Gold at the Black & Blue
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/outdoors/20041030-9999-...
By Rick Crum
October 30, 2004
For three San Diegans, it was like winning the lottery on their first try.
The trio was part of a team that walked away with more than $1 million from the Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament in Cabo San Lucas last
weekend, one of the richest and most prestigious marlin tournaments in the world.
It marked the second consecutive year a team has hooked into more than $1 million in winnings from the event.
It's hard to imagine earning that kind of money for catching fish, but Rancho Santa Fe's Dr. David Smith, his father, Eugene Smith, who lives in Las
Gaviotas, Mexico, along with Russell McGregor, a captain with the National City Fire Department, and Bill Walsh of San Diego, did just that thanks to
two marlin of more than 400 pounds.
Fishing on David Smith's boat, the Reel Pain II, a 71-foot Hatteras, the four took first place in the overall team division, becoming the first group
to win the overall team division its first time out. The team also swept all of the daily jackpots for Days 2 and 3 of the tournament and claimed both
second and third place for the overall largest fish categories, amassing a prize total of $1,126,510.
The four were among nearly 800 anglers who were entered in the tournament, on 171 boats, with a total cash purse of $2,021,090, according to
tournament organizers.
The team's first fish, landed by David Smith, was a 448-pound blue marlin. The second, caught by McGregor, also a blue, weighed in at 418 pounds. Both
were taken on Marlin Magic lures, custom made by the crew's Marlin Parker, from undisclosed locations within the tournament's 40-mile boundaries.
Parker, a professional fisherman and c-ckpit captain from Kailua Kona, Hawaii, was one of four others on the Reel Pain II, including Bryan Haslam of
Point Loma, the boat's captain, and deckhands Frank Davis and Greg Hauck of San Diego.
Catching his 400-pounder was "unbelievable," said McGregor, who returned home earlier this week.
"I was in the c-ckpit, on the steps that lead down from the California deck . . . we saw the marlin knocking around the lure," he said. "Then it hit.
I strapped on my harness, jumped into the fighting chair and I basically listened to Marlin (Parker).
"The reel just started screaming. He (Parker) knew how to set the hook, how to set the drag . . . Marlin was watching, coaching, the guy's a hell of
an expert, it was really important to have him on the boat."
McGregor said David Smith had hired Parker precisely for that situation.
Fifty minutes later, the fish was alongside the boat.
"It took three guys to gaff it," McGregor said. "(Parker) wrapped the leader and called for a deckhand, then Dave Smith came along the side . . . he
was gaffing too."
Tournament director Wayne Bisbee said the Reel Pain II's two daily largest-fish jackpots in one tournament was "highly improbable," and landing two
400-pounders, two days in a row, was "even rarer," especially for the Bisbee.
Jim Simons, president and CEO of the World Billfishing Series, which sanctions 65 of the world's top tournaments, calls it "one of the top three in
the world."
In the tournament, team payouts are based on a point system. All black or blue marlin caught at or in excess of 300 pounds, earn one point per pound.
Any marlin taken under 300 pounds draws a 25 point-penalty, plus, a two-point deduction for every pound the fish weighs under 300. In addition to the
team entries, there are substantial daily jackpots.
Four jackpots in the sums of $200, $500, $1,000, and $2,000 are available. Each jackpot entered must be done so for all three days. A separate $2,000
catch-and-release jackpot allows teams to earn points for releasing billfish, based on quantity and species.
According to Bisbee, nearly 200 billfish were released during this year's event.
All of the fish caught during the event were donated to Desarrollo Integral de la Familia (DIF), a Mexican government agency that assists families,
children, disabled and other people in need.
According to Tricia Bisbee, Wayne's sister, if a team enters all the tournament categories, it pays $5,000 for its basic entry, $3,700 per day for the
daily jackpot entries and $2,000 for the catch-and-release division, for a total of $18,100. What might be an exorbitant entry fee may be dwarfed when
compared to the $458,280 up for grabs for the largest fish caught on any given day.
Martha Warlaumont of Balboa, Calif., who resides in Baja's East Cape, knows this well.
Her 645-pound black marlin won the jackpot on the first day of the tournament.
She reportedly landed the fish trolling a 10-pound yellowfin tuna for bait. She and her team fished aboard Retriever, Warlaumont's new 61-foot Viking
Sportfisher. She was accompanied by her husband, Larry Warlaumont, and two Cabo San Lucas men, Manual Estrada and Luis Alberto Liera. The Retriever,
skippered by Enrique Villanueva of Cabo San Lucas, finished second overall, with $724,330 in prize money.
Next year, the tournament's 25th anniversary, may well bring a prize purse in excess of $3 million.
"We'll add a fishing day . . . ... and a 'high-roller' jackpot, fish two (days), take one day off, throw the biggest party Cabo's ever seen, then fish
two more," said Wayne Bisbee.
--------------------------------
Results for the 2004 Bisbee's Black & Blue Marlin Jackpot Tournament in Cabo San Lucas.
OVERALL TEAM DIVISION
1st Place: Reel Pain II.
Winnings: $1,126,510.
Total catch: 448-pound blue marlin, 418-pound blue marlin.
Team: David J. Smith, Rancho Santa Fe; Eugene Smith, Las Gaviotas, Mexico; Russell McGregor, National City; Frank Davis, San Diego; Bill Walsh, San
Diego; Greg Hauck, San Diego; Marlin Parker, Kailua Kona, Hawaii
Captain: Bryan Haslam, San Diego.
2nd Place: Retriever.
Winnings: $724,330.
Total catch: 645-pound black marlin.
Team: Martha Warlaumont, Balboa; Larry Warlaumont, Balboa; Manuel Estrada, Cabo San Lucas; Luis Alberto Liera, Cabo San Lucas
Captain: Enrique Villanueva, Cabo San Lucas
CATCH AND RELEASE DIVISION
1st place: Daddy Rabbit.
Winnings: $77,512.50.
Total fish released: 2 blue marlin, 3 striped marlin.
Team: Steve Downs, Bakersfield; Jeff Vermillion, Kailua Kona, Hawaii; James Hawse, Calabasas; Jose Luis Zumaya, Cabo San Lucas
Captain: Brad "Bones" Dana, Capitola.
2nd place: El Lobo.
Winnings: $26,831.25
Total fish released: 2 blue marlin, 1 sailfish.
Team: Michael Egan, Aurora, Ontario, Canada; Daniel Healy, Waialua, Hawaii; Rick Grange, Vancouver; Brian Legge, Vancouver
Captain: Jayson Holtz, Kailua Kona, Hawaii.
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
