A crew manning a ship registered in Evergreen received the Bisbee’s Black & Blue and Los Cabos Offshore fishing tournaments in late October, beating out roughly 200 different groups to win a money prize of over $3.6 million at one of many largest fishing occasions on the planet.
The staff, named the Rocky Mountain Hookers, reeled in a 501-pound blue marlin on the second and remaining day of each tournaments to win the grand prize. Instantly after receiving the examine with their winnings, the staff donated $100,000 to Casa Hogar de Cabo San Lucas A.C., a neighborhood orphanage for kids aged 4 to 18 years previous.
The Bisbee’s tournaments have been held alongside Mexico’s Baja peninsula for over 30 years, according to the organization’s website. And, in accordance with Hookers boat proprietor and Evergreen native Ben Doud, the event is especially important to the fishing group.
“It’s a giant deal,” Doud stated. “It’s the richest fishing event on the planet.”
Doud began fishing within the Baja space round 12 years in the past, however solely started coming into his boat into Bisbee’s tournaments in 2017. After competing for a couple of years within the smaller tournaments, the Hookers determined to enter into the Black & Blue — which has the very best whole payout of the three Bisbee’s tournaments — in 2021, and have fished within the class since.
The staff particularly went after black and blue marlin this 12 months, and although they didn’t catch something on the primary day of fishing, they did discover a fantastic spot, Doud stated. The following morning, they set off for a similar location and, inside 10 minutes of being there, Houston angler Trevor Evans had hooked a fish.
“I used to be on the second deck of the boat, and the fish hit and the road simply begins screaming actually loud … it goes from actually calm to organized chaos actually quick,” Evans stated. “The fish got here out of the water, and we knew it might win the event. It was that large.”
The fish introduced again a reminiscence for Evans of the 2019 Los Cabos event, the place almost the very same state of affairs happened. Evans obtained a giant marlin on the road on the second morning, however it broke off and swam away after nearly quarter-hour. He says that the fish might have received that event if they’d been capable of reel it in.
“Ever since then, I’ve type of had this redemption-type factor in my thoughts of like, if I get again within the chair, there’s nothing that’s going to get me out of this. We obtained to catch the fish,” Evans stated.
And together with his previous expertise in thoughts, Evans was decided to not let the fish get away. Though eight folks crewed the boat, event guidelines permit only one angler to usher in the fish at a time.
And after over an hour of reeling, Evans introduced the fish onboard.
“The primary 20 minutes had been the toughest by far as a result of your adrenaline is simply so (excessive),” Evans stated. “I don’t suppose I’ve had a rush that prime in my life. It was unreal.”
Whereas the 2 tournaments usually are not often held on the identical time, Hurricane Norma’s landfall on Oct. 21 compelled the Bisbee household to reschedule the Los Cabos event to the identical two days because the Black & Blue event, permitting groups to compete concurrently in each tournaments and rely sure fish for each prize swimming pools.
“It was fairly particular as a result of it’s a once-in-a-lifetime factor,” Evans stated. “The fish itself will really change numerous lives for the fellows on the boat.”
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