SPORTFISHING & WORLD-CLASS TOURNAMENTS at MARINA PEZ VELA

by Karen Lee Hall

I  sat down with Jerry Glover – Director of Tournaments at Marina Pez Vela – to hear the story about the world class sport fishing tournaments held at our very own marina. Back in 2011 the group that forms the current board at Marina Pez Vela had a vision for Quepos. They saw the potential in the tremendous fisheries in the local waters. Quepos was always a fishing village, but sport fishing, for many years, was operated by just a few individual captains all moored on buoys in the bay. 

“Before the marina, sports fishing enthusiasts went out by the bridge into town,” explained Jerry. “They had to scutter down the gangway and get on the big floating dock, all rocking and rolling, to the little hut on there. From that floating dock customers would board the boats. It was a small number of boats at the time.” 

It was 2010 and Jerry was running a premier sportfishing company here in Quepos when he was brought in as a consultant by the marina group to work out how best to integrate the individual operators into Marina Pez Vela. 

The marina opened in June of that same year and within a year of opening, they ran the first tournament called the Costa Rica Classic, sponsored by the Boomer Eiason foundation out of New York. As Jerry tells it, “At that time we only had the outside perimeter of the slips with just 11 boats in the competition. But some NFL football players came down to fish and they signed some jerseys at the banquet after the tournament. We were able to auction off those jerseys, it was a lot of fun. This was our inaugural hosting a tournament at the Marina.  There weren’t a lot of tournaments going on in Costa Rica at that time. I guess you could say this was the little spark that lit the big light bulb.”

At that point, Jerry and harbor master Carter Takacs were tasked with developing a home-grown tournament, with good incentives and rules, which became the 2012 Quepos Billfish Cup, and the first Marina Pez Vela-run tournament. 

Once Jerry and Carter showed proof of concept by travelling the coast to find quality offshore boats willing to participate, the OffShore World Championship sponsored by the Bonair Group of Florida looking to move their tournament from Mexico to Quepos. While the Quepos Billfish Cup the previous year brought in 18-20 boats. The Offshore World Championship had 60 + boats. Success built on success. International tournaments started coming to Quepos and Marian Pez Vela.

“[From that OffShore World Championship] all these anglers were seeing what Quepos had to offer as a first-class fishing destination. Our fisheries here are second to none. And the Costa Rican government’s conservation effort promoting catch-and-release, with laws in place to protect the billfish release, letting them go to live another day, means the fisheries stay robust. Since that first tournament in 2011 to now and going forward we are probably going to have around 12 to 14 tournaments in 2026” said Jerry. 

A unique entry on the tournament calendar is the Pescadera Billfish Championship started by Samantha Munford with women-only anglers. As Jerry tells it, the ladies have the most fun of any of the other competitors throughout the whole year. 

The terrific tournament team at Marina Pez Vela deserves a hand for producing such an excellent tournament calendar – premium experiences all. In addition to managing the big, sponsored tournaments like the Rock Star Offshore in January, the IGFA Open in March, Bisbee’s Costa Rica Offshore and then the Offshore World Championship in April, and Flor de Caña in December which attract anglers from around the world, Marina Pez Vela also manages six tournaments of its own. 

These MPV tournaments put an emphasis on youth and family with a focus on FUN and are super popular with Costa Ricans. Each event is a one-day event that lets fathers fish with their children; lets mothers fish with friends; friends can fish with neighbors; neighbors with their community. What these tournaments have, in addition to First, Second, and Third Prizes, they also feature awards for Young and New Anglers in the Boys, Girls, and Women’s categories. This is a terrific enticement that brings in a family oriented contingent and to share the marina with novices. 

“At one of the awards ceremonies a few years back,” recounted Jerry, “we were handing out the Best Girl Fisher plaque and flag to this one 8- or 9-year-old girl.  But she wasn’t at all happy about it. Her face was like a storm cloud of disappointment. That is, until I handed her the other award – a gift card to the local donut and ice cream shop! Now that! was a win to her! Her face lit up like it was Christmas.” 

As much as the high-powered Offshore tournaments bring the experienced anglers to town, these six, homegrown events aimed at bringing everyone into the fun is perhaps our favorite aspect of the Marina Pez Vela effect on Quepos. It reflects perfectly the warmth and good spirit of the place. 

At the end of each day of a fishing during a tournament, they have entertainment and food and celebrate. At the end of the final day of a tournament, they hold the awards banquet in the quad on the upper level. All the restaurants join in and provide some food, alongside the grilling area where in addition to red meat, some of the fish caught that day is donated and cooked up for everyone. The public is always welcome to come and watch the Weigh-ins and enjoy the entertainment. There are bands, or DJ’s or sometimes both. 

When asked what he thought was the secret to their success, Jerry replied, “What draws them here, first of all, is our outstanding fisheries. Add to that a world class marina, with about 250 slips, 6 or 7 great restaurants, good retail, luxury villas and the full-service maintenance yard. Really, it’s just a great atmosphere full of camaraderie and a nice friendly, social aspect among the owners and the facilities here in Marina Pez Vela.”  

In less than two decades, the Marina Peza Vela tournaments have made an enormously positive economic impact to the town and surrounding area. These fishing tournaments are especially important to bring the world to Quepos. Please check out their website for all the details. https://marinapezvela.com/