One Tournament, One World, One Day, One Champion

Anglers and crews' competing in all parts of the world made history by setting new heights in the July 4, 2002 World Cup Blue Marlin Championships.
For the last eighteen years, the World Cup Blue Marlin Championship tournament is fished on July 4th and the team catching the biggest blue marlin around the world
takes pleasure in accepting the large sum of prize money in a winner takes all format. This year the bar was raised with over 109 boats competing for the tournament record
payout of $218,000.00.

This year's tournament included teams in all time zones and many oceans and played out like a 1 - 0 game going into the final hours of the competition. The team of "Margarita", fishing out of Madeira, jumped to an early lead weighing in a 584.2 lb blue. This blue marlin set the benchmark and remained in 1st place for approximately 10 hrs. With several world class fishing locations yet to fish, including St. Thomas, Bermuda, the Gulf, the Bahamas and Hawaii, it was a long shot for the fish to hold out and remain the leader. Time went by slowly as a few boats called in a hookup here and there and most of the follow up communication was "she's not going to weigh" and another blue was released.

The "Margarita's" 584.2 lb blue prevailed going into the final hours of the tournament and now it was Hawaii's turn to go for the win. Hawaii was the last location to fish and the crews were chomping at the bit as they read the scoreboard on InTheBite.com-1st place 584.2 lbs. Hawaii opened up with a couple hook ups in the morning but once again it was "hooked up" and "release". At approximately 10: 45 am- Hawaii time, the committee boat phone rang and "Marlin Magic" skipper Marlin Parker phoned in "hooked up". Forty-five minutes later the phone rang again and "Marlin Magic" reported a boated fish. The crew recorded the measurements of the blue marlin, which were 146 inch short length and a 62 inch girth. "I knew this fish was a contender" said Jim Hardie. The "Marlin Magic" headed to the scale and after it was all said and done the scale recorded an official weight of 612 lbs - the new 1st place team. With approximately 4 hours of fishing left for the Hawaiian team entries-it was far from over. "Marlin Magic" team patiently sitting on the dock knew their was still a good chance that the Hawaiian waters could easily produce a fish well over the 600.lb range. The committee boat phone wasn't used again until the final minute of the competition when Jim Hardie, World Cup Coordinator, congratulated the "Marlin Magic" team on the 2002 World Cup victory.