The Latest Catch

Team Stella June’s 375-pound black marlin caught on the second day of the 3-day event held in the East Cape area earned the Team an enormous $1,286,385 payday at Saturday Nights 23rd East Cape Offshore Awards banquet held on the sand in front of the Buena Vista Oceanfront and Hot Springs Resort managed by the Valdez Family for the past 46 years.

Wanna be a millionaire? So did the ninety-seven teams still hoping to get in the hunt on the final day of the 23rd Annual Bisbee ECO! With the first two days of fishing behind them, a few awaiting the 7:30-am start were hoping to add to their successes.

Joe Musich aboard "Buena Fortuna" released a dorado 25 minutes after the flare gun went off – the first fish of the day. Hopefully, he would live up to the name of his boat, translated as "Good Fortune!"

Long after lines out, Team Stella June arrived with a black marlin that was the first qualifying billfish to be brought to the scale during the first two days of competition. The usual debate, "Would it qualify?" ricocheted through the enormous crowd of spectators. The noisy debate continued as the scale was zeroed, and the giant fish was hoisted up. Seconds went by as the numbers settled on the scale and stopped. "THREE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE POUNDS," Wayne Bisbee declared.

Ninety-seven boats crossed the starting line determinedly – with a plan. Although, admittedly, some looked like they had no "plan" in mind!

Some teams targeted a single species, billfish, dorado, or yellowfin tuna.

Those Teams targeting billfish complained that they found the dorado to be a nuisance. However, most billfish hooked did not meet the Tournament's minimum weight of 300-pounds, so they were released.

The 2022 Bisbee's East Cape Offshore edition begins with 97 teams who, for the third year in a row, are vying for another RECORD-BREAKING TOTAL of $1,614,425, according to the final numbers listed in CatchStat.  Anglers from Cabo to La Paz share optimism after the positive results of several successful events for specific species kicking off this season in Baja.

For the 20th time in the 41-year history of the BLACK and BLUE, a ONE MILLION DOLLAR check was presented to the tournament winner!

Team BRANIFF, a FIRST-TIME WINNER aboard a Pisces Fleet boat, the 58' Dona Homa, with Captain Lupe at the wheel and angler Andres Pineda on the rod, caught what turned out to be the largest fish weighed in during the event – a 489-pound blue marlin earning the TEAM over $1,000,000.

$9,000,000

ONE QUALIFYING BILLFISH

ONE TEAM

ONE DAY

After the last team had lost the final hooked billfish on Thursday, Wayne Bisbee, Tournament Director, declared, “Friday, the final day of the 2021 Black & Blue, will be like no other in the history of competitive big sport fishing tournaments in the world.”

“A $9,000,000 shootout between 199 Teams for the largest single-day prize ever awarded in a Bisbee tournament.”  

Bisbee announced that Team BRANIFF's catch was worth just over $600,000 since they only entered the $500 and $5,000 Daily Jackpots; however, there is still a possibility of more money if theirs remains the largest fish brought to the weigh-station!

The celebration continued as Bisbee wrapped up, when the clock reached 5 p.m., confirming that "lines out" and that no other fish were hooked up or coming to the scale. So, his announcement caused yet another brief celebration before the Team departed for a well-earned dinner at one of their favorite restaurants.

For the THIRD time in its 23-year history, the Bisbee LCO total awards equaled over a MILLION DOLLARS as well as increasing to 186 TEAMS breaking last years record of 122. Also of note is that 60+TEAMS were FIRST TIMERS in competition for the total payout of $1,961,600.