Bisbees Black and Blue Tournament Day 3 - One Wild Finish!

I get the privilege of traveling all across North America covering the best tournaments in the world. This week at the Bisbee's Black and Blue has been an incredible experience all week but it is impossible to describe the energy and excitement that was brought to the Cabo waterfront this evening as last minute fish completely changed the atmosphere of what was otherwise a slow day. The day's fishing was good but the fish were all being released. They were mostly the right kind but were unfortunately too small to make the minimum weight.

As the day rolled on the discussions here at the scales were centered around the idea of refunding money and rollover. As the last half hour approached it looked like the 28th Bisbee's tournament was going to finish without a fish coming to the scales on day three. The whole morning the bite was good but as the day wore on the bite shut off and the situation looked grim. When the clock hit 4:30 it really looked like we might have had a bust of a day. It was that last half hour though that completely turned the whole event around and brought in the action that this incredible tournament is known for.

When lines out came there were three boats fighting fish and there was still no assurance that we would have a fish come in. That all changed very quickly though as the Miss Behavin and Hang em' High called in to report that they had both boated their fish. The Hang 'em High was first to the scales and the fish was clearly a winner as it sat on the cockpit deck. The crew was excited and as the fish was raised up the celebration started. The marlin landed on the scales at 313 pounds, good enough to qualify and take down the all of the daily jackpot money short of 200,000. The event wasn't over though as the insanity was just ramping up. The Miss Behavin was just 15 minutes behind them and they also had a fish in the cockpit so it was far from over.

As the Garlington pulled up to the dock it was clear that it wouldn't top the fish put up by the crew from Texas but the scale would be the final judge. It was on the scale that the fish hit 251 pounds and the Hang 'em High had cleared one big hurdle. The excitement didn't stop though as the Survivor was already hours into a battle with what was described as a "really big black marlin." The anticipation built as the time slowly ran out for them to make it back to the scales before the 9 p.m. cut-off.

The music was loud here at the harbor and the party was at full strength while we all waited to hear the outcome of the Survivor. It took hours but as the clock ran down on them and after pushing the drag up they broke off the fish which could have been a historic benchmark beating out the 993-pound Bisbee's tournament record. So in the end it was the Hang 'em High that took the lion's share of the prize money with the Bad Market taking $200,00 of the daily prize purse and the overall win with their 457-pound blue on Day 2. We'll have the webcam running for the awards ceremony tomorrow night and the Sportfishermen.com crew is going to take a few moments to collect our thoughts after this wild finish.

If you want to check out all the photos from the tournament just click here and be sure to tune back in for official results and the big checks tomorrow evening.