The Quiteña team experienced first-day heartbreak in the 2016 Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament when a money-making marlin eluded them. Yet, Capt. Rich Hamilton and his crew remained positive: They felt another chance would come.
“This year was the biggest spread of blues and blacks — and big ones — that I’ve ever seen fishing in Cabo in over 30 years,” Hamilton said.
Sure enough, that second chance came — and with it more than $2 million in winnings.
Quiteña angler Julio Fernandez hooked a 534-pound black marlin at around 11:15 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, the second day of the tournament, and fought it for just more than an hour before bringing it to the boat. That fish earned the team $2,183,000 — the biggest share of the tournament’s $3.5 million cash prize purse — and swept the top team, jackpot and captain categories as well as all but one daily jackpot category.
“We knew right away it was a $2 million fish,” said Hamilton, captain of the 62 Viking. “I can’t speak for the other guys but for me, looking back on it, I never felt stressed or anything. It was ‘there’s our fish, let’s go get it.’ The marlin made a couple really nice jumps right away,” Hamilton said. “Then it settled down and it was a slow and steady fight. It was a pretty tame actually.”
Go back one day earlier, and it’s easy to tell just how sweet this catch was for the Quiteña crew.
“On the first day, we hooked a fish at the end that was between 400 and 500 pounds and was a $1 million fish,” Hamilton said. “We ended up pulling the hook on it after an hour. We had the full gamut of tournament experience after the heartbreak on the first day. I have to be honest: Everybody on the boat felt like we had another one coming. It was a weird feeling. … No one got bummed out or anything like that.” The first day’s weather was calm, but winds picked up the following two.
The crew used a single-hook setup with a Marlin Magic Captain’s Choice lure — a black head with a red and black skirt — positioned in the short rigger. Fernandez caught the fish on a custom-wrapped Seeker rod and Shimano Tiagra TI130A reel. Paul Fruchbom owns the Newport Beach, California-based Quiteña. The rest of the crew includes: Miguel Dilley; Brandon Grossman; Carol Lynne; Tommy Neikirk; and Marlin Parker, a well-known captain from Hawaii.
In the Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournament, most of the money is won in the daily jackpots. When the pot from the first day rolled over to Thursday, that turned a $1 million opportunity to a $2 million one for Quiteña.
C-Bandit, fishing from a 75-foot Titan, finished second with a 416-pound black marlin caught Friday. That fish earned $685,000 for the optional jackpot category.
The team aboard Drakkar, a 65-foot Hatteras, caught a 349-pound blue marlin worth $40,500 and a third-place finish. Five More Minutes won $10,800 with a fourth-place finish, which it earned after catching a 344-pound blue marlin Friday. The Fastball team, aboard an 82-foot Viking, finished fifth with a 304-pound blue marlin.
Tranquilo won the Release Division and $68,510. El Suertudo finished second in the division — earning $23,715 — while Team Bibi finished third for $13,175.
There were 234 billfish — 175 blue marlin, 56 striped marlin, nine black marlin and three Pacific sailfish — caught by the 121 participating teams during the tournament.
