The 72-foot Viking MERCENARIA won the top prize in the 2022 Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. Captained by Neil Sykes with Mates Jake Keech and Kurt Ward, anglers Chad Ballard, Matthew Brown, Ben Fox, and Tim Rapine were the first team to bring a blue marlin to the scales of this year’s event. 

Their marlin, which weighed 572.6 pounds, was the first one listed on the leaderboard and it held out as the heaviest one throughout the tournament, which was held June 10 – 19 in Morehead City, N.C.

The winning team MERCENARIA took home more than $3.4 million Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. (photo courtesy of Big Rock Blue Marline Tournament)

With a bonus of $777,750 for being the first team of the tournament to weigh a blue marlin, their total prize money topped $3.4 million. 

WALL HANGER took second place with Lady Angler Stacy Allen’s 556.4-pound blue marlin, earning them $426,288. Third place went to HIGH YIELD with their 536.8-pound blue. They took home $283,525.

266 boats entered the six-day event. The winning fish was caught on opening day of the tournament which was last Monday. The Mercenaria’s catch was reeled in by Cape Charles’ Matt Brown, Cape Charles, VA and earned $777,750 for the Fabulous Fisherman’s prize as the tournament’s first qualifying blue marlin over 500 pounds.

Two other blue marlin catches were made on Monday. Those catches stayed on the leader board and remained in second and third for the entire tournament all week. The Wall Hanger, a North Carolina boat, finished in second place with a 556.4-pounder, with High Yield (Charleston, South Carolina) with a 526.7-pounder coming in third.