Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament
Capt. Ralph Griffin, of Morehead City, and the lady anglers of the "Reel Hookers" fishing team celebrate their victory in the Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament. The crew released three white marlin over two days of fishing to earn the title.
It must have been déjà vu for Capt. Ralph Griffin and the lady angler crew of Morehead City’s “Chainlink,” as the team released three white marlin over two days fishing to earn the win in the Cape Fear Blue Marlin tournament for the second year in a row.
Returning to fish with Griffin and mate Anthony Petrelli after the 2011 victory in the event were anglers Debbie Campbell, Dawn Maynard, and Lori Huff, and they were joined by new faces Gina Strickland, Wendy Crumpler, and Deanna Parks.
Griffin and the ladies, going by the “Reel Hookers” team name, didn’t pre-fish for the event, but the captain saw some water he liked on a satellite shot the evening before the event and headed offshore of the Same Ol’ Hole to begin their troll on Thursday, June 28, the event’s first fishing day.
“A good piece of water had come up from the south,” Griffin explained, “and we tried to stay in it all day.”
The spot they’d identified didn’t disappoint, as the anglers had plenty of action on their first day. “There was a lot of life out there,” Griffin continued, “lots of grass and a lot of dolphin and some wahoo.”
The wahoo included the first and second place fish weighed in the event, caught by Gina Strickland and Dawn Maynard.
Maynard also secured the release of the crew’s first white marlin of the event after it struck a naked ballyhoo around 11:30 on Thursday morning.
The crew returned to the area Friday, fishing a bit south of where they’d found action the previous day.
They went with a similar trolling spread to what they’d dragged the day before, incorporating both naked “dink” ballyhoo and larger artificial marlin plugs.
“We had a combination of natural and artificial,” Griffin explained. “They changed the format of the event so that it would help if we could catch a blue marlin, so we pulled a couple big plugs that work well at lower speeds along with the dinks.”
With dredge and squid chain teasers helping draw fish to the boat, the crew found the bite again on Friday.
Gina Strickland had the hot hand Friday, releasing a white marlin in the late morning and another in the early afternoon.
Deciding to fish Friday even though Saturday’s forecast was better turned out to be a good decision for the “Chainlink” anglers.
“We thought about fishing Saturday,” Griffin said, “the weather was supposed to be better then but it turned out the other way around. I think the fishing was a little better Friday, too. I’m not sure anybody who fished Saturday caught a billfish.”
The “Chainlink” crew’s three white marlin releases earned the crew 375 points, enough to handily top the event’s release points leaderboard and earn them the first place check.
Carol Thomas and the “Reel Quick” crew, out of Fayetteville, NC, released a pair of white marlin over the course of the event to earn second place, and Capt. Shane Brafford and the “Carolina Time” earned third with a single white marlin release.
More information about the Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament and a full leaderboard are available at www.capefearbluemarlintournament.com.
