The Bisbee’s Black & Blue, the marlin tournament that Visit Los Cabos calls the “Super Bowl of Fishing,” is back in Cabo San Lucas from October 19 to 24, 2026. Teams register on Tuesday, October 20, fish from Wednesday to Friday, October 21 to 23, and bring their catch to the scale in front of the Puerto Paraíso mall every afternoon and evening.

You don’t need a boat or a team to enjoy it. The organizer says thousands of spectators line the marina during tournament week, and the place to be is the weigh station.

When and where to watch

  • Opening ceremonies: Tuesday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. on the stage next to the weigh station, with flag honors and a Mexican Navy escort, the national anthem, a pre-Columbian New Fire dance, the lighting of the tournament torch and live music.
  • Weigh-ins: Wednesday to Friday, October 21 to 23, from 2:00 to 9:00 p.m. in front of Puerto Paraíso. Boats that make it inside the harbor entrance by 9:00 p.m. can still weigh, so the last hour can get exciting.
  • Awards: Saturday, October 24, at 6:00 p.m. at The Place at Cabo. This one is a dinner for the teams rather than a public show.

Fishing runs from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each day, after a shotgun start, so the boats spend most of the day out at sea. The action at the marina really begins in the afternoon. Our guide to Plaza Puerto Paraíso will help you find the spot, and the Cabo San Lucas marina page covers the waterfront around it.

What the teams are after

Only blue and black marlin of at least 300 pounds (about 136 kg) qualify for the cash awards, and the overall prizes go to the five heaviest qualifying marlin of the tournament. Striped marlin, sailfish and spearfish are catch and release only, so you won’t see them on the scale. The base entry is $5,000 USD per team, and a team entering every optional jackpot pays $84,500.

Last week’s Bisbee’s Los Cabos Offshore, the warm-up event, had 122 teams and a purse of about $2.4 million. Team Tiki Perro Pescador took the top prize with a 350-pound blue marlin caught on the afternoon of the last day. Yet the biggest check went to Team Trixie, which finished third with a 334-pound black marlin but had entered the daily jackpots and won $1,589,007, the largest single payout in that tournament’s history. In this game, the heaviest fish doesn’t always win the most money.

Weather check

If you were keeping an eye on the tropics, Trudy weakened into a remnant low on the evening of October 19, and the National Hurricane Center’s final advisory listed no hazards affecting land. Hurricane season in the eastern Pacific runs through November 30, so it’s still worth checking official advisories before you plan a day on the water.

If watching the weigh-ins makes you want to try it yourself, our Cabo San Lucas sport fishing guide covers the fishing seasons, the species you can catch and the kinds of boats you can hire.

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