Long viewed as a warm-up to the Bisbee’s Black & Blue marlin jackpot tournament in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, the Los Cabos Offshore has steadily grown over the last two decades. Though it is smaller by Black & Blue standards, the LCO has become a world-class, multi-million-dollar tournament on its own.
The 2025 edition, which ran Oct. 15-17, featured 139 teams and more than $2.7 million in prize money. Teams fished the Pacific and the Sea of Cortez off Baja California’s southernmost point. During the three days of competition, 369 billfish were caught, including 99 blue marlin, 116 sailfish, 148 striped marlin and six blacks. The yellowfin tuna tally numbered 15 weighed fish, along with 11 dorado.
Brian Spicer, Capt. Jeffry Villarroel and the No Limits Fishing Team, aboard a 61 Viking, took top billfish honors after boating a 432-pound black marlin on the final day. That catch earned a payout of $104,111. Jesse Santana, fishing and running the namesake 81 Paul Mann, boated a 424-pound black on the second day to win second place. With optional entries, that catch turned out to be the week’s biggest winner, paying out $1,114,361 in prize money. Santana’s fish measured 106 inches (lower jaw to tail fork) with a girth of 61 inches.
Team Greybull, a 1998 Hatteras with William Cooper on the rod, boated the third-place marlin, also on the last day of fishing. Cooper’s black weighed 398 pounds and was worth $510,667. Tawnie Walley, fishing with Team Reel Energy, was recognized for her fourth-place fish, a 344-pound blue marlin.
The tuna division was hard-fought, with plenty of world-class entries. Ludovic Agassiz topped the leaderboard with a 294-pound yellowfin, worth $74,880. Agassiz was fishing abord Los Caboss.
Last year’s Black & Blue winners, Mas Crudo and angler Sean Green, captured the second heaviest tuna, which tipped the scales at 272 pounds. Eduardo Beltran, competing on Estrella del Norte, a custom center console, recorded a 247-pound tuna, while North Star, a 36 Yellowfin, scored a 185-pound entry. Team Marina Del Rey Anglers rounded out the fifth spot in the tuna category with a 177-pound fish. North Star and El Torito (angler Juan Luis Gonzales) earned $45,900 each on optional tuna entries.
Dorado were center stage in the other gamefish division. Alex Moherek and his team competing on a Cabo sportfish earned $120,780 with the top dorado, a 52-pound bull. Abram Lozano guided the team to its winning catch. Angler Mauricio Guluarte, with Eduardo Guluarte at the helm of Burro, weighed the second-place dorado at 43.1 pounds, worth $45,900.
Never Say Never, a 74 Viking run by Capt. Kevin Bohannon, took the Day One Billfish Release daily jackpot of $78,200 (650 points). Overtime doubled the payout to $156,400 by winning the release category on the second and final days of fishing (875 and 575 points). Capt. Brett Eller runs the 67 Bayliss.
“That was a fine tune-up,” tournament director Wayne Bisbee said after the awards celebration. “The bite was steady, and some solid qualifiers came to the scales, especially in the gamefish divisions. Hopefully that’s a good omen for the Black & Blue.”
The Black & Blue is a marlin-only contest targeting black and blue marlin, with weight and release divisions.
