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The 2025 Blue Marlin World Cup delivered a global showcase of big-game angling, culminating in a record-setting victory by Ultimate Lady—a 90-foot Wavepiercer fishing out of Tahiti, French Polynesia. The New Zealand-based team landed a 689-pound blue marlin during the one-day, worldwide tournament on July 4, marking the first time in the event’s 41-year history that the winning fish was caught in Tahitian waters.
Capt. Tom Francis captained Ultimate Lady to the win, with angler Fred Lewis on the rod. The marlin struck a pearl head Joe Yee Super Plunger lure and was subdued after a 45-minute battle. Their catch not only secured the World Cup title, but also topped the optional Big Blue Challenge division, resulting in a combined payout of $1.3 million—the largest total purse in tournament history.
This year’s event saw 167 teams from nine countries participate, with 99 boats opting into the high-stakes Big Blue Challenge. Entrants hailed from across the globe, including Australia, Bermuda, Cape Verde, Panama, Portugal, Senegal, and the U.S., with state teams representing coastal strongholds such as Hawaii, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana.
Despite early expectations, historically productive zones like Madeira and Cape Verde remained quiet through the morning hours. In the afternoon, Legacy, a 43-foot Torres captained by Adam Hines, briefly took the lead with a 556-pound blue marlin caught off Bermuda. Hines, who as a child was aboard when Alan Card landed the still-standing 1,195-pound World Cup record in 1992, added another chapter to his family’s World Cup legacy, though the lead would not hold.
In the Gulf of Mexico, Rising Sons, a 58-foot Viking out of Louisiana, hooked a promising fish shortly after lines in. Angler Jaselyn Berthelot, a 23-year-old LSU graduate, remained in the chair for nearly eight hours before the marlin was finally boated and weighed at 609 pounds late that evening in Grand Isle.
The Blue Marlin World Cup is run by Capt. Fly Navarro and remains a unique, one-day international competition where only blue marlin over 500 pounds are eligible. Teams fish for eight hours in their respective time zones, with catches verified on certified scales.
