Veteran T&T fisherman Gerard "Frothy" de Silva captained the boat Pesca Grossa to the US $656,000 first prize in the prestigious Blue Marlin World Cup Championship in Funchal, Madeira on Saturday. His crew, which included angler Anthony Johnson of Florida and co-captain Duart Nuno Goncalves of Madeira, was the only one of the 149 teams worldwide to land a Blue Marlin (652 lbs).
In the unique World Cup tournament, teams fish anywhere in the world for a blue marlin over the 500 pound minimum size. Each team fishes eight hours in their time zone, always on July 4, to see who can land the largest catch. It is a one day, winner take all competition. There is no second place so all teams are notified immediately as soon as a qualifying fish is weighed. In this way, any team hooking a smaller fish knows it should be released. Pesca Grossa's 652 lb marlin set a fairly high goal for other teams to exceed. In this case, none of the other teams could beat it.
Across the globe, in hot spots such as Cape Verde, Bermuda and Hawaii, large numbers of teams released dozens of marlins all below the 652 lb leading weight. It was the same story at Ascension Island, Mauritius, Papua, New Guinea, Bahamas, Cameroon, French Polynesia, Azores, Portugal, Panama, Mexico and the US east and Gulf Coasts.
Trinidad-born de Silva, who has spent the last 30 years in Tobago, added this honour to a growing list of international awards, including first place at the prestigious Hemingway International Billfish Tournament in Cuba as well as second place at the renowned annual Rolex International Tournament of Champions (ITOC).
Mike Leech, Tournament Director, said he was pleased that only one marlin was landed from all the international locations. In the previous two years only two qualifying marlin were landed due to the format of having only a single winner.
The World Cup is a qualifying event for the Offshore World Championship so Johnson will also receive an invitation to fish in their 2016 Championship from April 17-22, 2016 in Costa Rica. The World Cup is also a sanctioned event for the International Division of IN THE BITE's Captain Of The Year award.A portion of the World Cup proceeds go to support the IGFA and The Billfish Foundation.