Team 1+1 won marlin and tuna at Puerto Vallarta’s 70th fishing tournament, while Great White claimed dorado during Saturday’s awards.
Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, November 15, 2026 — A marlin weighing 194.2 kilograms (428 pounds) gave Team 1+1 the top prize at Puerto Vallarta’s 70th International Marlin and Tuna Fishing Tournament, which wrapped up Saturday evening with an awards ceremony at Marina Vallarta.
But the team didn’t stop with the biggest marlin. It also won the tuna division, taking first place in two of the tournament’s three main categories and securing MXN 600,000 in advertised cash prizes.
The double victory capped three days of fishing that brought 35 registered teams to Puerto Vallarta for one of the city’s longest-running sporting competitions.
Team 1+1’s winning marlin measured 3.18 meters long, or approximately 10 feet 5 inches, with a girth of 120 centimeters.
The catch was enough to hold first place through Saturday’s final weigh-in, ending a competition that had seen several changes near the top of the standings.
A Friday catch changed the marlin competition
Team 1+1’s winning marlin actually arrived a day before the tournament ended.
On Thursday, November 12, the opening day of fishing, Team Los Marines established the early lead with a 147.8-kilogram marlin brought in aboard La Mamalona.
That fish was nearly 326 pounds, a substantial catch by any measure. Still, it wouldn’t be enough.
During Friday’s weigh-in, Team 1+1 presented its 194.2-kilogram marlin, moving ahead of Los Marines by 46.4 kilograms.
Another team, El Matador, entered the running with a 126.6-kilogram marlin, placing third in Friday’s provisional standings.
The competition continued Saturday, but nobody surpassed Team 1+1’s catch.
As Vallarta Daily reported Friday, the tournament’s final weigh-ins were scheduled at Marina Vallarta, where teams brought their catches for official measurement and registration.
The winning marlin wasn’t the only reason Team 1+1 would leave with a first-place trophy.
Team 1+1 also takes the tuna title
In the tuna category, Team 1+1 claimed first place with a 53.4-kilogram catch, equivalent to approximately 118 pounds.
The fish measured 1.55 meters long and had a girth of 88 centimeters.
It was another change in the standings.
On Friday, Team Sweet Melissa had taken the early tuna lead with a 36.2-kilogram fish, the first qualifying tuna presented during the competition.
Team 1+1’s larger catch eventually secured the division.
For the winners, the financial rewards were substantial.
According to the Club de Pesca de Puerto Vallarta’s official prize schedule, first place in the marlin category carried MXN 500,000. The tuna championship added another MXN 100,000.
That put Team 1+1’s combined first-place prize allocation at MXN 600,000, before any possible earnings from separate tournament jackpots or other awards.
The organizers advertised a total cash prize pool exceeding MXN 1 million for the anniversary tournament.
Great White wins the dorado division
The third major category went to Team Great White.
Its winning dorado weighed 11.4 kilograms, approximately 25 pounds, and measured 1.4 meters long with a girth of 54 centimeters.
Team El Médico had also been a serious contender.
During Friday’s competition, El Médico presented two qualifying dorado weighing 11.4 and 10.2 kilograms, temporarily occupying the top two places in the division.
Great White was eventually named the category winner with a fish matching the reported weight of El Médico’s earlier leader.
The tournament’s official rules explain how results like these are settled.
When two catches weigh the same, judges compare their lengths first. If those measurements are also identical, they compare girth. Registration order serves as the final tiebreaker.
The published final report did not specify which measurement settled the dorado standings.
Great White’s first-place finish carried an advertised prize of MXN 50,000.
What it takes to qualify for a tournament prize
Catching a fish isn’t automatically enough to qualify for a prize.
The official 2026 tournament rules required marlin to weigh at least 100 kilograms, tuna at least 30 kilograms, and dorado at least 10 kilograms.
Participants also had to document their catches on video, showing the fishing process and the fish being brought aboard.
The evidence was presented to tournament judges during registration and weighing. Organizers could reject catches that failed to meet the requirements.
The regulations also encouraged participants to release fish below the minimum qualifying weights, although bringing an undersized fish to the weighing station did not automatically result in a penalty.
There’s another detail worth knowing about what happens to the fish afterward.
Under the club’s published rules, catches submitted for official weighing become the property of the Club de Pesca and are to be donated to charitable institutions.
The rules also allow anglers who want to preserve their catch as a trophy to receive the skin for mounting.
A big marlin, but not a tournament record
Although 194.2 kilograms was enough to win this year’s competition, it didn’t come close to breaking the tournament’s standing marlin record.
Organizers listed that record at 322.3 kilograms, more than 710 pounds.
For the 70th anniversary, they offered an additional MXN 100,000 to the first participant who presented a marlin exceeding that weight.
Team 1+1’s winning fish fell 128.1 kilograms short of the mark, so the record-breaking bonus was not triggered.
Still, the catch was notable compared with several previous tournament winners.
The club’s historical records show a winning marlin of 193.6 kilograms in 2021, landed by Team Oscar’s. In 2018, Team Pato Bobo claimed first place with a substantially larger 237.4-kilogram marlin.
Puerto Vallarta has also seen other big catches this month.
At the separate Los Muertos sportfishing tournament, Team La Joya won with a 182.6-kilogram marlin, as Vallarta Daily reported November 9.
The two tournaments operate independently, but their results put two marlin weighing more than 180 kilograms into the local fishing news within the same week.
Seventy years of fishing tournaments in Puerto Vallarta
The International Fishing Tournament has a longer history than many of the attractions now associated with Puerto Vallarta.
According to the Club de Pesca’s historical account, the competition began in 1956 after a group of local businessmen joined Juan de Dios de la Torre in organizing a fishing event intended to attract anglers from other parts of Mexico.
De la Torre had previously won a fishing competition in New Zealand and believed Puerto Vallarta could attract competitors from farther away.
International participation began with the first tournament. By 1957, organizers had adopted the name Torneo Internacional de Pesca de Pez Vela.
Mexicana de Aviación later supported the tournament’s promotion, helping connect the city’s fishing reputation with visitors arriving from outside the region.
The original competition centered on sailfish, but the tournament has changed over time.
This year’s eligible categories were marlin, tuna, and dorado.
Sailfish were excluded again in 2026, including from catch-and-release competition. Organizers explained during their October presentation that the decision was intended to contribute to the species’ recovery.
That leaves the tournament with a different competitive format from its early decades, even as it retains the same November tradition.
For its 70th edition, the Club de Pesca held registration November 11 at its headquarters on Hamburgo in Versalles.
Fishing began Thursday morning, November 12, with the opening ceremony near Hotel Rosita at the northern end of Puerto Vallarta’s Malecón.
For the next three days, teams brought qualifying catches to the Malecón de Marina Vallarta, beside the Marina del Rey condominiums, for the afternoon weigh-ins.
The competition ended Saturday, November 14, with the awards ceremony beginning at 7 p.m.
Tribuna de la Bahía reported that the closing celebration included mariachi music and a gathering of participants, organizers, and their families.
By the end of the evening, Team Great White had collected the dorado championship, while Team 1+1 had claimed both the marlin and tuna titles.
Those two victories accounted for MXN 600,000 of the tournament’s advertised first-place cash awards, with the 194.2-kilogram marlin standing as the heaviest winning catch of Puerto Vallarta’s 70th International Fishing Tournament.
