A little over two weeks after the return of high season in Los Cabos, the event calendar is already in full swing. Highlights so far include Sammy Hagar’s 36th edition of his annual birthday bash at the iconic Cabo Wabo Cantina in Cabo San Lucas, and Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore fishing tournament, with its robust prize pool exceeding US $2.39 million.
Over 100,000 requests were received for the 1,600 available tickets to attend “The Red Rocker’s” 79th birthday celebrations at Cabo Wabo on Oct. 9, 11 and 13. Joining him on stage were long-time collaborators like guitarist Vic Johnson (a bandmate of Hagar’s in The Waboritas and Sammy Hagar and The Circle) and drummer Kenny Aronoff (a bandmate in Chickenfoot) — as well as the always highly anticipated special guests. Notable among the latter category was Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains, who joined in on a version of his own band’s hit “Man in the Box,” plus the Van Halen classic “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” during the Oct. 11 show.
Unrehearsed and unpredictable
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“That’s part of the charm of the Birthday Bash,” Hagar told Billboard. “It’s not rehearsed, and we never know really what we’re gonna do. I don’t invite people; I just invite kind of a house band, you might say. I’ve got a repertoire of about 400 songs, and if somebody says they know one of them, we throw it together real quick and go out and do it.”
As for Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore, over 122 teams competed during the three days of fishing, and there was more than one winner: Team Tikki Perro caught the biggest fish, a 350-pound blue marlin that narrowly beat the 347-pound blue marlin caught by Team Loose Crew on the final day of fishing. Those teams finished first and second in the standings, but due to timing and jackpots, the biggest winner monetarily was the third-place finisher, Team Trixie, who walked away with an oversized check for US $1,589,0007 for reeling in a 334-pound black marlin the day previous, and sweeping all daily jackpots.
But this drama was merely a prelude to the world’s most lucrative fishing tournament, which takes place this week.
Bisbee’s Black and Blue
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The biggest single event on the Los Cabos sports calendar, Bisbee’s Black and Blue marlin fishing tournament has been a local institution since its founding in 1982. Its impact, however, is global: No fishing tournament on the planet has ever topped the record US $11,651,300 prize pool offered by the Black and Blue in 2022.
As the name suggests, blue and black marlin are the most valuable catches — provided they meet the minimum 300-pound limit. In 2025, three teams earned checks totaling upwards of US $1.7 million for boating blue marlin, with the two largest in excess of 450 pounds.
This year, for the first time, Bisbee’s has added a fourth event to its Baja California Sur schedule: Mag Bay Mania in Bahía Magdalena, Comondú municipality. The format is also novel, with teams given the entire month of November to choose three days to fish, with 100 points each garnered for all virtually verified catches and releases of qualifying billfish (including blue, black and striped marlin, sailfish and spearfish).
The other three events — the East Cape Offshore, Los Cabos Offshore and iconic Black and Blue — all take place in Los Cabos. The prize pool for the 2026 Black and Blue, aka “The Super Bowl of Fishing,” will be announced when registration closes on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Dates: Oct. 19-24
Location: Boats depart from the Cabo San Lucas Marina, with fishing permitted within a 50-nautical-mile radius.
Cost: Base entry is US $5,000 per team, or US $84,500 “all-in” to include daily jackpots.
Baja Ha-Ha Cruisers Rally
Founded by Latitude 38 publisher Richard Spindler back in 1994, this epic annual 750-mile cruisers rally from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas celebrates its 32nd edition in 2026. This year’s sail, however, will be the first without Spindler as “Grand Poobah” of the proceedings, as he stepped down and sold Baja Ha-Ha LLC after last year’s event, citing age as the reason (he’s 78).
San Diego Sailmaker Chuck Skewes is the new Grand Poobah, or “Newbah,” and has stated he plans no major overhauls. A nine-time participant himself, he also has the expertise of longtime Assistant Poobah Patsy Verhoeven, a veteran of 20 Baja Ha-Has, to lean on. Boats will depart San Diego on Nov. 2 following the pre-launch costume party, with two stops planned along the way before scheduled merrymaking in Cabo San Lucas — including the “Can’t Believe We Cheated Death Again” dance party at El Squid Roe on Nov. 13, and an awards banquet at Mango Deck on Nov. 14, with awards given out in categories such as “most miles sailed” and “biggest fish caught” along the way.
Dates: Nov. 2-14
Location: Departs from San Diego, California, and arrives in Cabo San Lucas following stops at Bahía Tortuga and Bahía Santa María.
Cost: Entry fee is US $595.
WON Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot
Fishing and hunting-focused publication Western Outdoor News (WON) has a long history with Los Cabos, dating back to the halcyon days of Baja columnist and “The Sea of Cortez” author Ray Cannon, who helped put the area on the travel map in the 1950s and 1960s — largely because of its superb sportfishing.
The Los Cabos Tuna Jackpot was first organized by WON in Cabo San Lucas in 1999, and by 2019 it had crossed the million-dollar prize pool threshold. Now recognized as the richest tuna fishing tournament in the world, the 2025 prize pool exceeded US $1.4 million (just shy of the 2022 record of US $1,533,800), with Team North Star pocketing a cool US $572,225 for reeling in a 253-pound yellowfin.
But it’s not all about the money, as the tournament motto (“fish hard, party harder”) makes clear.
Dates: Nov. 4-7
Location: Cabo San Lucas Marina, with no off-limits boundary line for fishing.
Cost: Base entry is US $1,000 per team, or US $50,500 to include all daily jackpots.
PGA World Wide Technology Championship
The only PGA-sponsored golf tournament in Los Cabos — and one of only two in Mexico — returns to the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal course at Diamante for its 20th edition this year (the fourth based in Cabo San Lucas after 16 years on the Riviera Maya).
The last two tournament winners, Austin Eckroat (2024) and Ben Griffin (2025), have both confirmed they’ll return this year. However, since players aren’t required to commit until Oct. 30, the rest of the field is mostly still unknown, outside fan favorite “Cashmere Keith” Mitchell, Mexican invitee Álvaro Ortiz and Mexican qualifiers Alejandro Madariaga and Jorge Villar.
For the first time, both of Mexico’s PGA tournaments — the VidantaWorld Mexico Open in Nuevo Nayarit and the World Wide Technology Championship — will appear back-to-back on the schedule as part of the FedExCup Fall series.
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Dates: Nov. 5-8
Location: El Cardonal Golf Course, Diamante, Cabo San Lucas
Cost: General admission tickets are US $139 for the four-day tournament, with daily tickets available from US $35. Access to VIP hospitality areas, however, runs significantly higher. The Skybox overlooking the 18th green, for example, costs US $1,499 for the duration of the tournament.
Chris Sands is a writer and editor for Mexico News Daily, and the former Cabo San Lucas local expert for the USA Today travel website 10 Best and writer of Fodor’s Los Cabos travel guidebook. He has also contributed to numerous other websites and publications, including The San Diego Union-Tribune, Marriott Bonvoy Traveler, Forbes Travel Guide, Porthole Cruise and Travel, and Cabo Living.
