Day 9 - Quepos (Rippin’ Lips)

This post is tardy … as usually I post the night of, but as you read on, you will understand the reason why Big Ang failed to hammer out yesterday’s activities before bedtime.

Ready? Let’s do this!

Yesterday was all about the Benjamins! Jk! It was all about rippin’ some Costa Rican fish lips!

It was a heck of a day of fishing and one for the record books! Literally!!!!

The fishing 🎣 crew “Crew”:
M&A, Z, Lexi, Matthew and Lilly

Early rise and off to Marina Pez Vela to catch our boat. Arrived 6:30am, snagged our fishing licenses and met Bill to set sail on the Reel Freedom. Lots of hope and Z was VERY bullish on the possibilities for today.

The Crew was all in agreement to go fish for some Ahi tunas. I mean we already have Gustavo (Zs marlin - who is now pursuing his degree in Wall Art at Chico), and these fish eaters wanted some quishy, red fish flesh to feast on this evening.

Captain Bill said … ok but it’s far out! But who doesn’t like a boat ride, especially in Costa Rica with the calm waters that day.

After two hours … Garden and Jordan (father and son team), let’em loose; the lines that is. The lures and contraptions were all foreign to me but really trusted the process. I know how to balance a check-book but this is much more than debits and credits.

It wasn’t too long of our lines being in the water before we got a bite! And then another!!! Two fish on!!

And the day of fishing officially began. So many words could explain the day … excitement and anticipation of what’s on the end of the hook … to just a “reel” of a time getting the fish in the boat.

Total fishing time? …. 5 hours.

Of this 5 hours, 2 hours was spent reeling in our HUGE tuna! I say “ours” but let’s be “reel” … I did nothing but be a motivator to Z only the way a mom could. I’m sure he will share my encouraging words if you ask and he may provide me with a testimonial for a new branch of LCP (yep another one) as a motivational speaker. 😂

Zs first stint reeling this beast in? 52 mins … from there Matthew took the rod and began making his own memories with this experience. They swapped the rod back and forth fighting this tuna, until …. Success! Tuna was in the boat!

TUNA STATS
Yellow Fin Tuna
164.4 lbs
Anglers - Z and Matthew (Team)
Line - 50
Hook No - 10
Leader - 100 Fluorocarbon

What does the above mean? 🤷🏽‍♀️ Your guess is good as mine!!!

What it means to me is … it’s a BIG FISH!!!! 🐠 Not just a big fish to us but it is the biggest tuna so far this year at this marina (and bigger than any fish at this marina in 2025).

If this tuna ends up being the biggest of 2026 .. we will all be famous and our pic with the tuna will be posted in the marina. 🤞🏼

Total reel time on this bad boy?
2 hours and 9 mins!!!!

If you see Z around … he may know exactly how many seconds too. Haha! Zs cool as a cucumber but with each turn of the reel and the formation of another blister on his hand, he became more determined than ever to complete the task at hand (literally). Short story … Poor fish didn’t have a chance between him and Matthew. Was just a matter of time!!! #winning

Recall I said 2 fish hooked??? Yep! The first fish in the boat was actually Mike’s sailfish! As both lines zipped out with fish one … Mike snagged the pole to the left and Z grabbed the pole to the right. You got Zs story above but while Z started reeling in the tuna … Mike began his journey with his sailfish. His battle wasn’t 2 hours but the fish was just as stunning, and really fueled the flames of excitement.

Disclaimer: Mike is a seasoned angler so NBD reeling in a 100+ lbs sailfish, ya know? Easy stuff.

We could stop right here and call it one hell of a day but … that wouldn’t be a M&A kind of adventure story, would it?

Bill (el’ Captian) gave us the option to head back or extend our day. With adrenaline flowing and confidence pouring out of our pores, we opted to stay out. And we are SO glad we did!

Here were the results of the day, in order:
Mike - Sailfish
Z/Matthew - Tuna
Me - Sailfish
Lexi - Mahi
Matthew/Lilly - Mahi
Z - Mahi

In Costa Rican waters, all billfish are catch and release so technically Mike and I didn’t get ours in the boat but we did snagged pics before releasing them.

All other fish … were fileted for dinner or to be packed/frozen for transport back to the US. Sushi for days to come! Yay for everyone!

Speaking of dinner … do you believe in coincidences? I don’t.

Recall a few nights ago here in Quepos, we dined at Butcher Block and had amazing Texas BBQ. Well … they also have some great swag so we purchased a tumbler with their logo. This tumbler was our coffee to-go cup in the morning and so was on display in the boat. Bill asked us how we liked the place … in which I responded SO GOOD, and went on to say it was probably the best meal since we have been in Costa Rica. He paused and then said … well I’m glad to hear that as Butcher Block is my restaurant. Bill was the owner!!!! He dabbles in different industries and products/services (similar to LCP) and runs the restaurant when he’s not taking people fishing.

Long story short … he set up dinner for us, so his restaurant prepared and cooked all the fish for us. And I was able to have some more beef brisket with Sweet Grace sauce.

NOTE: All recipes at this place were either his, his partners, or their mother’s recipes. Grace? That is his 13-year old daughter. Father-daughter relationships are special, aren’t they?

We ended the night back at the house with handsome slices of key lime pie from Emilios and finally retiring for the night exhausted from all the #winning.

#champion

Much love,
M&ALæs mere