Angler Craig Watson of Melbourne, Australia, flew halfway around the world to fish the one-day, winner-take-all 2019 World Cup aboard the 32-foot Luhrs, Sorted, with Capt. Howard Williams in Madeira, Portugal. It was a move he would not regret.
The winning 541.2-pound blue marlin was landed after 2½ hours on one of Watson’s personal lures—the Bluedog Turtle—and was worth $600,000 to the team.
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Had Sorted entered the optional $8,000 Big Blue Challenge jackpot, the fish would have been worth more than $1 million. Cape Verde’s Mystic Blue, captained by Giorgio Assolari, captured the only other qualifier—a 518-pounder—boated by female angler, Aylin Karahan.
