UNLIKELY CHAMPIONS

A big last day leads to victory

- SAM WHITE

It's better to be lucky than good; happy boats catch fish; we're just here to have a good time-we've all heard the same old idioms about tournament fishing for years. But sometimes a story comes along that really highlights those sentiments.

The 2022 Costa Offshore World Championship, held this past April in Quepos, Costa Rica, hosted 37 teams and 168 anglers from 18 different countries. It's perhaps the most internationally diverse tournament of its kind in the world, and yet there's not a dime of prize money to be won-it's all for the title of Offshore World Champions (plus a boatload of trophies and prizes). Every team fishing had to earn the right to attend by winning a qualifying event in their home waters-never an easy feat. Most arrive in Costa Rica days in advance to pre-fish and get to know the waters off Quepos, lugging boxes of their own tackle down the docks of Marina Pez Vela-rod tubes and backpacks brimming with all the latest gear, reels carefully topped off with fresh line, game faces on and ready to go head-to-head with some of the best fishermen in the world.

And then there were the Kenyans. Team No. 33-Florian Biziere, Steve Harries and Geoff Bell-came to Costa Rica with the goal of having a good time and little else. With their wives in tow, they figured it would be a good way to meet some of their fellow international anglers and spread the word about the great fishing they have back at home in eastern Africa. They had qualified for the OWC by winning their largest local tournament, the 30-boat Watamu Fishing Festival. It was their first time in Central America and first time using the combination of light tackle, dead bait and circle hooks.