Los Cabos, Sportfishing, Tournaments, Blue marlin, $1,000,000.00,
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Largest marlin jackpot tournament in Baja
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<p>It required two boats to accommodate all of the local, state and national dignitaries in addition to the teams, guests and spectators on the first morning of the 37<sup>th</sup> Annual Bisbee Black & Blue tournament.</p>
<p>The boats, provided by <a href="https://www.wildcabotours.com/">Wild Cabo Tours</a>, were up to the gunwales with guests eager to see the 120 teams roar off. They weren’t disappointed as the final countdown was broadcast over VHF radio at exactly 8 a.m.</p>
<p><strong>Team Eugene</strong> got the party started at 8:34 a.m. after the flare gun start when RJ Kosich hooked and released the first blue marlin 11 minutes later.</p>
<p>All morning – until early afternoon – the steady bite produced more releases, and more hook-ups with three blue and two black marlin boated.</p>
<p>First to the scale was <strong>Team</strong> <strong>Rising Sun </strong>with the event’s initial qualifying blue marlin. Scott Leonard took only 29 minutes to land his fish, a 392-pounder, to provide his team with an early lead.</p>
<p>Brian Pierce reported that Team Captain Chris Anderson owns the boat and tackle and that their journey had been a team effort for the past 16 years. This moment had been a long time coming. The team had weighed a fish in 2008 that was knocked out of contention by a larger one. This was the larger of the two hooked and boated by the team.</p>
<p>“My boy Scotty was one cool dude in the fighting chair as the team hollered and screamed at him during the 29-minute battle. He just calmly handled his business,” Pierce continued. “We are excited, but there are still fish in the ocean; if it is meant to be it will be. I can tell you this, I couldn’t find a better crew to roll with,” he concluded.</p>
<p><strong>Team Chinito Bonito</strong> was the next to arrive with another blue marlin weighing 442-pounds, securing the team top spot on the leader board … for the moment. Team member David Ahn commented that it was his first-time fishing in the Bisbee and was the largest fish he had ever caught. It took 28-minutes to subdue. </p>
<p>Next to arrive was <strong>Team Porque No</strong> with the first black marlin of the day. Team members from both Southern California and Minnesota were animated as they told how their fish had jumped … then jumped some more. They could tell</p>
<p>it was a qualifier. And when the official scale rope came taut and Jack Tescal hollered out the weight of 344 pounds, the team was elated.</p>
<p>“See this bracelet?” pointing to his wrist Jim Purcell of Pacific Palisades, Calif., gestured, “it’s all about Karma!” The bracelet is part of a pledge to contribute a percentage of their winnings to local charities. All they do is for the kids and Humane Society.</p>
<p>As it turned out, the final fish of the day belonged to <strong>Team Ten Brothers</strong> from Chicago: angler Anthony Boratto; angler John Boratto; angler Michael Boratto; angler Jeff Cornett; mate Eliazar Cortez; angler Joe Donatoni; angler Joseph Donatoni, Sr.; angler Salar Gilly; angler Jeff Kleitz; angler James Miller; Capt. Hiram Montano; and angler Dave Snobl.</p>
<p>According to the team, Gilly hooked a blue marlin and was fighting it when a second fish, a larger marlin came up behind the transom of the <em>Dream Weaver. </em>It was feeding, so Kleitz dropped back a large tuna they had bridled and the huge fish whacked it. The monster fish greyhounded away taking a handful of jumps before sounding. Kleitz was still suffering from the blisters he had from his winning fish in the LCO last week, so the mate Cortez boated it,</p>
<p>Everyone at the scale was certain that the smaller fish would still qualify; however, it missed the mark by a mere two pounds. You could have heard a pin drop after the weight was announced. There was a penalty added in the overall category of -29 points, but not in the individual jackpots.</p>
<p>While the larger fish was being brought to the weigh-station, Tournament Director Wayne Bisbee commented, “What a heart breaker a couple of pounds can be; it’s impossible to cut it that close when eyeballing the fish.”</p>
<p>All 10 Brothers cheered-on the weigh station crew as they struggled to hoist the second fish. “Hey, we want a new Ten Brothers record” laughed one as the fish slowly settled on the rope. “Three-two-one- let’s have the weight,” begged one brother. Then, the weighmaster drawled out the official weight of 485 pounds!</p>
<p>The Brothers’ and the crowd’s responses were instantaneous and loud as the cheers echoed around the malecon, “Bring the <a href="http://www.sanmatias.com/">Casa San Matias</a>. We are number one … Number 1 on the first day of the B&B. We are happy to be in the lead and Karma was ours today.” They concluded, “One-two-three- DREAM WEAVER SPORTFISHING!” they cheered as they posed for photos for both the photo pool as well as spectators with cell phones.</p>
<p>Team members later explained, “We are Chicago boys who began in 2005 and in 2008 met Capt. Ramon when everything changed. We won in ’09 with Capt. Ramon and <em>Dream Weaver</em> and are doing it again in 2017. We are grateful to this great crew! We are nothing without them, we are only mortals.”</p>
<p>Bisbee summed up the first day … “This is about the busiest Day One we’ve ever had. Members of the Million Dollar Club <strong>Team Ten Brothers</strong> aren’t screwing around this week; they have their eyes on the prize in this, the richest tournament of its kind on planet earth.”</p>
<p>He concluded, “Tomorrow [Thursday] is another day and if it is anything like today it will be sensational. And once again, all of the fish caught today are going to the <a href="http://www.hopeforloscabos.com/">Hope for Los Cabos</a> to feed the Cabo kids.”</p>
<p>For complete results for Day One go to <a href="https://bisbees.catchstat.com/Tournament/LiveScoring">Catch Stat</a>.</p>
Excerpt
<p> All 10 Brothers cheered-on the weigh station crew as they struggled to hoist the second fish. “Hey, we want a new Ten Brothers record” laughed one as the fish slowly settled on the rope. “Three-two-one- let’s have the weight,” begged one brother. Then, the weighmaster drawled out the official weight of 485 pounds!</p>