Teams celebrate with the Mexican flag at the awards of the XX Campeonato Nacional Big Game Trolling, Cabo San Lucas, September 2026

Key takeaways

BCS–Estrella-Kahe (Captain Martín Talamantes) won the national title with 1,700 points.
Sinaloa–Tailchaser (Captain Jorge Angulo Cota) finished second with 1,570 points, qualifying to represent Mexico for the fifth year in a row.
BCS–El Sargento (Captain Carlos Gloria) took third with 960 points and is the reserve team.
Thirteen teams from six states fished two days out of Cabo San Lucas under catch-and-release rules.

At a glance

Event	XX Campeonato Nacional de Pesca Deportiva Big Game Trolling BCS 2026
Dates	September 18–20, 2026 (two fishing days, September 19 and 20)
Venue	Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Teams	13 teams from Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Coahuila, Nayarit, Quintana Roo and Sinaloa
Format	Big game trolling, catch and release for billfish, with video
Champion	BCS–Estrella-Kahe, Captain Martín Talamantes, 1,700 points
What was at stake	The top two teams represent Mexico at the 2027 Big Game World Championship in South Africa

Results

1st	BCS–Estrella-Kahe · Captain Martín Talamantes · 1,700 points
2nd	Sinaloa–Tailchaser · Captain Jorge Angulo Cota · 1,570 points
3rd	BCS–El Sargento · Captain Carlos Gloria · 960 points (reserve team)

Estrella-Kahe, from Baja California Sur, and Tailchaser, from Sinaloa, earned the right to represent Mexico at the Big Game World Championship in South Africa in 2027. For Tailchaser it is the fifth year in a row they have won Mexico’s place at the world championship. El Sargento, also from Baja California Sur, finished third and stays as the reserve team.

Two days of fishing out of Cabo

Thirteen teams from Baja California Sur, Chiapas, Coahuila, Nayarit, Quintana Roo and Sinaloa took part. The championship opened on Friday, September 18, with team registration and the welcome dinner, and the teams fished on Saturday and Sunday, starting each morning just outside the bay at the Arch. Billfish were catch and release, with video of every fish, so the marlin and sailfish that scored went back into the sea.

Top Anglers at the championship

Max Vargas, our chief strategy officer, was at the start and at the awards as a commissioner of the Mexican Sportfishing Federation and as an international judge accredited by the FIPS-M, the international federation for sportfishing at sea. Captain Victor Vargas, founder of Top Anglers, attended as president of the Baja California Sur state sportfishing association, which represents the national federation in the state.

Also at the awards ceremony were Hugo Pérez Tagle, treasurer of the national federation, on behalf of its president José Isauro García Macedo; Luis Miguel García, president of the Pan American Sportfishing Federation; and Luis Ramón Cárdenas, coordinator of FONMAR in Los Cabos, on behalf of the state government, which supported the event.

Why it matters

Cabo San Lucas hosted the Big Game World Championship in 2024, when Mexico won gold with anglers from Baja California Sur. Hosting the national qualifier again keeps Cabo at the center of Mexican big game fishing, and the same blue water these teams fished is where our charters run every day. See what bites in September, or how to tell a striped marlin from a sailfish.