Last week the Carol Libby team, with Capt. Josh Temple at the wheel, broke the world record for the highest number of blue marlin in a single season with a total of 430 releases exceeding the total of the previous record (422 releases) on June 22.

Not content to leave it there, the team is fresh back to port over the weekend after another 5 day trip. And, not only have they added considerably to their world record tally which now stands at 522, but they have once again smashed all expectations when it comes to blue marlin fishing.

World Record Blue Marlin Release Stats as of last week:

Days fished: 61 as of June 26, 2014
Location: Offshore, Los Sueños, Costa Rica
Total Fish Raised: 754
Bites: 614
Official Releases: 430

One week later, after another trip that saw an amazing 122 blue marlin released in 5 days (including 34 from 46 in a single day when they didn’t start fishing until 9am!), the new world record total is 522!

Josh says that the blues are generally up to 500lbs with most are 250-300lb range and that they are catching mostly straight blues with the odd black, stripe, sail, sword here and there. In addition to the most releases, some of the other records they have smashed in the process include the:

• most ever released in a day;
• most ever caught by one angler in a day;
• most ever tagged in a day;
• most ever tagged in a year;
• most ever caught in a year by one angler; and,
• most ever caught in a year by a boat.

Huge congratulations to the whole team including Josh, his crew Tony Carpenter, Andrea McQuade, James Brown as well as owner anglers Greg and Keith Brandner.

Los Suenos has long been a top billfish destination. It’s also where Spanish Fly released their albino (actually leucistic) blue marlin in March of this year and like our own Port Stephens, it is one of the few destinations where a marlin grand slam (black, blue and striped marlin in a single day) is very possible. It’s also a hot spot for sailfsh – in this year’s Los Suenos Signature Triple Crown tournament, 42 boats released 692 sailfish and four marlin on the first day of fishing alone!

By pushing some boundaries and fishing what Josh tells me is “a little farther offshore than where everyone usually fishes” (and laying their own FADs!) the team has been absolutely smashing record after record since last season. Read about some of the great fishing the Carol Libby team experienced back in 2013 on the blog here which saw them hit a high of 155 blues raised, 94 bites and 68 fish successfully released in 3.5 days fishing…

I’ve had a reasonably long association with Josh and his team both being part of the Pelagic Pro Team fraternity since 2008, and have followed his fishing religiously since then. Back in those days he was best known for his fishing in Puerto Vallarta “Cow Town” (Mexico) and was instrumental for putting PV on the map as a hot spot for giant yellowfin tuna. Never one to rest on his laurels he’s been pushing the boundaries ever since.

Since 2012 with partner and deck-ess extraordinaire Andrea by his side, Josh has been working with the Brandner family (owner/father/angler Greg and son/angler/record-chaser Keith) on board the 60ft Carol Libby and although they have met with some challenges along the way (it’s not fishing without boat issues), it’s been record after record.

Josh tells me that next on the horizon is Panama a little later in the year where they will explore the offshore banks and sea mounts.

Follow Josh and the Carol Libby Team via facebook or Pelagic’s Pro Team page The Waterman’s Journal.