Cabo Blanco: The Rise and Fall of Sportfishing’s Most Legendary Club

In its heyday, Cabo Blanco was a glamorous destination that drew icons like Ernest Hemingway, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, and Paul Newman. LIFE magazine photographer Frank Schershel captured stunning images of the club’s bustling docks, record-breaking catches, and stacks of marlin tails as trophies of the sport. Today, Cabo Blanco is a quieter place, now better known for surfing than sport fishing, and the only catches likely to be made are the small anchovies that once sustained its big-game legends.

Read the full article for the complete story and a closer look at this remarkable chapter in sportfishing history.

In the 1950s and 60s, the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru was considered one of the world’s premier destinations for sport fishing. Located where the cold Humboldt Current met the warm Pacific Equatorial Current, the area’s unique ecosystem attracted marlin, tuna, and other massive fish in extraordinary numbers. It was here in 1953 that Texas oilman Alfred C. Glassell Jr. landed a record-setting 1,560-pound black marlin, a feat that would forever cement Cabo Blanco’s legendary status and even be featured in the 1958 film adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea.

But the abundance that made Cabo Blanco famous could not last forever. Overfishing of anchovies—the primary food source for the giant billfish — along with a devastating El Niño event and shifting political conditions, led to a rapid decline in the region’s fish populations. By 1970, the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club closed its doors as its waters were depleted and international tourism waned. What was once “Marlin Boulevard” became a shadow of its former self.