Source: OWC

Twenty teams of competitive anglers from the United States, Canada and Central America (including Costa Rica) will participate in qualifying rounds ahead of the Offshore World Championship, which will take place in Puntarenas later this year. Nearly 200 anglers from around the world are vying for a spot in this major sports fishing tournament, which in 2014 was dominated by the team representing the African nation of Angola.

The pre-qualifying events for this tournament will take place in the world-class Marina Quepos, in the Southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Quepos is known among fishing enthusiasts as the best spot in the world for catching sailfish. Here’s a recent update on the conditions leading up to the tournament; this update is posted on the official website of the Offshore World Championship, which counts many sponsors such as Garmin, Shimano, Accurate Fishing, Marina Pez Vela, Costa, Geoffrey Smith, Maverick Yachts, and even the Tourism Board of Costa Rica (ICT).

HUNTING GROUNDS: Currents and temperature breaks in the deep Pacific waters off Quepos, Costa Rica, aggregate bait, which in turn attracts sailfish and then anglers, in that order

As offshore days go, this one started out pretty good. Thirty-five miles off Quepos, we found customarily calm Pacific waters, and half an hour after we put out the bait, our first sailfish slid into the spread and ate. Ten minutes later, we caught another and, after trolling 20 minutes more, a third. Then we paused.

As the day progressed we trolled farther offshore and to the south looking for fish. We caught about a dozen sailfish in the morning, plus a couple of hefty dolphins [mahimahi]. All the while, Mumford continued to hunt for birds, bait or free jumpers.

Unlike other stretches of the Central American Pacific coast, the offshore grounds off Quepos lack the deep canyons, seamounts and other bottom structure that create rips and upwellings where bait and predators congregate. In 3,000 feet of water, currents, flow and temperature dictate the aggregations of bait and, subsequently, the presence of predators […]

To learn more about this upcoming sport fishing event in Costa Rica, visit www.offshoreworldchampionship.com/