HONORABLE MENTIONS

These destinations didn’t quite make the cut but are still memorable enough to be included in this list.

PERU

Home to the IGFA’s all-tackle black marlin world record at 1,560 pounds, as well as the women’s all-tackle record of 1,525 pounds for Mrs. Charles Hughes (above), Peru has produced some memorable catches, although both records are quite dated (1953 and 1954, respectively). However, a new resort and marina development, Marina Coast Peru, is now well underway, just 25 miles north of Cabo Blanco and its historic fishing grounds. Time will tell if there could be a return to those glory days of old.

AUSTRALIA’S WEST COAST

While the land Down Under is documented as the world’s best black marlin destination, it was not until 2018 that the nation celebrated its first blue marlin over 1,000 pounds. That event took place at the wild and woolly western coastal town of Exmouth on the country’s western coast, when Capt. Eddy Lawler weighed a fish of 1,089 pounds. Exmouth is home to a wide number of incredible offshore fisheries, including, it seems, big blue marlin.

FRENCH POLYNESIA

An overseas collectivity of France comprised of more than 100 islands in the South Pacific, French Polynesia includes such memorable destinations as Tahiti, Bora Bora, and the Tuamotu archipelago, all of which are astride some interesting bottom structure and fringed by lush coral atolls. Numerous large blue marlin have been reported to Grander Watch over the years, including a 1,474-pounder in 2015 and a 1,301-pound fish in 2011. Most recently, a blue marlin weighing 1,106 pounds was caught in January 2021. Many feel that these waters could produce the next all-tackle world-record Pacific blue marlin.