In the category of you never know, an atypical black marlin was the first qualifier for the 2026 East Cape Offshore, as day one of fishing wrapped up on Wednesday. Angler and boat owner Jim Arthaud, Capt. TJ Dobson and the team on Second Wind, a 64 Bertram based in San Jose, hoisted a 433-pound black marlin up the scales to take an early lead.
“We’ve been fishing the ECO for eight years now and had four qualifiers in that time,” Arthaud explained after the weight was announced. “It was a tough fight, a solid 2.5 hours. I’ve caught bigger fish easier than this one. It was bull-headed. It must be a female,” he added with a laugh.
Second Wind’s catch was fooled by a live bait south of East Cape and taken on a 50 Wide custom outfit with 100-pound monofilament main line and 300-pound fluorocarbon leader.
“We pre-fished before the tournament and knew where we wanted to go. But the first spot was shark, shark, shark. So we moved and 15 minutes later there it was,” Arthaud added. “We love it here,” the North Dakota resident said. “My captain and I have been together for 15 years. The competition is great at the ECO with the same cast of characters every time. We’re in across the board, including the Chupacabra Division and we need a win ‘cause we always enter that one. The plan tomorrow is to catch a bigger fish with my son in the chair.”
The marlin bite overall was steady throughout the first day. One other black marlin was released, along with 34 blues, 19 striped marlin and 15 sailfish. Marlin only are eligible to be weighed and must exceed 300 pounds to qualify. Releases score points in the highly competitive release division. Eighty-three teams are vying for $1.6 million in prize money in the first leg of the three Bisbee’s Baja events. HDI Marine is the Presenting Sponsor of the series.
Another veteran ECO team made an early mark on the leaderboard with a hefty tuna entry. Team Too Awesome, a group of friends from Idaho, combined to best a 160-pound yellowfin. The fight, started by Matt Minor and finished by Shaun Speer, lasted two hours and 15 minutes. Too Awesome’s tuna ate a live bait on a circle hook on a 50 combo. It was caught due east of the Buena Vista Resort, the tournament headquarters, about 10 miles off the lighthouse.
“We got into a nice school of fish and the first one landed was 65 pounds, the second was 90 pounds and then we hooked the big one. A shark started chasing it and we thought we’d lost it when boom, it took off again and got all the way into the backing,” Speer explained. “We hold the ECO record for the largest tuna ever at 262 pounds and the record dorado—68 pounds—caught in 2002.
“I’ve fished here since 1992 when I caught a dink dorado. I was born and raised on a river in Oregon, but I’ve spent a whole lot of time here. We’ve been running a sport-fishing operation in East Cape for 20 years, so this is always special. Today was really fun and exciting.”
Matthew Clifton (Encantada) weighed a 86-pound yellowfin for second on the leaderboard. Identical 71.8-pound tuna were also weighed by Teams Reel Talent 250 and Hotel Buena Vista. Angler Joel Hirales Aviles on Bendito Mar boated a 38-pound dorado to take an early lead in that game fish category.
Fortunately for Speer, Arthaud and the other ECO anglers, there are two days remaining in the tournament. Anything and everything can still happen when it comes to big catches—and probably will.
