What an amazing and fun week it was.   The Southern Zone of Costa Rica has really put itself on the map as being one of the top BLUE MARLIN spots worldwide. With an average of only 2 boats offshore per day, this record equates to an astonishing 3 marlins per boat.    No doubt, we take our fishing seriously and with the combination of our high speed Contenders and our experienced captains, we got our guests out to the perfect fishing grounds in record time. We started off the week with my buddy, Dennis Dahle,  Captain Tito, Captain Coco and yours truly heading offshore. Once arriving at the seamount, we started the day catching live tuna for marlin bait.  As soon as we put out our first bait, the reel started screaming and we were immediately hooked up….. at 8am!!!   After a 40 minute battle, we had the 275lb BLACK MARLIN boat side and what a beauty it was.  We ended the day with 5 Marlins ……. plus 11 more for the next 2 days! Also visiting were the well traveled Newlins from Louisiana.  In their 3 days of fishing, the couple managed to land 11 Blue Marlins.  The Newlins have been hunting and fishing all over the world and they were simply astonished by not only the bite here but also our beautiful beachfront accommodations.   We are simply happy to welcome them back next season for their return visit! Susan and Tom Lewis were the winning bidders on a trip we donated to the Dallas Safari Club and in fact Susan purchased it for her husband as one of his dream trips.  This was their first time offshore fishing but they proved to be the offshore experts!  On their first day, they went inshore and caught 15 rooster fish.  On day 2, Tom hooked a fish of a lifetime and after 90 minutes, released a 400lb Blue Marlin. On day 3, not to be outdone by Tom, Susan managed to catch her FIRST marlin, wrestling a 300lb+ Blue to the boat. The Friesens from Fresno were on their second trip of this season and both Brian and Marilyn caught their first Blue Marlin and spent another fun filled inshore day with many roosters and snappers.   The Friesens are our staff favorites as they have been longtime returning guests of the Lodge.    We look forward to seeing them next season as they will be bringing their children for some quality family time. Dennis Peterson and Lara Prindiville, also from Fresno, visited us 8 years ago and were blown away with all the changes to the Lodge.  They decided to fish offshore for 3 days and inshore for 1 and they had an exciting time landing 6 marlins along with an array of inshore species.   Marina, our super chef, grilled their fresh catch grouper for the last evening and it was simply water to table delicious! If you are considering a trip to Costa Rica, please reserve early as we have many sold out dates on the schedule all ready. Check us out at www.zancudolodge.com