The Latest Catch

Day 1 of the 39th Annual Bisbee Black and Blue began as not one, but two spectator boats headed out to watch the flare gun start of the event. Cabo Wave, loaded with dignitaries, staff, press, and spectators, was followed by a second spectator boat, also filled with overflow spectators eager to watch the start of the competition for $4.5 million – the largest sportfishing tournament purse in the world.

The 39th Bisbee Black and Blue Tournament – a record $4.5 million payout extravaganza, according to director Wayne Bisbee – is shaping up to be as substantial as the recently-concluded Los Cabos Offshore event. 

The 126 teams entered in this three-day tourney are poised for an early morning start.

From start to finish – with virtually no downtimes – the just concluded 2019 Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore Tournament was a bang-up event, made more so by the $1,274,150 distributed when it was all over. 

“Blue marlin, black marlin, striped marlin, and two tuna brought home the paydays for 120 entries of 480 anglers plus boat captains and crews working both the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific Ocean out of Cabo San Lucas,” said event director Wayne Bisbee.

There were 192 fish caught or released during the two-day event, including ten dorado but no qualifiers, 95 striped marlin, 61 blue marlin, ten black marlin, and one lonely spearfish.   

He added that was not bad for the two-day event. Over 2,400 pounds of fish were donated by the teams to “Feeding Los Cabos Kids,” whose staff and volunteers cleaned and delivered the fish that provided an estimated 7,557 meals for the kids and their families through their efforts since 2015, they have served Children’s Rehab and feeding centers through neighborhoods in the barrios surrounding Los Cabos.

Prior to the 7 a.m. start, 66-teams crowded the start line as the flare rose across the horizon for the second and final day of the Bisbee East Cape Offshore Tournament. Would it be decided in the first inning or last at-bat?

During the fiesta on the beach later, teams seemed optimistic and sure they would have a shot at the nearly $400,000 still left in the jackpot for Day Two.

However, on the winning side, the total jackpot increased to a record $790,000, the largest amount in the 20-year history of the ECO.

What the caterpillar perceives as the end,

to the butterfly is just the beginning.

When 2018’s Los Cabos Offshore Tournament punctured the One Million Dollar mark last year with its two-day format, the Bisbee Team heeded the input of its participants who urged the East Cape Offshore to match the LCOT format.