July 4 and the 31st annual World Cup Blue Marlin Championship (World Cup) is fast approaching. Team registrations and inquiries are being received from the other side of the date line in the South Pacific to Portugal and the Cape Verde Islands in the Eastern Atlantic and many places in between.  Each team will fish for 8 hours in their time zone to see who can catch the biggest blue marlin of 500 pounds or more. ONE WINNER WILL TAKE ALL.

Teams can register on line at www.bluemarlinworldcup.com. The $3000 registration fee covers everyone on the boat. There is also an optional $5,000 Big Blue Challenge division that paid $216,000 in 2014. The 2014 winner of the World Cup also entered the Big Blue Challenge and took home $561,600.

Black Bart Lures has produced a gorgeous commemorative World Cup tee shirt that can be ordered at www.blackbartlures.com. Black Bart is also the official lure of the World Cup and sponsors the real time results on July 4. The leading blue marlin is posted on line so any smaller marlin can be released. Minute by minute reports to World Cup headquarters are also relayed on the World Cup Facebook and Twitter pages for folks at home following the action.

The World Cup is a qualifying tournament for the Offshore World Championship to be held in Costa Rica in April, 2016. It is also a sanctioned event for the International Division of IN THE BITE magazine’s Captain Of the Year Award.

The World Cup has been won in 10 widely diversified locations over it’s 30 year history so it is anyone’s guess where this year’s winning marlin will be taken.

A portion of the World Cup proceeds supports the IGFA and The Billfish Foundation.