There is one thing that gets me mighty excited on the 4th of July every year and it’s not the America’s Independence Day celebration. It’s when over 100 boats from some of the world’s best blue marlin destinations venture out in search of that one fish that could net them a very fat cheque in a single event. The Blue Marlin World Cup.
What is the Blue Marlin World Cup all about?
The Blue Marlin World Cup is the only worldwide blue marlin fishing tournament that happens annually, every July 4th. It’s a one-day-one-species event attended by anglers from all over the world. This event has been won from 10 different blue marlin hotspots since it first started in 1985.
The blue marlin world cup is as straightforward as they come. There are no participation medals and there’s only one winner. The prize money goes to the heaviest marlin weighed in. Regardless of which hotspot you’re fishing from, there’s a minimum qualifying weight of 500lbs (227kg). Joining the competition will set you back by about $5000 US dollars just to enter your boat. There’s also the option to join the ‘Big Blue Challenge’ which requires an $8000 entry fee.
Does it sound like a lot of money? You get an eight-hour window to try and catch a fish weighing over 500lbs, so yes it sounds like it. But, if you consider the fact that you have a chance to win $600,000 then it is definitely worth a shot! The option to join the Big Blue Challenge, with a larger entry fee, will give you a chance at 80% of the tournament fee. This could easily amount to over $1,000,000. The Blue Marlin World Cup is appealing, whether it’s for the prize money or the bragging rights for having caught the biggest blue and besting some of the world’s best game fishing teams.
Blue Marlin World Cup 2021
This year, the Blue Marlin World Cup 2021 named a new winner. The Portuguese team named ‘Team Number One’ foundress of Lusopeche led by Captain Manuel Rodrigues, successfully beat 121 other teams while aboard the Blue Hunter—a 43-foot Riviera. The winning ‘grander’ was caught in Cape Verde, 600 kms off the coast of Senegal, West Africa. The Blue Hunter also had on board Skipper Manuel Viana, Michel de Azevedo, Roberto Miranda, Carlos Miranda and Antony Davoust. The member of the team who captured the big blue was Manuel Rodrigues.
Team Number One’s winning blue marlin weighed in at 1,053lbs (477.8kg), allowing them to be the fourth team to join the grander club in the 36 years the Blue Marlin World Cup has been running. It was considerably larger than last year’s winning fish which weighed 964lbs (437.3kgs). The largest blue marlin caught in the same tourney was 1,195lb (542kg) and caught by Don Hunt in Bermuda in 1993.
Cape Verde, renowned for big blue’s
Cape Verde is well known for its blue marlin fishery, both for the numbers that can be caught and for the sheer size of some of the fish that are boated there every year. Catching a 1000lb (450kg) blue marlin is generally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, yet Captain Manuel Viana managed to land two this year. It was the second fish that really counted. It is also the heaviest fish to come out of Cape Verde during the Blue Marlin Cup since 2010.
RELATED: Blue Marlin: One of the Greatest Game Fish of all Time.
The number of fish weighed this year were lower compared to previous years. The Blue Marlin World Cup 2020 had four qualifying fish weighing over 500lbs. This year, there was only one qualifying fish—and it was the Portuguese team’s winning ‘grander.’
Maybe it’s all about luck, but you can try learning a few tips by reading these Top Tips to Improve Your Catch Rate on your Next Fishing Adventure.
Check it out
You can check out a video of Cape Verde below, which is arguably the Blue Marlin capital of the world.
You can watch the 2021 winning ‘grander’ get weighed at the weigh station in Cape Verde here.
So, do you think you have what it takes to reel in that straight-up dinosaur of a fish and bring home that fork ton of cash? You can always take your chance. Reach out to us at Ocean Blue Fishing and we’ll organise your entire trip for next year’s Blue Marlin World Cup.
