Tucked away on the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic is the secluded yet easily accessible resort destination known as Casa de Campo. It’s a 7,000-acre resort, hotel and residential community in La Romana that’s also home to Marina Casa de Campo, a full-service marina facility with 370 slips that sits on the edge of the Chavón River. With dockage for vessels to 250 feet, Marina Casa de Campo is the epicenter for sport fishing in the region and has quickly become a favorite destination for blue marlin enthusiasts.
Just how good is the fishing? In 2016, the team on Fa-La-Me won the Marina Casa de Campo Cup with 41 blue marlin releases in 18 fishing days. The month-long event, spanning from March 15 to April 15 each year, resulted in 10 teams releasing 157 blue marlin.
Capt. Tim Richardson, who spends the fishing season there chartering Chaser, a 48-foot G&S, says most of the action revolves around fishing the fish-aggregating devices which are deployed by the locals. “We usually run an hour or less, with most of the FADs being anywhere from 16 to 30 miles away,” he says. “We’ll leave about 7 in the morning and get back around 6:30 in the afternoon, so you get a full day on the water.” While he normally fishes a standard spread of dredges, squid chains and 30-pound-test outfits, Richardson will also readily target blues on light tackle or fly for his clients.
And while 90 percent of the fish released are blue marlin, there are also a few whites and sailfish around, along with some jumbo mahimahi. A daytime deep-drop fishery for swordfish is coming online as well.
“It’s a very easy place to fish,” he says. “The resort itself is very safe and has great…
