Until arriving in Cabo San Lucas for last week's Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament, Dave Sanchez's most impressive catch was a largemouth bass caught in his home state of Missouri.
But on Thursday, the second day of the prestigious billfish competition off the Baja California resort city, Sanchez reeled in a 465-pound marlin that would earn $2,396,800 for his team aboard the yacht, Frantic Pace.
"I'm really starting to like this offshore fishing," Sanchez said at the awards ceremony on Saturday. "We had a lot of fun. It was a great team effort and I'm just glad we ran across that fish. We found one, caught it, and as luck would have it, that was all it took."
The payout was the second-largest in the tournament's 32-year history. The record year was 2006, when a $4,165,960 purse was up for grabs and the winner's share was $3.92 million.
At 465 pounds, the marlin Sanchez caught was not especially large. But it was the only marlin that met the 300-pound minimum qualifying weight, and because the team had been entered in all of the daily side jackpots, it claimed most of the overall purse.
Frantic Pace was one of 106 teams entered in the three-day competition, and it's probably the only team that's still celebrating.
As a side note, the marlin came within one ferocious lunge of escaping because the snap swivel connecting the reel's main line to the leader had opened toward the end of the battle. Only the quarter-inch bend in the swivel was holding the leader in place when the fish was reeled close to the boat. But crewman Josh Temple gently grabbed the leader and slowly pulled the weary marlin close enough to be gaffed, securing the million-dollar catch.
--Image shows Team Frantic Pace celebrating at the weigh-in of its 465-pound blue marlin
i even did not pursue doing the business sharks fin, i never imported as a business since i realized this is not right, people it is time to wake up. stp doing this. let that fish live in itsa habitat.
thasleem mohamed reza. ( hong kong)
Posted by: thasleem momamed reza | Nov 02, 2012 at 10:54 AM
The decrease in Marlin since the fifties
Growing up in Southern California since 1962 I have seen a lot when it comes to sports fishing. In 4th and 5th grade my Step Dad worked for Kettenburg Marine and as kids we would run down to the San Diego Marlin Club and check out what was caught every day after school. Canons would go off every time a marlin was brought in and it would be displayed right on the street of Shelter Island Drive. It was Spectacular as a kid to see.
To keep this short I became a Chef and cooked in Europe and here in the US which has given me much respect for the Ocean. And now I see this article on Yahoo news. As far as I can tell, 700 fishermen each paying a high price ($60.000+) to be there and the winner receives $2.4million. Here is my point, what do you think will happen next year now that this has such great publicity? How many Amateurs that don’t know what they are doing are going to ruin this by overfishing or cutting lines when they can’t bring the big ones in?
Our Oceans are over fished forget about me I am a grain of sand on a large beach but if you think I am kidding I beg all of you sports fisherman to watch “End of the Line” http://youtu.be/dX4v8wyOcns the reason for me writing this is so that my daughters grand children will still know what a Marlin looks like and just to back my self up here is a chart that shows the decline in what has been brought in to San Diego alone from the Marlin clubs website. With the high tech sonar devices is this really a sport anymore?
San Diego Marlin Clubs statistics
It won't let me paste the chart off the S.D. amilinclubs website show the declinesince the 50's
I’ve been to the Island of Catalina Off of LA numerous times where the have contests as well and look at the declines there. Everyone goes to Catalina for Swordfish and how great it tastes once it’s on the table but noone cares that the swordfish are found and chased with helicopters and then dye is thrown in the water so the fisherman can find them.
i nevr saw a marlin fish caught though, i live in hong kong having the previladge to consume and enjoying live sea food. what will happen to our future if we did not stop such sports i just copy and past the above comment again. hi my name is thasleem momahed reza i am from hong kong.
Posted by: thasleem momahed REza | Nov 02, 2012 at 10:50 AM
The decrease in Marlin since the fifties
Growing up in Southern California since 1962 I have seen a lot when it comes to sports fishing. In 4th and 5th grade my Step Dad worked for Kettenburg Marine and as kids we would run down to the San Diego Marlin Club and check out what was caught every day after school. Canons would go off every time a marlin was brought in and it would be displayed right on the street of Shelter Island Drive. It was Spectacular as a kid to see.
To keep this short I became a Chef and cooked in Europe and here in the US which has given me much respect for the Ocean. And now I see this article on Yahoo news. As far as I can tell, 700 fishermen each paying a high price ($60.000+) to be there and the winner receives $2.4million. Here is my point, what do you think will happen next year now that this has such great publicity? How many Amateurs that don’t know what they are doing are going to ruin this by overfishing or cutting lines when they can’t bring the big ones in?
Our Oceans are over fished forget about me I am a grain of sand on a large beach but if you think I am kidding I beg all of you sports fisherman to watch “End of the Line” http://youtu.be/dX4v8wyOcns the reason for me writing this is so that my daughters grand children will still know what a Marlin looks like and just to back my self up here is a chart that shows the decline in what has been brought in to San Diego alone from the Marlin clubs website. With the high tech sonar devices is this really a sport anymore?
San Diego Marlin Clubs statistics
It won't let me paste the chart off the S.D. amilinclubs website show the declinesince the 50's
I’ve been to the Island of Catalina Off of LA numerous times where the have contests as well and look at the declines there. Everyone goes to Catalina for Swordfish and how great it tastes once it’s on the table but noone cares that the swordfish are found and chased with helicopters and then dye is thrown in the water so the fisherman can find them.
Posted by: Rudy K. | Oct 31, 2012 at 04:38 PM
It was not the ONLY marlin caught, it read: ' But it was the only marlin that met the 300-pound minimum qualifying weight'
Huge difference...
Posted by: bill | Oct 31, 2012 at 12:55 PM
The fact that this was the ONLY marlin caught in a 3 day tournament should be a wake up call!!!!
Posted by: Howard Cunningham | Oct 30, 2012 at 09:17 AM
Yeah but it was $63k to enter. If you've got $63k to toss at a fish you've never caught, $2.4 million probably ain't that much to you.
Posted by: Governor | Oct 30, 2012 at 09:03 AM