The 1998 Black and Blue Jackpot Marlin Tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico was nearly as large as last year which was the richest tournament in salt water fishing history. This year 172 boats competed for the 1.6 million dollars at stake. We had again booked the Salsa; a 55-foot Hatteras captained by Randy Rozelle. I was teamed with Houstonian Richard Stanfield, J. D. Crouch from Beaumont, Texas, and Dave Lawrence from Marathon, Florida. Richard Richardson was once again onboard as our primary wireman, and our Mexican mate Jorge was responsible for the gaff. With such talent on board we felt we had a great chance at taking all of the marbles!

 The fishing was much better this year than last since El nino had gone. During the three days of the tournament we caught three fish. I was fortunate to catch a striped marlin and a small blue of about 250 pounds and Dave caught another striper. That was more fish than we had seen during the 1997 tournament. We saw 2 other blues that had lockjaw and nearly 10 tailing striped marlin each day. We worked hard to avoid the stripers since they didn't count for the tournament but still managed to catch two. There were also a few sailfish around and every day a number of yellowfin tuna, Dorado, and wahoo were taken.

 On day one 100 billfish (55 striped marlin, 42 blue marlin, and 3 black marlin) were caught and all but seven were released. Seven qualifying fish were weighed with three over 400 pounds. The largest, a 439-pound blue taken by first-time tournament angler Terry Kubitz aboard the Vino Fino, was worth $210,870 in jackpot money. And the sixth largest fish won Bruce Reid and the International Star team $163,800 since none of the five teams above them were in the $2000 jackpot.

 The second day was also an active one with 44 stripers, 27 blues, 2 blacks, and 3 sailfish released. Four fish (blues of 498. 432, 365, and 317 pounds) were weighed. Tracy Melton aboard Bad Company was the big winner with a daily jackpot prize of $374,670!

 The last day was the most exciting of all. Treasure Chest weighed a fish at 339 pounds. Then came Nirvana with a blue of 417 pounds. That was bested by Lethal Weapon's 426-pound blue. And finally Erren O'Leary aboard Chipper brought in the largest fish of the tournament, a blue marlin that weighed 732 pounds! They took home $210,870 in jackpot funds plus another $400,000 for winning the tournament. Not bad for only thirty minutes of work! Lethal Weapon also won $163,800 since Chipper had not been entered in the $2000 jackpot. And in addition to the weighed fish there were 2 blacks, 27 blues, and 36 striped marlin released that day.

 All in all the Bisbee tournament was quite a success. We didn't win any money but we did catch fish and had a great time doing it. And there is always next year. Isn't it great that anglers are such eternal optimists?