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Cape Verde’s remarkable 2026 blue marlin season delivered another surprise on June 23rd when The Release Man, captained by Marty Bates, weighed a 1,013-pound blue marlin during the Cape Verde Cup. Angler Mike Peet caught the fish, which measured 138 inches lower-jaw fork length with a 70-inch girth – a true fish-of-a-lifetime.
For Bates, the catch adds another major accomplishment to already remarkable career in the sport. The New Zealand native has built an extensive résumé across many of the world’s top marlin destinations, and his experience in Cape Verde has made him one of the fishery’s most recognized captains. This grander only strengthens that record.
Cape Verde has long been known for its volume of marlin and regular shots at large fish, but the recent run of outsized blues has again put the archipelago at the center of the blue marlin world.
The 1,013-pounder was weighed during the Cape Verde Cup and is the second qualifying fish weighed in the 2026 Marlin Global Challenge. The previous leader, an 836.5-pound blue, was also caught in Cape Verde aboard Dogs Bollocks.
With the 1,013-pound fish, The Release Man moves into first place in the season-long Marlin Global Challenge, which awards top honors to the team weighing the year’s heaviest qualifying blue marlin during a recognized tournament.
It is a towering mark, but there is still plenty of fishing—and plenty of big-fish opportunity—remaining on the 2026 calendar. Major tournaments in Bermuda, Kona, at the White Marlin Open, the MidAtlantic, the Bisbee’s events and beyond could all produce the fish capable of changing the leaderboard.
Teams still have time to enter the Marlin Global Challenge and take their shot at The Release Man. Sign up, fish hard and put a blue marlin on the scale that can challenge for top honors in 2026: Marlin Global Challenge | Marlin .
