Two of the four qualifying blue marlin over 500 pounds in the 2007 World Cup Blue Marlin Championship (World Cup) were caught on Black Bart lures.The lure of choice of many top professional captains, Black Bart is now the official lure of the World Cup.
The World Cup winning fish in 2007 was 728 lb blue marlin caught in Bermuda aboard the Queen Of Hearts by angler Vince Cann. It was hooked on a Black Bart "1656" which is one of Captain Bart Miller's personal favorites. The first qualifying blue of last year's World Cup was reported from Angola and weighted 512 lb. It was caught on a Black Bart "Zulu" lure. A third huge marlin was hooked on a Black Bart "Blue Breakfast" lure at Madeira but the fish was lost.The payout for the 728 lb blue was $343,400.
There is no other tournament in the world like the World Cup. For the past 23 years it has been fished for a single day on the Fourth Of July. It is a winner take all event with no second place. The heaviest blue marlin over 500 lb wins the pot. Anglers can fish anywhere in the world for 8 hours in their time zone with updated information being relayed to the tournament headquarters in Ft Lauderdale, Florida and posted in real time on the tournament web site, www.bluemarlinworldcup.com.
In 2007 teams fished from 15 countries and territories ranging from Portugal and Angola in the Eastern Atlantic to Tahiti in the South Pacific. Registration fee is $3000 with an optional "Big Blue Challenge" of $5000.
In the past, winning marlin have come from 10 different marlin hot spots including San Salvador, St Thomas, Freeport, Texas, North Carolina's Outer Banks, Azores, Costa Rica, Madeira, Bermuda, Kona and the Cape Verde Islands.It has been won by Atlantic blue marlin 16 times and Pacific blues 6 times. Back in the 1980s when fewer teams entered the tournament, no qualifying marlin were caught for 2 years.
To order replicas of the Black Bart lures that caught qualifying blue marlin in the 2007 World Cup, go to www.blackbartlures.com or call (330) 733-9482.
Black Bart joins IWS Scales (www.iwsscales.com) as a sponsor of the World Cup. Also, The Madam and Wild Hooker, world famous fishing operation, is offering a trip for up to five people from the team that catches the heaviest blue marlin over 500 lb in the World Cup. The trip will be at Ascention Island, home of giant blue marlin and tuna. See latest news on the World Cup web site for more details. | 
