Bienvenido to a new chapter in the 45-year history of Bisbee’s tournament fishing. The festivities are underway for the first event of the 2026 season. Only this time they aren’t occurring in East Cape or Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Instead, everything is unfolding right now at the beautiful Marina Pez Vela in Quepos, Costa Rica with the inaugural Bisbee’s Costa Rica Offshore. The culmination has been percolating for more than a year, and in typical Bisbee’s fashion, the 79 teams entered will be vying for more than $2.14 million in prize money.
“The family had a brain storm session, kicking around the idea for a while,” says Director of Operations Blake Bisbee. “We decided it was definitely doable and last March we met with the folks from Marina Pez Vela. Within 20 minutes over dinner, we all said, ‘OK, it’s cool, let’s work out the details’ and now here we are.”
The format was always going to be catch and release only for billfish due to Costa Rica’s laws and strong conservation ethic. But the initial idea was to have a single division for all competitors. After hearing feedback from multiple teams, the tournament committee added a marlin-only jackpot category and then created the final hybrid scoring structure with two divisions—sonar and non-sonar. Cash prizes will be awarded for the Base Entry Overall, Daily Billfish and Marlin jackpots, plus Game Fish jackpots.
Within the last decade sophisticated 360-degree omni sonar has changed the way many teams fish for pelagic species. The level of detection from the extended underwater sonars allow operators to distinguish bait schools and larger game fish like marlin, sailfish and tunas. But because of the cost and the installation footprint, many older vessels like charter boats or vintage sportfishers haven’t been able to add the technology. This has given rise to separate divisions like what the CRO is using to level the playing field throughout the fleet.
“Everyone is happy now,” Bisbee says. “A lot of teams told us the Bisbee’s is known for black and blue marlin, so we added the extra potential with the marlin-only jackpot. And the sonar/non-sonar gives the teams a choice. There are plenty of marlin here, but this time of year has predominately sailfish. So a team could sign up for the marlin jackpot and fish for those and still add up points for sailfish releases. It’s a great scoring combination.”
Under the hybrid scoring format, boats in the sonar division will earn 300 points for marlin releases and 100 points for sailfish and spearfish. Non-sonar boats will gain a slight bonus or 390 points for marlin and 130 points for sails and spears.
There is also a game fish division this week and several veteran teams from Mexico are here to enter the fray. Tuna (yellowfin and bigeye) will score a point per pound once the 40-pound minimum weight is met. Dorado must weigh at least 20 pounds to get on the scoreboard. For all categories, live or dead bait must be rigged with non-offset circle hooks. Lures are allowed to be trolled with traditional J-hooks.
After the typical kick-off festivities tonight, complete with Costa Rican folklore dancing plus fireworks, fishing will get underway Wednesday through Friday. Each day starts with a shotgun start at 6:30. Lines must be out at 4 pm local time. Teams will have until 7:30 each night to turn in mandatory video proof of their reported billfish releases. Game fish will be weighed as the boats return to the Marina Pez Vela (including those operating from Los Suenos).
“The buzz for this tournament has been 100 percent positive,” Bisbee adds. “Teams are excited, the town is excited and everyone here from the marina staff to the local officials have been a pleasure to work with. We’re ready to showcase the proven Bisbee formula of fun, excitement and big payouts this week with a Tico flair!”
