Born and raised in Southern California’s Orange County, Cole Coscino has always loved to fish but it has evolved into a full-blown obsession as he grew up. While still majoring in business management in college at Point Loma and playing baseball, Cole maintains the goal to work on boats during the summers and should soon have his 100-ton captain’s license.
Therefore we are happy to announce that Cole is a perfect match with the fact he is our lucky winner of BD’s Race to Guatemala Contest. Cole will join the BD team at the five-star Casa Vieja Lodge for some of the best billfishing in the world.
I caught up with Cole between classes to get his reaction on winning our most coveted contest, The Race to Somewhere. He is really excited at the prospect of experiencing new types of fishing and learning new techniques. He said he still can’t believe it and was in shock when BD’s leader Ali Hussainy called him to tell him he had won. “I was asking Ali about swordfishing as I’ve been wanting to try, when he said. You won! I could not believe it when I heard”, said Cole.
Cole said he started fishing with his Dad on party boats. “We would go once a month to start, but that became once a week after a while. I really loved getting out on the water no matter what we were catching. I began helping on various boats, cleaning up as a trade for the ride. I actually work on boats now in the summers off from college. I’ve worked on party boats, 6-pack charters and some private boats.”
Can you pick a favorite type of fishing I asked him. Cole replied, “I’ve never really chased specific species as a rule because I like catching anything. I do love rockfishing and seabass fishing, but I really just like getting out on the water and every aspect of fishing. Some may say it is not worth going out on a particular day, but some of my best trips have happened on those days so you just have to go fishing every chance you get.”
I asked Cole about the “seabass story” that I had heard mentioned. He explained, “I was working a ¾-day charter for captain Calvin Cooper on the Helena. The conditions looked good so we decided to give seabass a shot on our way down the beach. One of the girls on the boat hooked up right away on a rental rod, 20# test and a #2 hook. The fish took her straight into the kelp on the surface and acted like a seabass. We pulled anchor and chased it down and tried to get it out of the kelp for a while. I asked Calvin if he had a speargun on board, and he did. I borrowed a pair of fins and a mask and hopped in, swam down about 10-feet and saw her fish wrapped in a huge stringer. I shot the thing in the head, and came up with it and right then the hooked popped out on the surface. We got it on board and everyone went crazy.
It was awesome. Turns out that was the girl’s first time fishing EVER, her first bait in the water, and her first fish; a 42.6-pound croaker. Everyone was speechless and stoked beyond belief.
That’s the kinda stuff I live for; that’s why I love fishing and taking people fishing. I love everything about it.
Cole has visited Hawaii and Costa Rica as a younger kid, but is excited to get the opportunity to visit Guatemala and the Casa Vieja Lodge.
“I’ve heard nothing but incredible things about Casa Vieja and I’m really looking forward to it. December can’t get here fast enough!”
So congratulations to Cole for winning and a big thanks to Casa Vieja Lodge and all of our sponsors who make the trip possible. Without their gear and products, the trip would not be the same experience. Visit their sites to see why we love their gear: Costa, AFTCO, Seaguar, Mustad and Okuma.
Check out our past winners trips!
