Bisbee’s Black and Blue fishing tournament

Three days of fishing in Cabo San Lucas in the Bisbee’s Black and Blue fishing tournament with Team Chrysler and the Pros2Preps team. Check out a sampling of our photos from the Bisbee’s Black and Blue fishing tournament plus some of the highlights from each day as a million dollars was on the line.

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DAY 1

On the boat at 7 a.m for an 8 a.m. shot-gun start on Day 1 of the Bisbee’s Black and Blue fishing tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The sun rose just before the start time on the first day. The waters were fairly calm, which was good for those who needed to get their sea legs under them. Team Chrysler was fishing on a 55 foot boat out in the Pacific, on the edge of the Sea of Cortez.

About two hours into the morning, the team hooked their first fish. It was not 300 pounds, which is the minimum weight to qualify for the tournament, so they threw it back in the water.

A few hours after that we got a second bite. The second marlin was a bit bigger, but still not 300 pounds so it was released too after a bit of wrangling. Got some great pictures of this fish coming out of the water as Carlos, the boat hand, was attempting to remove the hook.

Then it was about five hours trolling on the water at about eight to nine knots until poles had to be taken out of the water at 5 p.m. No more bites for the rest of the day. The team was not discouraged, as there was still two more days left to catch the winning fish and take home the almost half-million dollar prize for biggest overall catch.

Each day of the tournament money is on the line. On day one, only two boats, out of the 100 or so entered in the tournament, caught qualifying fish. One weighed in at 409 pounds and the other at 380 pounds. The winner’s took home about $75,000 for catching the biggest fish of the day.

The Bisbee’s Black and Blue is one of the largest tournaments, with some of the largest pots of prize money handed out.

Team Chrysler has two more days on the water to catch the biggest marlin.

We ended the day with a little Italian food at La Dolce, a great restaurant in the heart of Cabo San Lucas.

DAY 2

Team Chrysler was back on the boat at 7 a.m. for the second day of the tournament. While they fished, others, including myself, went to film some of the other sights around Los Cabos. 

Got some great video from high up of the boats taking off, filmed around the marina where the weigh in station was and then headed to the hotel where we were staying to get some video of the new property.

The Fairfield Inn and Suites just opened a few days before our arrival and only had 20 guests check in before our arrival. In fact we were the first guests to stay in our rooms.

They have great service there and terrific ammenities, such as free wi-fi which came in handy for me to post some pictures up on www.pros2preps.com.

Later in the afternoon, we made our way to Puerto Los Cabos golf course to play a few holes. It was a beautiful course, right on the ocean with truly breathtaking tee shots. 

Puerto Los Cabos is a community that is in San Jose del Cabo, 20 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas. They have a private marina, big lots to build your own home, restaurants and beach area along with the golf course.

I decided to try my hand at golf and promised a hole-in-one on the 15th hole parrallel to the ocean, but didn’t exactly deliver. Click here to see some behing the scene video of her tee shot.

After golf, we headed back the hotel.

When leaving the hotel that evening to head to dinner, we just happened to run into Bob Bisbee in the lobby of the hotel.

What a great interview, with so much knowledge of not only the beginnings of the Bisebee fishing tournaments, but also the growth of Cabo San Lucas.

Long day ended with Team Chrysler catching three fish, but none that qualified for the big money. In fact on Day 2, only one boat out of the 100  entered in the tourney caught a qualifier. But it only takes one fish to win the big money and with one more day on the water optimism was high.

DAY 3

The final day of the tournament and Brad Cesmat felt he was the luck Team Chrysler needed to catch the big fish and win the big prize. 

The water ended up being the choppiest of the three days and it ended up being a long morning as the fish weren’t biting.

As we neared 5 p.m. when lines needed to be out of the water, we had an El Dorado bite, which Brad reeled in to keep. A little while after that he caught his first marlin.

It took about 20 minutes to reel in the stripped marlin, which unfortunately wasn’t big enough or the right species to win any money in the tournament. Click here to watch some behind the scene video.

Team Chrysler ended the tournament without catching any qualifying fish, but everyone seemed to still be in good spirits about a fun three days on the ocean.

Later that night everyone took time to celebrate with a tequila tasting and dinner at Panchos Mexican Restuarant. The tequila tasting was very educational along with entertainment from a great mariachi band.

Then it was on to film some of the nightlife at Cabo Wabo. Brad was a dancing machine as we had a little time to have fun down in Cabo San Lucas.

FINAL DAY

We had one additional day planned to drive out to Todos Santos and visit Hotel California. While in Todos Santos we met Mr. Margarita at Tequila Sunrise Bar and Restaurant who showed us the secret to making the perfect margarita….the secret appeared to be lots of tequila.

Also on the drive from Cabo San Lucas to Todos Santos we stopped to get some video of ATVs and dune buggies having fun in the sand.

We really did a little bit of everything while down in Los Cabos and if you’re looking for a little beach vacation you might want to look into Los Cabos as a destination.

TOP PRIZES

The 31st edition boasted a field of 100 boats and more than 560 anglers representing 12 different nations. 

The boat, Bad Medicine, a 35 Cabo, took top honors after landing the biggest fish, a 409-pound blue, on the tournament’s first day. That catch swept the daily $200, $500, $1,000 and $2,000 jackpots for a total purse of $394,090.

The big money winner was Tiger Spirit who earned a whooping $1,162,842 even though their fish was 14 pounds lighter, since it was the only fish entered in all three daily $5,000 and $10,000 jackpots. Tiger Spirit owner Ned Wallace of Newport Beach, California, has been a long-time participant in the Black & Blue, but this is the first time his team has scored the tournament’s top cash prize.