2016 Billfisheries of the Year – #10 Casa de Campo

The Billfish Report is counting down its Top 10 Billfisheries of the Year and our #10 Billfishery is Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic. Criteria for our Top 10 include fish numbers, variety of billfish species, average size of fish, length of season and number of boats fishing. With over 12,000 Billfish Reports submitted to us in 2016 from around the World, to even be considered for our Top 10 makes a fishery one of the best!

Photo Garrett Penley

La Romana, Dominican Republic – Spectacular Blue Marlin fishing has become synonymous in the billfishing world with the Dominican Republic. What was once a White Marlin “refuel” has become the year round home for many boats looking to get into some of the best if the not the best Blue Marlin fishing in the Western Atlantic. In fact, the fishing has been so good in the Dominican we split Punta Cana (Cap Cana Marina) and La Romana (Casa de Campo Marina). They may be close geographically, but the fisheries themselves are quite different.

The fishing off La Romana is a blue marlin highway. We say Blue Marlin highway as this fishery is primarily Blue Marlin (at least on Billfish). This is one of the few places in the world where raising ten (10) Blue Marlin in a day is not uncommon. When the Blue Marlin are feeding, many boats are seeing triples and quadruples in their spread. Seeing and catching may not be the same, but the Blue Marlin are covering up your baits. The best day of the year came off the Intents, where they went 11-16 on Blue Marlin, raising a total of 20 for the day. Betsy had the best combination of days going 9-12 (Raised 18), 7-12 and 7-10 all on Blue Marlin. Fa La Me spent some time fishing out of Casa de Campo as well, with one of the best days of the season going 9-9 on Blue Marlin. We had a total of fifteen (15) reports of boats catching more than five (5) Blue Marlin in a Day and one (1) report of a boat catching more than ten (10) Blue Marlin in a day. Perhaps we have gotten a little spoiled with the Blue Marlin reports around the world, but catching more than five (5) Blue Marlin in a day is a special day.

This is not a big fish fishery by any means, in fact it appears this is a nursery of sorts for all kinds of pelagic fish. With that said, we did have one fish reported to our 500+ Club. The Lady Shell set a new Marina Record with a 609 lbs. Swordfish. Based on other catch reports and from speaking to captains, it may be the Swordfishing here that separates La Romana from other Dominican ports. Unlike White Marlin and Sailfish which are caught in a similar fashion to the Blue Marlin, Swordfishing is a whole different animal. It is tough to really tell how good the Swordfishing may be as so many boats focus on Blue Marlin, but we imagine with 600 lbs. class fish in the area, when the Blue Marlin bite slows, it may be time to start dropping down some baits.

Congratulations to Casa de Campo, Dominican Republic, our #10 Billfishery of the Year.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Casa de Campo, DR – Betsy went 9-12 on Blue Marlin, raised 18.

Casa de Campo, DR – Blue Heaven went 4-5 on Blue Marlin.

Casa de Campo, DR – Capt. Daryl Brower on Contango went 5-7 on Blue Marlin.

Casa de Campo, DR – Capt. Tim Richardson on Tradition went 4-6 on Blue Marlin.

Casa de Campo, DR – Fa La Me went 9-9 on Blue Marlin.

Casa de Campo, DR – Intents went 11-16 on Blue Marlin.

Casa de Campo, DR – Lady Shell weighed a 609 lbs. Swordfish.

Casa de Campo, DR – Never Enough went 5-5 on Blue Marlin.

Casa de Campo, DR – Shark Byte went 5-6 on Blue Marlin.

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