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On just the second day of the 2026 Big Rock Blue Marlin Fishing Tournament, history was made. The crew fishing aboard Marlin Fever landed and weighed a 919.9-pound blue marlin, the largest ever caught in the historic fishing tournament.
Already, the fish earned the crew $871,250 after they won the Level V Fabulous Fisherman’s prize for their record-setting fish. But the 2026 Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament has a total prize pool of $9,038,225 this year with a record-setting $6.2 million going to the largest marlin so they are almost certainly headed for a truly massive pay day.
919.9-Pound Blue Marlin Make Big Rock Blue Marlin Fishing Tournament History
Captain Cameron White was on the throttle for the battle and angler Connor Daniel reeled in the fish of a lifetime. Deep water fishing is an unfathomably expensive sport! Boats, tackle, crew, gas, docks, tournament entry fees, the list goes on and on.
But fishing aboard MARLIN FEVER they have already won $871,250 on just Day 2 of the 2026 Big Rock Blue Marlin fishing tournament and are now in line to earn the $6.2 million grand prize. The only thing between them and that $6.2 million is another boat somehow catching the largest fish in the history of the 69-year-old fishing tournament in Morehead City, North Carolina.
Check out the photos of this absolutely gargantuan fish:
WNCT evening news anchor Ken Watlington snapped this video of the 919.9-pound blue marlin being weighed in Morehead City on Day 2 of Big Rock fishing. It is truly a prehistoric-sized fish. Longer than most SUVs. It has shoulders wider than any O-Lineman in the NFL.
#BREAKING: There’s a new record at The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament: 919.9 pounds off the Marlin Fever. pic.twitter.com/xQE3OutoSd
— Ken Watlington (@KWOnAir) June 9, 2026
Who Gets Paid At Big Rock?
Saturday, June 16th is the final day of fishing in the 2026 Big Rock Tournament. In total, boats fish 6 days with ‘2 lay days required’ at the captain’s choice. As things stand, the total Big Rock prize pool this year is $9,038,225 and of that, $6.2M goes toward the top blue marlin which in this case is the largest fish ever caught in the history of the tournament.
Additional prizes are awarded for heaviest Yellowfin Tuna, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo, and of course, Blue Marlin. Boats get paid out for the first daily blue marlin release on each day of fishing as well as overall billfish release numbers. Like every fishing tournament, the prizes are complicated. Boats “buy into” various categories. There is often side action too.
Anglers and captains are required to undergo lie detector tests upon request in order to accept the massive prizes. This ensures there’s no funny business in the fishing and whoever caught the fish didn’t have help that went against the rules.
Come Saturday, we should know for certain that this 919.9-pound blue marlin is officially a $6.2 million + $871,250 fish for a total of $7,071,250. Absolutely unreal!
In past years, one boat lost out on a $3.5 million Big Rock top prize because of a shark! And it is not uncommon for big fish to be caught early. The 2024 Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament was won by a boat who caught their massive fish on Day 1.
The North Carolina state fishing record for grander Blue Marlin is a 1,228 lb. 8 oz. fish caught in 2008 by angler Trey Irvine out of Oregon Inlet. The only other North Carolina saltwater fishing records anywhere close to that is Tiger Shark at 1,150 pounds. Pretty muche every other species is hundreds of pounds lighter.