Queen Of Hearts 768lb Marlin Wins World Cup
For the second time in five years, the Bermuda based team aboard Queen Of Hearts won in the world wide Blue Marlin World Cup Championship.
Teams from around the globe compete annually each July 4 for eight hours in their time zone to see who can land the largest blue marlin, with hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake. It was the seventh win for Bermuda in 28 years, a number matched only by Only Kona, Hawaii.
The event website said: “Captain Peter Olander of the Queen of Hearts called in with a hook up at 1:38 PM that had everybody on the edge of their seat. Queen of Hearts has a history of catching the big ones – including a previous World Cup winner in 2007.
“After a 93- minute battle, angler Glen Astwood finally brought the gladiator to boat side, securing their 768-pound blue to take the daily jackpot in the Billfish Blast and lead in the World Cup. Word had it that the bite was going on in Hawaii, but as the clock struck midnight, there was no chatter on the radio, only the shouts of joy from the Bermudian docks.
“The local boys Queen of Hearts with owner Walter Cross, Captain Peter Olander, anglers Lovintz Cann, Glenn Astood and Kevin Walsh claimed their stake as World Cup champions for the second time in five years. Queen of Hearts boasts the highest winning record for the Bermuda tournament series, earning over a million dollars in the last ten years.
“This is the seventh time for Bermuda to win the World Cup honors, and the tiny little island in the Atlantic once again proved its heavyweight status as a blue marlin mecca.”
There were 138 teams competing in the World Cup. Other locations where teams competed were Australia, Angola, Portugal, Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Bahamas, Costa Rica, Mexico, Virgin Islands, French Polynesia and US locations including Kona, Louisiana and Cape May.
It would be interesting to know how many Marlin altogether have been caught in the various countries… Why can’t these guys understand that they are depleting the earths resources for a stupid and greedy incentive. How many Marlins were killed only to not weight in at the top? It’s just ridiculous and people need to start thinking of our eco system before it’s too late!!
There were 2 marlins caught that were weighed in all over the world. Happens that both were in Bermuda. The lighter one was caught first. They can estimate the weight by using the length and girth of the fish and thus all that would not meet the min 500 lbs are released. Compare that to the mid 80 s where all sorts were being landed just for a photo op and I think that it is quite well self regulated. Course can’t keep everyone happy! Oh well.
The knock on effect of fishing all these fish, sharks, whales and dolphins is going to be catastrophic.