Jackpot!

Most dedicated sport anglers will, from time to time, chat about how expensive a day of fishing is becoming — what with higher boat fuel prices, increased fishing restrictions and the general ever-increasing cost of just about everything. However, there’s no substitute for the fun and excitement of a great day of fishing.

Sometimes, the payoff is even more tangible — as boat owner Ned Wallace discovered during the Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin Tournament, Oct. 18-22 in Cabo San Lucas. An angler aboard Wallace’s boat Tiger Spirit, Luis Alberto Liera, ended up catching a 395-pound blue marlin, winning his boat’s team a jaw-dropping jackpot prize of $1.16 million.

And that was the second-place fish. The top catch in the tourney was a 409-pound blue marlin caught by angler Luis Arballo aboard Bad Medicine. The boat did not enter all the daily jackpots, so the team’s total winnings amounted to only $394,090. Still, not bad for three days of fishing.

In all, $2.1 million in prizes were awarded to winners among the field of 100 boats and 560 anglers who entered. And, best of all, of the tournament anglers’ total of 122 billfish catches, just seven were weighed — the rest were released.