PELAGIC Triple Crown of Fishing Delivers Epic Bite With Over 300 Marlin Released

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico:  PELAGIC Triple Crown of Fishing delivers epic bite with over 300 marlin released in two days of tournament fishing, tuna up to 226 pounds, and dorado up to 56 pounds.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico:  With RED HOT FISHING and over $480,000 in cash on the line, it all came down to the final hour, before Team Stella June separated from the pack on day two, taking home top honors in the billfish division with 38 striped marlin releases that paid out $153,336.00.

Team Cloud nine, with 36 striped marlin releases, secured a second place finish with $136,760.00 to go along with last year’s second place check for $111,800.00. With 35 marlin releases, Team Tailchaser was just one fish behind Cloud Nine, earning them 3rd place in the billfish division and $4,144.00.

In the Tuna division, Team Let’s Go weighed in a massive 226.6-pound “Cow” Yellow Fin Tuna that was worth $52,868.

In the Dorado division, Team Listo took top Dorado honors and $20,668.00 for weighing a 56.3 pounder, one of two fifty pound plus Dorado specimens brought to the scales.

In the Wahoo division, Team Captiva 3 secured winnings of $27,468.00 for their beautiful 42.9-pound Wahoo.

In total, 17 different teams took home trophies or shared total prize money of $483,200.00 in this closely contested competition.

Tournament Stats:

• 37 teams
• 194 anglers
• $483,200 in prize money
• 306 total billfish released
• 304 stripe marlin, 1 blue marlin, 1 sailfish
• 2 billfish per team average
• 17 different winners received trophies, and/or checks.

Top Team Stats:

• 1^St Place Billfish: Team Stella June with 38 striped marlin $153,336.00
• 2^nd Place Billfish: Team Cloud Nine with 36 striped marlin $136,760.00
• 3^rd Place Billfish: Team Tailchaser with 35 striped marlin $4,144.00
• 1^St Place Tuna – Team Let’s Go. 226.6 pound Yellow Fin tuna. $52,868.00
• 1^st Place Dorado – Team Listo. 56.3 pound Dorado. $20,668.00
• 1^st Place Wahoo – Team Captiva 3, 42.9 pound wahoo. $27,468.00 

Top Angler Stats:

• Top Jr, Angler: Eduardo Davalos. Team Suerchingo. 11 stripe marlin released
• Top Lady Angler: Valeria Sutton. Team Tail-chaser. 26 stripe marlin released
• Top Overall Angler: Brad Stevenson. Team Reel Quest. 30 stripe marlin released

June 2-5, 2022 – Cabo San Lucas, B.C.S., Mexico –

37 teams and 194 anglers from across the globe joined team Pelagic at IGY’s, Marina Cabo San Lucas for the 8^th annual, Pelagic Triple Crown of fishing. Competing in both billfish and gamefish divisions, this year’s fleet was geared up to claim their share of the over $480,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs. Graciously and professionally hosted by Baja Cantina Marina, Restaurant owner Jorge Gonzalez and his staff ensured all participants enjoyed fantastic food and beverage and the unique hospitality Mexico is known for, all while providing the perfect setting for tournament headquarters and radio control. Live music was provided once again by the Lady Electric Band, keeping anglers entertained at both the kickoff party and awards celebration.

Day one brought windy and rough conditions but did not deter the fleet as they lined up just inside the famous Arch Rock, for the traditional 7:00am shot gun start. Several local politicians, including the Governor and Mayor of Cabo San Lucas, the Port Captain and the secretary of the Mexican Navy joined the procession and participated in the traditional countdown and shooting of the flares to mark the start of day one and the beginning of the international tournament season in Cabo San Lucas. Most teams took a sharp turn South and headed into the Sea of Cortez in search of a hot Stripe Marlin bite.

Radio control was busy right from the start with teams calling in releases at a steady pace. Throughout the day, short periods of radio silence were interrupted by a steady and sometimes frantic stripe marlin bite. Lines out on day one ended with the top 5 teams, Cloud Nine, Tail-chaser, Santana, Stella June and Reel Quest, stacked at the top of the leaderboard, separated by only 300 points. In all, the fleet recorded 110 stripe marlin releases, one Blue Marlin and a Sailfish release after the first day of fishing for a fleet wide average of 3.02 billfish released per boat.

Day one also saw some impressive gamefish brought to the official tournament weigh station, located a few doors down from tournament HQ, at Gricelda’s Smokehouse. Team let’s go, got the party started, weighing an impressive 226.6-pound Yellowfin Tuna to take control of the Tuna category. Team Listo was up next, setting the mark in the Dorado division with a beautiful 56.6-pound fish. Defending tournament champs, Laguna Madre and last year’s Top Overall Angler Kim Bullman put up a respectable 52.6-pound Dorado to take 2^nd overall, followed by JPF Sportfishing and their 49.5 for 3^rd. Team Carpe Diem scored in the Wahoo division with a solid 24.8-pound submission.

The start of day two was met with a high level of excitement, as the overall championship was anybody’s to win. The wind and waves continued to be a challenge, but fishing picked up right where it left off and proceeded to get even better. The top teams went back and forth all day long with several lead changes and extremely tense moments. David and John Garcia, from Catch Stat were put to the test and were right on top of their game, recording and scoring release after release as morning turned to afternoon and the bite kept producing. Day two did not disappoint with a total of 194 Stripe Marlin releases fleet wide and one of the most exciting finishes in Pelagic Tournament history.

Meanwhile at the scales on Day two, Castro’s Tournament Team weighed a nice 148.8-pound Yellowfin Tuna, good for second overall tuna in the tournament but not quite good enough to knock off first place winner Let’s Go and their 226.6. In the Wahoo category, Captiva 3 came to the scales with a 42.9-pounder to knock Carpe Diem’s Day one fish into 2^nd overall. Los Lobos filled the 3^rd place Wahoo position with a Day two 23.7-pound qualifier.

When the final call of lines out was made and the smoke had cleared, this is how it all played out in the Billfish Division and the overall championship.

• Congratulations to our Top Jr. Angler Champ, Eduardo Davalos from Team Suerchingo on his 11 stripe marlin releases. Eduardo and his team never gave up and finished 7th overall.

• Team Reel Quest with Captain Javier Abaroa made a late run, but came up just short of the top 3, finishing in 4th with 31 stripe marlin and 3100 points, while winning Top Overall angler honors for Brad Stevenson. Brad scored an impressive 30 stripe marlin releases over the two days to take the Top Angler trophy.

• Finishing in 3rd with 35 marlin released and 3500 points was Team Tailchaser with Captain Julian Garcia and his Top Lady Angler trophy winner Valeria Sutton. Valeria tallied 26 marlin and finished with the second most billfish releases in the tournament by all anglers.

• Starting the day in 1st place, Team Cloud Nine with Captain Javier “Perico” Sanchez gave it all they had, but just couldn’t stay at the top, finishing in 2nd overall for the second straight year with 36 marlin released for 3600 points. They’ll be back next year more determined than ever.

• The real story was the 46 foot, Jarrett Bay and Team Stella June. Starting Day two with 12 releases and in 4th overall, this veteran team slowly picked away at the teams ahead of them, making their bites count and staying on the bait and fish all day long. Back and forth they went with Cloud Nine, Tailchaser and Reel Quest, until they were finally able to put a couple fish between them and the competition in the last hour of Day two. Their winning score of 3800 points, included an impressive 26 marlin released on the final day. This team has been fishing the Pelagic Triple Crown for several years and was very keen on putting it all together. Congratulations to Team Stella June and Captain Evan Salvay, First mate Oswaldo Ortega, anglers Brian Garcia, Jakob Gonterman, Jazz Morehead, Darian Silva and Ivan VanOrtwick on your impressive victory.

• Thank you to all our incredible teams for another amazing year in Cabo San Lucas. We appreciate your continued support and participation in this and all our tournaments. We will see you all next year in Cabo, June 8-11, 2023, for the 9^th annual Pelagic Triple Crown of Fishing.