The tournaments in Big Fish, Blue Sea™ are made up, but most of their waters are real, chosen for the fish they’re famous for.
Bimini, The Bahamas
Just fifty miles east of Florida, Bimini sits on the edge of the Gulf Stream, which runs deep and fast past its western shore. To the east lies the shallow Great Bahama Bank, and beyond it the Tongue of the Ocean, a basin more than a mile deep. Ernest Hemingway fished these waters in the 1930s, and Bimini has been a big-game town ever since.
In the game: Bimini Bluewater Open — Cat Cay Ledge, Bimini Edge, Tongue of the Ocean.
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
The eastern tip of Hispaniola faces the Mona Passage, the strait between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In spring the waters off Cap Cana are famous for white marlin — anglers sometimes see dozens in a day — with blue marlin hunting the deeper water offshore.
In the game: Marlin Alley Shootout — Cap Cana Reef, Marlin Alley, Mona Passage.
The Gulf states
The Gulf coast holds some of the richest offshore fishing anywhere. Off Texas, the Flower Garden Banks rise from deep water as coral reefs a hundred miles out. Off Louisiana, oil rigs stand in thousands of feet of water near the mouth of the Mississippi, and yellowfin tuna gather beneath them. Mississippi’s barrier islands, Alabama’s artificial reefs off Orange Beach and the deep DeSoto Canyon off the Florida Panhandle round it out.
In the game: The Gulf Five-State Shootout — Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida.
The Crystal Coast, North Carolina
Off North Carolina the Gulf Stream swings closest to the U.S. coast, and near Cape Hatteras it meets colder water flowing down from the north. The shoals off Cape Lookout and Hatteras have wrecked ships for centuries; offshore, rocky ledges and the warm Stream draw blue marlin each summer.
In the game: Big Ledge Blue Marlin Classic — Cape Lookout Shoals, The Big Ledge, The Point.
Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Stellwagen Bank, an underwater plateau at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, is a feeding ground for whales and giant Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can weigh more than a thousand pounds. Off the tip of the Cape, the tide tears past Race Point, and further offshore the continental shelf drops away into deep canyons.
In the game: Cape Cod Giant Tuna Shootout — Stellwagen Bank, Race Point Rip, The Canyons.
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
About twenty miles north of St. Thomas, the shelf drops off into thousands of feet of water at a place called the North Drop. Around the full moons of summer, big blue marlin gather there, and it has become one of the most celebrated blue-marlin spots in the world.
In the game: North Drop Moonlight Classic — Sail Rock, The South Drop, The North Drop.
And the made-up ones
Coral Key, Kalea, the Mano Channel and the far-out islands of the Big Blue Championship are invented — warm, wild and drawn just for the game.