The Chupacabra team claimed the 2017 Bisbee's Black and Blue Tournament championship, but the Ten Brothers team, fishing aboard Dream Weaver, left Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with the biggest check.
Such is the world of offshore-fishing tournaments — and the power of the jackpot.
Chupacabra finished with 682 points, earned from a 356-pound black marlin and 326-pound blue marlin, to top all other teams. Those two catches came on Day Two aboard the 64-foot Hatteras and earned the team $69,907, the fifth-largest payout of the event.
The Chicago-based Ten Brothers team, fishing aboard its 32-foot Blackfin Dream Weaver, made the most of its two catches despite finishing fourth in points. Eliazar Cortez's 485-pound black marlin, the second-largest of the tournament, and Salar Gilly's 298-pound blue marlin won six different Day One jackpots for a $961,518 payout. The total tournament cash purse this year, including all jackpots, topped $3 million.
The team aboard C-Bandit, a 75-foot Titan, made the most of the third and final day of the tournament to weigh the largest marlin of the tournament. Angler Frank D'Anna fought a 569-pound black marlin for 45 minutes and boated it just before 6 p.m., just minutes before the tournament's end. That catch helped the team win $764,966. The Go Deeper 60 team won $876,350, the second-largest payout. Texas angler Danny Hogan caught a 462-pound black marlin, the third-largest fish of the tournament, to help the WIld Hooker team finish fourth in winnings at $439,987.
The 120-boat fleet caught 79 billfish, including 54 blue marlin, 14 black marlin, 10 striped marlin and one sailfish. All fish brought to the scales were donated to the Hope for Los Cabos non-profit organization, which used the catches to create 33,747 meals.
