FishRap News

Entering their 30th anniversary year of producing major billfish tournaments, the organizers of Bisbee’s Black and Blue Marlin Tournament and other Bisbee’s events have adopted a new “circle hooks only” policy for anglers fishing with natural bait, joining a growing number of conservation-minded tournaments worldwide.


New Policy -- In this year’s Bisbee’s tournaments, participants will be required to use circle hooks when using live bait.

“From here on out, all Bisbee’s tournaments will require the use of “non-offset circle hooks” when fishing with live or dead natural bait,” Bisbee’s announced July 14. “This is a big change, and we expect word to travel fast, but we are concerned that it may not travel fast enough in this electronic world to reach the ears of our local crews in time for the East Cape Offshore event -- July 27-31.

“So, for the East Cape, although we strongly urge you to make the switch, the requirement to use circle hooks will be a ‘soft’ requirement,” Bisbees said in an announcement to anglers. “We will not disqualify a billfish if a J hook is used. The requirement will, however, be a firm rule for the Los Cabos Offshore and Black & Blue.”

Bisbee’s will partner with Eagle Claw, a major maker of circle hooks, in the new policy.

“We’ve always recognized billfish as a valuable resource, and one we want to support and maintain,” the Bisbee’s announcement added.” Our release ratios are in the high 90s; at the Los Cabos Offshore and Black & Blue, we’ve always had a marine biologist on-site to take samples before the fish is donated to a local food bank; and we actively support The Billfish Foundation and IGFA. To us, using circle hooks just seems like a natural progression to further conservation interests.”

For additional information, visit bisbees.com or e-mail mail info@bisbees.com.

This article first appeared in the July 2010 issue of FishRap. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.