A quartet of local anglers looked favourites last night to prevail in the lucrative World Cup Marlin Championships after reeling in an enormous fish which weighed in at 1,089 pounds at PW?s dock in Hamilton.

The marlin fishing world cup is held on a single day in various different time zones across the globe ? and should yesterday?s monster prove to be the largest caught worldwide the champion crew could win up to $300,000 in prize money.

While the tournament was not over until midnight Bermuda time, the Bermudian team of Andrew Dias, Louis Cruz, Martin Estis and Andrew Farias, fishing aboard Dias? boat were confident that their fish would win the day.

Estis, who conquered the huge marlin after 45 minutes in the fighting chair, was clearly ecstatic on the dock afterwards, surrounded by joyous family members, friends and fellow fisherman.

?What a day,? he exclaimed. ?We saw a swirl about 20 yards behind the boat and then a big hole opened up. I never actually saw the fish until about 30 seconds later and then the battle began.

?We?re all pretty hopeful that we?ll win, and I assure you if we do we will be partying for a whole week!?