Sportfishing grand slams differ from baseball grand slams, although they are just as hard to come by. According to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA), the arbiter of most things fishing, an Offshore grand slam is defined as one boat/captain/anglers releasing any three of the following species during a one-day charter: Blue Marlin, Black Marlin, Striped Marlin, Sailfish, Swordfish or Spearfish.

And there is even more: a Super grand slam! To accomplish this, one has to release at least four of the above species.

Captain Bobby McGuinness, who charters out of the South Pacific port of Golfito, and clients Scott Hartley, Early Johnson and Steve Jones, hit Costa Rica’s latest grand slam. Fishing on October 20, they released one Blue Marlin, one Black Marlin and one Sailfish (for the record, on the following day they released three Blue and four Striped Marlin).

This is far from the first slam for Bobby, a highly-respected name in international sportfishing circles. For those who don’t know him, Bobby McGuinness was twice chosen world’s top captain by the IGFA (2006 and 2010). A couple of months ago, he was named one of the world’s 50 top saltwater charter captains by Saltwater Sportsman magazine. He holds more IGFA world records – well over 200 – than any captain fishing in Costa Rica. He can take up to six anglers on a full day charter, and up to three on two- and three-day overnighters on his 37ft Cazador when he goes to favorite spots up to 80 miles out.

Thanks to Bobby McGuinness and several other world-class captains, Golfito, once the country’s leading banana exporting port, is re-inventing itself as one of the country’s premier sportfishing destinations. Virtually nowhere else on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast is there such an optimum combination of offshore and inshore fishing, a whopping 12 different Snapper species included among the latter.

Rain keeps a lot of anglers away from the Pacific coast in October. But the fish don’t care! As an example, Brennan Warren and his buddy just spent a day inshore with Captain Carlos Arguedas and mate Lindor Jiménez on the 26ft Wing Man out of the very popular Los Sueños Marina in the Central Pacific. They probably didn’t have a minute without something tugging on the lines, because they went 8-10 on Roosterfish, 1-3 on Cubera Snapper, and caught three Amberjack, two Mackerel and 15 Jack Cravalle!

Los Sueños Marina, less than 90 minutes from San José, is a prime destination for anglers who flock to Costa Rica between January and April every year for one of the world’s best billfish bites. Not only is it a model marina – one of the finest in all of Latin America – it is home to a sportfishing charter fleet second to none, with some of the planet’s top captains.

For those of you lusting for the adrenalin surge that comes with a Sailfish or Marlin leap and the thrill of battle, now is the time to book your 2014 winter/spring fishing trip in Costa Rica.