Swordfish record caught in the Marina, with a 609.4 pound monster, leaving his father who was the previous record holder, in a distant second place with his 396 pound Swordfish caught January 22, 2003.

A total of 33 boats fished this month and more boats joined the action. The new Fa-La-Me, Never Enough, Real Deal, Auspicious (winner of the third edition of the Casa de Campo International Blue Marlin Classic fishing tournament), Speculator, Slight Edge amongst others. March, the perfect time for the iconic activities of the season. The fishing season welcoming party and the annual Softball game between the Dock Tenders and the Gringos (team formed by captains and crew of the visiting fishing boats) in which the Gringos finally got to savor victory, after a 3 year losing streak. The Casa de Campo International Blue Marlin Classic tournament was held in the end of March, and finished with 85 Blue Marlins released by 21 boats in 3 days of fishing.

The third month of the season arrived with the end of the second Marina Casa de Campo Cup. This year’s champion was the Fa-La-Me with 41 Blue Marlins released in 16 days of fishing. The close of April was 315/504 Blue Marlins in 30 days of fishing, averaging 11 Blue Marlins per day. One of the most memorable moments of this month

and the season was starred by Intents (62’ Viking) on the 17th, arriving in port with 11 Blue Marlin releases out of a total of 16 strikes, seeing a total of 20 fish that day. But Intents feat did not end there, Capt. Rhett and his crew produced 23 Blue Marlin releases, over 37 total strikes in 4 days of fishing, marking Marlin number 500 of the season. April was definitely one of the most exciting months of the season.

Despite having fishing reports from the Betsy in June, the fishing season officially closed in May with 56 Blue Marlin releases in 26 days of fishing. By then only 9 boats were fishing, since everybody started to leave to their various destinations and continue with their schedules.

Marina Casa de Campo in its 15th anniversary thanks all the fishermen, captains and crew that visited us during the 2016 fishing season, and wishes them a lot of success during the remainder of the season.

Photo credits: Richard Gibson and Benito Pinto.