The world’s richest marlin tournament is back in Cabo—and the money is real. The Bisbee’s Black & Blue opened its 45th edition with 179 boats chasing a purse flirting with $7.4 million. Three fishing days, strict weigh-in rules, and a Saturday awards night set the stage for a few life-changing bites. Crews will sprint from the shotgun start at 7 a.m., race home by the 9 p.m. cutoff, and hope their marlin clears the 300-pound mark. One catch can rewrite a season—or a career.
Bisbee’s Black & Blue
LOS CABOS—The Bisbee’s Black & Blue fired its opening shotgun start this morning, launching 179 boats into three days of hard fishing and more complex decisions. Organizers say the purse sits shy of $7.4 million, a figure that again places the tournament at the top of the sport’s money list. For Cabo, it’s part spectacle, part economic engine, and all adrenaline.
Why Bisbee’s Black & Blue matters in Los Cabos
This is the 45th edition, and the ritual is now muscle memory in the marina: flags snapping, crews on decks, spectators lined along Puerto Paraíso. The event is billed by organizers as the “Super Bowl of Fishing,” drawing elite teams and thousands of onlookers for a week that reliably flips the switch to high season. Local outlets reported hotel occupancy lifting as the tournament began, a familiar pattern anchored by the spectacle of big-game boats and bigger checks.
On the water, the calendar is tight and unforgiving. Fishing runs Wednesday through Friday, October 22–24, with lines out at 5:00 p.m. and the weigh station open 2:00–9:00 p.m. The awards show is set for Saturday, October 25, 6:00 p.m., at The Place at Cabo. The daily rhythm is simple: go long at 7:00 a.m., race the clock home, and pray your call to Radio Control turns into a fish on the scale. You can find the official schedule here for precise times and locations.
The rules build drama by design. A blue or black marlin must weigh at least 300 pounds to qualify for cash awards. Anything under that 300-pound line earns zero points and even dockside penalties, a system that pushes teams to let smaller fish go and swing for the giants Cabo is known for. Boundaries are tight—50 nautical miles from Cabo San Lucas—and the 7:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. fishing window keeps everyone honest.
Recent history feeds the hype. Last weekend’s Los Cabos Offshore—the warm-up known as the “Little Bisbee’s”—topped $2.7 million in prize money, a curtain-raiser that reminded everyone how fast jackpots swell when optional entries stack. That momentum now rolls straight into the main event.
What to watch as the fleet spreads out
Money chases certainty, and certainty is scarce. Teams must choose where to spend their daylight: the Pacific drop-offs or the Sea of Cortez edge, with each captain betting on current, bait, and chatter. Radio Control will crackle with hook-up calls near day’s end, when seconds matter and long runs can make or break a weigh-in. If a fish is hooked before the lines are out, teams can fight it past 5:00 p.m.—but they still need to reach the harbour entrance by 9:00 p.m. to weigh. Those are the make-or-break minutes that separate a party from a ghost.
For fans, the best vantage point remains the marina. Weigh-ins in front of Puerto Paraíso deliver the drama up close, and the Saturday ceremony pulls the story tight with videos and trophy photos. If you’re tracking from afar, the tournament’s live scoring board is the quickest way to follow verified releases and heavy fish as they post in near real time.
The stakes, of course, are the lure. Nearly $7.4 million on the line means one bite can swing a team from red ink to legend. With 179 boats in the hunt, odds favor late-day plot twists, a hard-learned lesson that keeps crews calm, baits swimming, and gaffs ready until the last minute. The next record story could be idling toward that scale right now.
