Two of Bisbee’s annual sport fishing tournaments kick off in Los Cabos this week and next, with combined cash prizes of US $10.5 million.
The 2023 Los Cabos Offshore fishing tournament takes place over Friday, Oct. 20 and Saturday, Oct. 21 and will award the top three fishing teams based on the single heaviest qualifying black or blue marlin.
Next week, the 43rd annual Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournament will take place over three days from Oct. 25 to Oct. 27. Overall top teams and captains’ awards will be given for the five largest qualifying black and/or blue marlin weighed during the tournament.
Registration for Los Cabos Offshore is open Oct. 18-19 with a base entry fee per team of US $1,500. Teams can find registration booths at Luxury Avenue in Puerto Paraiso Mall, Cabo San Lucas, from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Black & Blue requires a US $5,000 entry fee per team, and registration will open Oct. 24, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Both tournaments are hosted and organized by the family of the late Bob Bisbee, who founded the first competition in 1981.
In a press conference announcing this year’s event, Tournament Coordinator Clicerio Mercado shared that last year’s tournament saw the participation of more than 160 fishing boats.
“It’s no longer el Bisbee’s chiquito,” or the “little Bisbee’s tournament” it once was, Mercado said.
This year’s tournaments are expected to generate over US $50 million in revenue in Los Cabos, with an anticipated 1,200 attendees, according to Mercado.
With a total purse of $11.5 million, last year’s Black & Blue broke international records by handing out the largest cash prize ever awarded in a single sportfishing tournament.
The winning team was “El Mexicano,” which took home U.S. $3.5 million after Veracruz angler Adrián Ponce de León caught a 461-pound blue marlin.
With reports from El Sudcaliforniano and Tendencia