BigBendFishing.Net

PRESS RELEASE


Bisbee’s Black & Blue Tournaments

2300 McDermott Road, Suite #200-382

Plano, Texas 75025

Wayne Bisbee / wayne@bisbees.com

Phone: 714-556-2281

www.bisbees.com


For Immediate Release


Fiery Start to the Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament

by Capt. Dave Lear, Silver King Communications, Photos by Dave Lear


Cabo San Lucas, BCS, Mexico (October 22, 2009) -- The yacht The Bottom Line is resting on the bottom on the Sea of Cortez. Minutes after the shotgun flare starting the 29th Annual Bisbee’s Black & Blue Marlin Tournament doused in the ocean, one of the participating sportfishing boats, already miles away, caught fire and sank. All seven crew members aboard were rescued by Sneak Attack, another tournament contestant. Mexican rescue boats and tournament officials were also quickly on the scene.

“It was miraculous no one was seriously injured,” said tournament director Wayne Bisbee, as he and the rescued anglers watched the burning vessel slowly dip below the surface aboard the tournament committee boat, Team Baja Cantina. “It was a tragic and a very humbling experience.”

A total of 94 boats are competing in the world’s richest sportfishing event. Anglers are vying for nearly $2 million in prize money. The Bottom Line, a 50-foot Hatteras convertible homeported in Cabo was coming off a 2nd Place win in the Bisbee's Los Cabos Offshore that took place the 16th-18th. Fishing will continue through Saturday, after a one-day delay due to Hurricane Rick.


Link to Hi-Res Photos

http://www.bisbees.com/Local/media/2009/BBB/

Bummer big time.
Any clue as to why Dave?
p.s. Glad you are enjoying the good life in Cabo.

Bottom Line was a great boat, glad everyone was rescued safely!

Investigation is continuing, but the fire was believed to start in the engine room. The Bottom Line crew is resilient, however. They're back out there today on another boat and let's hope they have some good karma. They definitely earned it.

Thanks for the updates. Team Carpe Diem are from from Tallahassee and Destin.

Posting real time updates on sportfishermen.com and we're also setting up a live VHF radio feed from Tournament Control.

Am tracking the real time updates on sportfisherman.com. any idea when the radio feed will be up and running?

never mind. I see its up and running. Very nice.

Dave, bring me back some Marlin steaks.

Can't do, Steve. Never killed one and never will.

Afternoon bite is going off. Lots of marlin releases being reported and one boat has been hooked up for two hours now.

On the release.
Are any of these guys fishing my holes?

Those are all your holes Steve.

Pretty incredible fishery here. Yesterday as we were going out for the start, dolphin (dorado) were chasing bait in the harbor mouth. There are several fingers running into the harbor that are more than 1,000 feet deep. In the 1950s, guys could catch tuna off the beach. And yes, Estevan, they are all your holes.

Fishing is a little slow this morning. Several releases but no big girl yet. If one boat is in across the board and catches a qualifier, they'll win $1.3 million bucks.

who came in first

Back from Mexico and still getting used to the big city and going through Pacifico withdrawals.

Mi Novia, a San Diego team fishing on the owner's 50 Mikelson, won first place with the largest fish, a 375 blue. Approx. $440K in winnings.

10 Brothers Fishing Team, a group from Chicago, won the most money and second place when the Day 2 jackpots rolled over. The took home nearly $570,000 for their 305 blue caught on the last day.

Carpe Diem, the Destin/Tally team, won second place in the release division with their 1 blue based on time.

Great tourney overall, especially considering we had a Cat 5 hurricane bearing down on us and The Bottom Line episode the first day. 30th anniversary next year. I expect the field will be back up towards the normal 150 boats and an overall purse of $4 million.

punctuation edit