Los Sueños, Costa Rica—Tami Noling, fishing aboard the Double Trouble, became the first female angler to be crowned the WBS World Champion of Billfishing.

She overcame a strong late-day charge by Blake Roberts to amass an amazing total of 2500 points in the three day tournament, with 1800 of those points coming on the third and final day of competition, releasing one striped marlin, two blue marlin and three sailfish in the fertile waters off Los Sueños, Costa Rica.

During the gala awards dinner and presentation held last night at the elegant El Galeon restaurant on the grounds of the resort, Noling was presented with the Grander Marlin trophy, a custom watch by Joseph Henry Jewelers, the gold Champions ring, keys to a new Mercedes Benz automobile and the title of World Champion.

Blake Roberts also had an excellent third day on the water, racking up 1100 points and multiple releases to score 2000 points and second place in this year's event. He was presented with the crystal World Globe for second place along with a custom watch by Joseph Henry. Mike Latham landed himself in third with a very steady performance yesterday to total 1500 points on the El Jefe Grande. Latham too was presented with the World Globe and a Joseph Henry custom watch for his achievements during the tournament. In all, there were 180 billfish released by the tournament fleet in three days of competition.

In other news, Darren Casey and the Double Trouble team were awarded the WBS World Traveler award, presented to the team that travels the farthest during the season to compete on the World Tour. Their stops for the year included tournaments in Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Texas, Panama, and Mazatlan.

Longtime WBS supporter and angler Scott Bowers was presented with the WBS Ambassador's award last night as well. This award signifies the angler who best represents the spirit of the WBS philosophy: honesty, integrety, spirited competition and the values associated therein.