The Story Behind the 774 LB Winning Fish

Captain Kevin "Cubby" Pahl on right, First Lady Angler to win Bisbee Linda Williams & John Williams right, proud of his wife  - he almost had a
"heart attack" when he heard they had won.

Joy was evident in the voice of Captain Kevin “Cubby” Pahl captain of the 60 ft. Hatteras II Success, when we reached him by phone the day after his team had landed the winning 774 LB fish, in the Bisbee Black & Blue Tournament – the second largest qualifier in the competition’s 33 year history.

As tends to happen in the world’s richest billfish tournament, everybody was kept guessing right up until the end, especially as Martha McNab, a well know local woman angler looked set to be a shoo in to be the first ever female to win the Super Bowl of fishing, with her 525 LB blue marlin caught on day two of the three day event. That milestone was to be reached, but surprisingly not by Martha, but by Linda Williams from Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Captain Cubby told us that he had fished the Pacific the two previous days as everybody knew that several big blues from the charter fleet had  been caught there as well as the fish landed by Martha aboard Retriever; he fished all the well- known spots and came up blank. On the last day of the tournament he thought “the clock is ticking and at least a hundred boats are turning right to the Pacific, I am going to go the other way, up to Destiladeras, the water looks good and there is no traffic”. Team Success worked the area trolling their lures without action so Cubby systematically worked his way to the outer Gordo as the clock ticked on and with only thirty five minutes left to go in the tournament, the water behind the boat exploded as a massive marlin charged the Petrolero lure with its mouth wide open. “Everybody saw it bite” said Cubby, “my team were all in their positions and we were all watching the lures; I drive the boat standing backwards so I can see them. We could see that the fish was over 500 lbs. and it jumped at least six times, which is a lot for a fish of that size. We had the fish to the wire in an hour, but it was still strong and headed away from us, so we decided to let it go more time. After about another hour we had it in the corner and threw all the metal (gaffs) we had into it; we didn’t want to take any chances. The team did their job perfectly and the hardest thing was getting it into the boat, no easy feat with an almost 800 LB fish”.

 

Cubby praised his crew consisting of his Mexican deckhand Antonio “Pelon” Zuniga, his brother Craig Pahl who was aboard as an angler along with Dave Reid, who is a captain on another boat,  Jan Howard and of course owner of II Success, Linda Williams. Cubby stated “Linda loves to fish and this could not have happened to a nicer or more generous person. The guys on the dock respect Linda for her fishing skills. This is a dream come true for her, she was thrilled just to participate, definitely something on her bucket list.” Linda’s husband John, who owns a house framing company, had urged her to fly down to fish the tournament, which she did bringing along friend Jan Howard. He was totally shocked to get a phone call to say they had won and flew into Cabo Saturday to be present for the awards ceremony.

 

Captain Kevin “Cubby” Pahl is well known and liked around Cabo; the 51 year old is originally from Carlsbad, California and grew up fishing out of Oceanside. He has been a professional skipper in Cabo for the past 29 years and this win is the highlight of his fishing career and his largest fish to date. This day almost didn’t happen though, as last year he underwent his second hip replacement surgery, during which he contracted a severe infection, followed by an adverse reaction to the drugs given him, which put him in the critical care unit for six days. There was a moment when he thought it was a possibility that he would never fish again, making this victory even sweeter.



Payout At Bisbee Black & Blue

 

TEAM II SUCCESS CELBRATES THEIR FIRST PLACE VICTORY.
 

 

Biggest check at Bisbee tonight was $1,185,862.00 - here are the results.
1st Place II Success 774 lb blue marlin $368,675.00
2nd Place Retriever 525 lb blue marlin $1,185,862.00

DESPITE BEING NUDGED OUT OF FIRST PLACE, TEAM RETRIEVER STILL HAD THE BIGGEST PAYDAY

 3rd Place Marlin Queen 343 lb black marlin $34,762.00
 

4th Place Go Deep 323 lb blue marlin $9,270.00
5th Place Sea Angel 313 lb blue marlin $966,689.00 (no that is not a typo)

TEAM SEA ANGEL HAD ONE OF THE LARGEST PAYOUTS EVER FOR 5TH PLACE

 1st Place release 3 blues the sailboat Titan $63,575.00
2nd Place release 3 blues Shambala $21,993.00
3rd Place release 3 blues Reel Pain II $12,218.00
Release is decided on who caught first when places are tied like this.

Massive 774 LB Blue Marlin Gives Female Angler Surprise Victory in Bisbee Black & Blue

PHOTO BY GARY GRAHAM

Massive 774 LBS blue marlin gives surprise late hour victory for lady angler Linda Williams aboard Success in Bisbee Black & Blue. This will take 1st place but won't necessarily pay most money because of the optional categories they were or were not entered in. Stay tuned for tournament payout results.

525 LB FISH NETS LOCAL WOMAN 1.2 MILLION DOLLARS

Why does this woman look so happy? Perhaps because she just caught a fish worth 1.2 Million Dollars...Martha McNabb was thrilled last night after landing the biggest fish so far in the 2013 Bisbee Black & Blue; even though she  is not entered across the board, it appears that her fish caught yesterday, weighing 525 LBS will net her a big pay day. Who knows, if no larger fish are caught today, the last day of the competition,  the fish will be worth even more. Martha is a die hard fisherwoman and should she win will be the first female ever to win the Bisbee. Martha is no stranger to success though, this five foot two powerhouse landed a 635 lb blue marlin several years ago in the Bisbee, but was bumped to second place by a boat that caught two fish in the 300 -350 lb plus range, that when added together beat the weight of her fish. Martha loves fishing in Cabo aboard her 61 ft Viking "Retriever" with her crew of local Mexican guys. GIRL POWER, in what is mostly a macho world.

525 LB BLUE MARLIN FRONT RUNNER IN BISBEES ON DAY TWO

This is the frontrunner in the Bisbee 525 LBS blue marlin, which held throughout day two. Angler is Martha McNabb who paid us a huge compliment by saying "we knew where to go because we have been following your reports". Martha's fish was caught on a lure and took her an hour to boat aboard her privately owned vessel, a 61 ft Viking called "Retreiver". Martha's crew are all local Mexican guys from Cabo and the East Cape.
Pisces 31 ft Bertram Tracy Ann on regular charter released a 360 lb blue marlin yesterday and our Attitude Adjustment released a 300 lb fish too....hmmm three days, three Bertrams, three qualifiers if they had been in the tournament - I guess that's fishing.

2.4 Million Dollar Fish First Day of Bisbee - but it's not in the tournament

591  LB BLUE MARLIN CAUGHT ABOARD LA BRISA

La Brisa catches a 2.4 million fish first day of the Bisbee Black & Blue ...but is not in the tournament. No qualifying fish were weighed  in on day one of the richest billfish tournament in the world. Our regular Pisces charters went about their business as usual. La Brisa had anglers from Cincinnati, Ohio on board and 37 year old Giles Patterson, a homebuilder by trade was hooked up to a 15 lb tuna that had bitten a cedar plug, when a blue marlin exploded from the depths and engulfed it. Giles muscled away for four and a half hours, bringing the fish to the boat nine times, before the fish dove and did not surface again. The crew realized that the fish had died and spent some time hand-lining it up.

CROWS MOBBED THE ANGLER TODAY

Back at the scale the fish was bigger than expected, as crowds mobbed the stunned angler who said " that was the most unbelievable fight of my life" as the scale registered 591 LBS. Pretty amazing seeing as none of the 109 boats entered in the tournament caught a qualifying fish today and we had a really nice fish yesterday too at 566 lbs - two fish, two days, both on Pisces 31 ft Bertrams possibly the finest sportfisher ever built.

LOOK AT THE WIDTH OF THAT TAIL

Huge Marlin Caught on Eve of Bisbee Black & Blue

Huge fish caught on the eve of the 33rd edition of the Bisbee Black & Blue.  We were down at the dock this afternoon when we heard that Pisces 31 ft Bertram, Rebecca was approaching the dock with big fish. Just a couple of minutes later in motored Rebecca with a huge fish laying across the cockpit, it was so large that it's head had to be angled up to fit - basically the length of the fish was more than the width of the boat. Captain Jose Ramon told us he had been fishing about 21 miles out from Cabo with the same anglers that had been with him on the previous two days, when he saw something about a mile away, jump out of the water. At first he thought it was a manta ray, but they picked up lines and sped over to investigate.  The fish first hit a green & lime lure, then Jose Ramon, quickly rigged one of the tuna they had caught earlier in the day and dropped it back to the large fish, who inhaled it, giving them a solid hook up.  Thirty six year old George Hanson from Idaho Falls, was given the rod and he steadfastly fought the big fish on  80 lb test for an hour before the crew realized the fish had died - they then brought it up by hand lining it between them. At the surface they realized that the fish was tail wrapped and had drowned.  They put a tail rope around it and hoisted it into the boat and headed back to shore. Other anglers on board were Gary Barnes, Dave Rankin & Eugene Hanson.  George who works with his dad Eugene in their recycling business, had set the trip up for his dad & his friends and they were not disappointed -
with 35 tuna, 9 dorado, 1 striped marlin and of course the 566 lb blue marlin caught by George, during their three days charter with Pisces who added "this was a trip of a lifetime"

Bisbee Offshore Won by a Tuna & 33 LB Dorado?

Bisbee Offshore - won by a tuna? Incredible but true....ninety nine boats competed over Saturday & Sunday in the tournament known as the "little Bisbee", what is attractive about this two day event is you can get in it for as little as $1,500 and across the board is only $10,500 - not small, but a fraction of what it costs in the Black & Blue ($71,000). Many of the captains put up the money themselves to be able to fish this and get valuable pre-fish knowledge. This year however, there were no big blue marlin in sight. Four underweight fish were brought to the scale, but not one of them could reach the 300 lb minimum weight limit. The rules state that if no eligible billfish are caught the monies roll over to the gamefish categories. So it ended up that a 201 lb tuna and a 33 lb dorado won $110,000.00 each - maybe the biggest payday every for a small dorado. We spoke with the team that caught the large tuna, Donald Whitter, owner of Wahoo Loco and the boat Estrella del Norte, which is not your typical Cabo sportfisher. Donald built the boat himself, a 32 ft Carolina design using a cold mold made out of wood, then wrapping it with fiberglass. The boat has two 300 Yamaha outboards & can reach a speed of 40 knots. The tuna was caught by team member Gonzalo Castillo, a local guy out of La Playita. Donald and Estrella del Norte are no strangers to success, they took first place last year in the WON Tuna Tournament with a massive 372 lb fish. Asked about his strategy Donald said "Our intention was never to catch a marlin, we were going strictly for tuna, that is what we are good at. We figured that most of the boats would enter the gamefish category so there would be a big pay out. We fished five days (three in the Los Cabos Billfish before this event) to catch a fish of that size. We caught it at the inner Gordo on live bait, we had it to the boat, stuck the gaff in it, but it broke it & straightened the hook , then dove down about 100 feet we went to work again". After an hour and fifteen minutes they had it at the boat again, this time they used a flying gaff as well as a second gaff. Good thinking and good work, that secured them a $110,000.00 pay day. Bisbee Black & Blue starts tomorrow and the absence of the big fish is a little worrying, however, with a massive storm down below us, it may push fish this way.

Estrella del Norte is not your typical Cabo sportfisher.

Pancho The Sea Lion Nabs Prize Winning Tuna

Don't be fooled by the sweet face, Pancho is a professional fish snatcher.

 



 

 

Pancho has been a naughty boy! Don't let that sweet face fool you....Pancho snatched a tuna that was about to be weighed in as a prize winning fish during the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament. Team Ole Ole backed into the dock with a qualifyin...g tuna of around 35 lbs, they handed it to the dock worker, who grabbed it by the tail and swung around to put it in his fish cart. In one smooth movement, Pancho who had been stalking the boat, erupted from the water like a speeding bullet, snatched the tuna and disappeared. Definitely making team Ole Ole candidates for the hard luck award - we figured the tuna was worth close to $7,000.00 if it had made it to the scale.

This is not when he stole the tuna, this was another day, but gives an idea of the real size of  Pancho and other sea lions in the area.

 

PRIZE GIVING LOS CABOS BILLFISH TOURNAMENT

 

 

Prize monies for the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament
1st Extraction 625 lb blue marlin $295,425.00
2nd Expedition 516 lb blue marlin $27,000.00
1st in release Chupacabra $39,150.00
2nd in release Galati $5,400.00
3rd in release Cisco$3,600....00
Daily release Reel Quest $6,075.00
Tuna Day 1 & 2 39 lb & 65 lbs Reel Gold $20,081.00
Day 1 Wahoo Miss Behavin 26.5 lbs $6,693.00
Day 2 Wahoo El Suertudo 32.8 lbs $6,693.00
Day 3 Wahoo Minerva II 34.5 lbs $6,693.00