An 845-pound blue marlin earned a combined purse of $1.27 million for the 54 Hatteras Dogs Bollocks during the 2024 Blue Marlin World Cup. Fishing out of the Cape Verde Islands, Stuart Simpson captained the winning vessel, with Ron Kawaja, founder of Pelagic Gear, on the rod for the winning catch. For the second year in a row, a new payout record was set during the one-day worldwide tournament.
The team’s fish, which measured 126 inches long (lower jaw to fork length) with a 70-inch girth, was fooled by a Viper Bonze Lure. Dogs Bollocks won both the World Cup and the Big Blue Challenge divisions. The field consisted of 162 teams competing this year.
Dogs Bollocks is sharing a portion of their payout with two local deckhands, both of whom intend to use their share of the prize money to build houses and to send their kids to college. This story only adds to what was an overall exciting day of fishing and a great way to celebrate July 4th and the World Cup’s 40th anniversary.
The Blue Marlin World Cup is a one-day fishing tournament conducted globally. Only blue marlin weighing more than 500 pounds are eligible. Competing teams fish in their respective time zones from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Entries are weighed on certified government scales and verified in their respective locales.
The Tournament entry fee for the World Cup is $5,000 per team. The optional Big Blue Challenge (BBC) is an additional $8,000. Dogs Bollocks caught the biggest marlin of the day and took home all the prize money as the winner of the BBC and as the winner of the Tournament. Of the 162 teams overall, 97 were entered in the optional Big Blue Challenge.
Sorted, fishing out of Madeira, reported an early morning catch weighing 557 pounds. Laura Russell, competing aboard Debatable with Team Hit & Run, weighed a 636-pounder while fishing in the Bermuda Billfish Blast. Big Deal, also fishing in Bermuda, weighed a 673-pound blue late after a four-hour fight. None of those fish would come close to Kawaja’s hefty trophy.
Two historic giant blue hot spots were well represented among this year’s fleet. Bermuda boasted 49 teams, followed by 42 in Hawaii and 20 across the Gulf of Mexico. Madeira and Cape Verde fielded 18 and 17 teams, respectively. In addition to Bermuda and the United States, teams fished from Portugal (Madeira and Cape Verde), The Bahamas and Senegal.
The 2025 Blue Marlin World Cup will be held July 4, 2025. For more information, visit www.bluemarlinworldcup.com.