October 14, 2011 | Los Cabos, Baja California Sur, Mexico | Capt. Dave Lear

The field is set. A near-record 69 boats are ready to blast off early Saturday morning as the 10th annual Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore tournament kicked off this evening with the captains meeting at the Baja Cantina overlooking the harbor in this picturesque resort town. At stake is more than $280,000 in prize money and bragging rights among some of the top sportfishing crews in the world.

“This is my favorite tournament,” says Chip Wagner, owner of the Hang ‘Em High, a 58-foot Miller custom sportfish, homeported in Texas. “We’re competing against the best of the best. The best anglers, crews and captains, including my Captain–Ramone Agundez of Cabo–are all here. That’s why this is so much fun. But all the Bisbee tournaments are fun.”

With its team format, boats will be trolling the prolific waters of the Pacific and Sea of Cortez in search of big game fish. Qualifying blue and black marlin must weigh at least 300 pounds, while yellowfin tuna have a 40-pound minimum. Eligible dorado must weigh 30 pounds or more. Striped marlin and sailfish accrue points in the release division.

“This is a great way to get the rust off,” says tourney regular, and winner of last year’s Black & Blue, John Stonecipher of Prescott, Arizona. Stonecipher is teaming with fellow Arizona angler Jason Kidd, Capt. Mike Hennessy of Oahu, Hawaii, and Daman Oswalt of Sydney, Australia aboard Rehab, a 35 Cabo convertible. “If all else fails, we’ll drag some plastic, but we mainly fish live bait,” Stonecipher added. “And my advice to the other teams is… don’t fry bacon naked,” he recommended with a laugh.

“This is starting out to be another great year,” says Tricia Bisbee. “We’ve got a big jump in the number of boats and payout over last year, so that’s exciting. The weather forecast for the next few days is perfect. And if that’s not enough, there have been some really nice fish caught recently and good bait reports coming in, so we expect to be very busy at the scales. It really is shaping up to be a record event all around.”

Fishing begins at 8 a.m. Saturday after a flare start near the famous Los Arcos rock formation and continues until 5 p.m. The weigh scales, located near the entrance of the Puerto Paraiso Entertainment Plaza in downtown Cabo, remain open until 8 p.m.

As the second leg of the Bisbee’s Black & Blue series, the Los Cabos Offshore tournament is presented by Cabo Riviera Marina and Golf Resort. Follow all the action right here as the drama unfolds over the next few days in sunny–and fishy–Baja.