Welcome to the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament.

The Los Cabos Billfish Tournament kicked off its 11th year on Tuesday evening, October 13, 2009 in the beautiful ballroom of the Playa Grande Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Despite inclement weather that closed the port for several days, the tournament registered 42 hard-core LCBT teams ready to fish for more than a half-million dollars in purse. In addition to the cash, teams received fantastic welcome gifts and a chance to win Furuno, Sony and Inmarsat electronics; Vanmark jewelry; Craig Smith artwork; Penn rods and reels; Tormenter, Todd’s and Mold Craft lures; Berkley fishing line; Melton Tackle gift certificates; Old Harbor Outfitters clothing; Evade gaffs; and many other quality door and raffle prizes. The sponsors of the LCBT are incredibly generous, making this the class leadoff event in Cabo San Lucas. Big thanks go out to the sponsors that make this tournament possible, including the Los Cabos Visitors & Convention Bureau, Craig Smith, Furuno, Carter Chevrolet, IGY Marinas, Dockwise Yacht Transport, Old Harbor Outfitters, Cabo Chips, Penn Reels, TransCabo, Corona, Sony Marine, AMD, Melton International Tackle, Berkley, Mackay Communications, Inmarsat, VEI, King Sailfish Mounts, XOJET, Pisces Sportfishing, Vanmark Nautical Jewelry, Evade, Marlin Masters, Hotel Buena Vista Beach Resort, Minerva’s Baja Tackle, Hilton’s Real-Time Navigator, Tormenter Lures, Pacific Trolling Gear, VMC hooks, Mold Craft Lures, Pelagic, Todd’s Rigs & Lures, and Marlin and Sport Fishing magazines.

Tropical Storm Patricia kept anglers from fishing Wednesday, the first scheduled day, as the port was closed due to weather conditions. Fortunately, the weather improved, and the port opened, allowing two days of fishing on Thursday and Friday. 

The seas calmed quickly, and the sun broke through, which made for a scenic start of the tournament. Each team checked in with the 75-foot committee boat, Fantasy, and was welcomed by Gov. Narcisco Agundez, members of the Los Cabos Hotel Association & Tourism Board and the crew from Marlin and Sport Fishing magazines. At 7:30 a.m. Gov. Agundez shot the flare announcing the start of the October tournament season.

The bite started early for Bandit, a 60-foot Viking owned by Corey Meyer and captained by Tommy Neikirk, when angler Anthony Hseih went to work on a nice black at 8:18 a.m. At 8:33 Bandit announced theyboated the fish. Bandit decided to keep fishing and not come to the scales early. Get Over It, a 54 Bertram chartered by Kenneth Eberle of Texas and captained by Jobe Garcia of Cabo San Lucas, hooked a nice blue at 9:57 for angler Dan Wheeler. At 10:32 the fish was released, marking the first release of the tournament and earning the team an Iridium handheld satellite phone provided by Mackay Communications. Get Over It added a striped marlin release at 11:05 for angler Drew Andrews, giving the team the daily release jackpot worth $7,125 and the lead in the overall release category. At the scales Bandit’s black marlin drew a huge crowd, as it was a nice fish weighing in at 451 pounds. This gave Bandit the daily on the dock jackpots, the lead in the tournament and the overall largest marlin jackpot. The LCBT also offers daily game-fish jackpots that are very popular with the participants. Rum Running, a 32-foot Crystaliner charter boat captained by Javier Cecena, took the daily wahoo jackpot with Indiana angler Randy Pruden’s 28.4-pound wahoo. Reel Slippery Lizard,a 43-foot Bertram captained by Jay Click, edged out the competition to win the daily tuna jackpot with a 130.8-pound fish for angler Jose Luis Yuen. Tenacious, a 65-foot Monterey captained by Gene Vanderhook, put owner angler Ron Tegland of California on a nice 52-pound dorado, taking the daily jackpot. All game-fish daily jackpot winners received $7,862.50. 

The second and final day of fishing was another postcard sunrise, with all 42 teams taking off at the 7:30 a.m. start. Minerva V got things going with the first sailfish release, followed by Tenacious releasing a black. This put Tenacious in the lead for the overall billfish release. It must have been déjà vu for Bandit when they hooked up another fat black marlin at 9:24 with angler Anthony Hseih back in the chair. Bandit successfully boated the fish at 9:45 and continued to fish until lines out. Wildcatter, a 68 Hatteras owned by John Martin and captained by Enrique Villanueva, got a striped marlin release for angler Brian Martin at 10:18. Tenacious released their second fish of the day at 12:15, giving them four releases in the tournament. But Wildcatter poured it on, releasing a total of five billfish for the day, which earned them the daily release jackpot, worth $7,125. The five releases were also enough for Wildcatter to edge out Tenacious for the overall release prize of $21,000. Bill Collector,a 35-foot Cabo captained by Julio Gonzalez, also had a great day, releasing two striped marlin and boating a 32.5-pound wahoo-jackpot-winning fish for angler Mark Chiavetta. Hang Em High, a 58-foot Miller captained by Emilio Villarreal, snagged a nice 39.3-pound dorado for angler owner Chip Wagner of Texas, winning them the daily pot. Last year’s winner, Karma, a 35-foot Cabo captained by Gilberto Castro, hooked into something large for angler Steve Spina at 11:36 but didn’t know what it was until the yellowfin tuna was boated at 12:14p.m. Back at the dock Karma’s fish tipped the scales at a tournament-record 336 pounds, winning them the daily game-fish jackpot of $7,862.50 for the day. Now Bandit was back at the scales with a massive black marlin that weighed a tournament-record 550 pounds. Bandit broke out the broom and swept the team, largest marlin, daily marlin and overall largest marlin jackpots to win $420,875. Owner Corey Meyer graciously accepted the invitation to compete in the IGFA Offshore World Championship while his family listened to the awards on his BlackBerry. Capt. Tommy Neikirk of Bandit received the top-captain trophy and a gold piece from Vanmark Jewelry. Angler Anthony Hseih has now been on three wining teams in the 11-year history of the tournament, which is quite an accomplishment. Following the awards, Tom Hilton won the top raffle prize, consisting of a $7,500 Inmarsat Sailor 150 Fleet Broadband system provided by Mackay Communications. The banquet and awards festivities took place on the ocean-side terrace of Playa Grande Resort. Participants were treated to filet minion and lobster, complimentary Corona, an entertainment video and $20,000 of door and raffle prizes. The tournament committee thanks everyone involved and hopes to see you back next year for the tournament, Oct. 12-16, 2010.