I just hung up the phone with local and well respected Captain Javi Abaroa, who won the Bisbees Black and Blue in 2015. He is the Captain of the 34’ Luhrs “Whatta Journey”, and today he and his team “5 More minutes” were looking to make that win happen once again. They hooked up to a Blue Marlin at 12:38 PM today and fought their fish for over 5 hours!!
Two fish were brought to the scales that did not qualify and this was the last boat hooked up, all lines out, and if they made it happen, the marlin would turn them into Millionaires…
A series of complications, beginning with their reel, an 80 Avet that was losing pressure. Their set up had been working beautifully until then, a 100# mono, 120# braid and 530# leader. The angler, Everett Rusher, worked the fish very well, despite it being his first tournament, Javi said. But their small fighting chair couldn’t take it. The base snapped close to the 5 hour mark. Still, they brought the fish to within 12 feet from the boat but they were just out of reach of the leader.
As luck would have it, the fish died on them. The job got harder with dead weight and no chair; even with the motivation of some big money guaranteed if that fish got on that boat, they just couldn’t do it.After 5.5 hours, their line broke and their chances at the monies disappeared into the depths.
Captain Javi was very disappointed of course, but when asked he said, “No es el primero, ni es el último”, meaning, “it’s not the first or the last… we’ll try again tomorrow.” He estimated the fish at about 600 lbs.
Tomorrow just got even more intense as the biggest fish will be taking home a lot of dough with two days worth of monies rolling over…
This 2020 Bisbees tournament has quickly turned into the most historic and record breaking ever. Biggest pot in history is at stake tomorrow. $4.7 Million dollars up for grabs.
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