Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament
Atlantic Beach’s “Maggie” crew collecting their winnings for taking the number one spot in the billfish release category of the Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament. The anglers released a total of five white marlin and a sailfish to earn 750 points, handily topping the competition.
Posting a trio of white marlin releases along with a sailfish on day one of the event, Atlantic Beach’s “Maggie” crew earned 500 points, jumping to an early lead they never looked back from on their way to victory in the 2009 Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament, held June 25-27 out of Wrightsville Beach Marina. They followed their day one fish with a pair of white releases on day two for a total of 750 points, but still would have earned the $48,000 first place check if they’d never even seen a billfish the second day.
Fishing out of Morehead City on Friday, the tournament’s first day, the “Maggie” crew—Capt. Randy Bryant, Butch and Chris Bryant, and Richard Phillips—didn’t have to wait long to find some billfish action.
“We pretty much saw signs of fish right when we put the baits in: bait, mahis, that sort of thing,” Butch Bryant explained at the awards ceremony. “It was about 45 minutes in that we got that first bite and the release.”
The first fish was a sailfish that inhaled a naked dink ballyhoo, and Butch Bryant fought it to a quick release.
Trolling a pair of dredge teasers and a spread of naked dink baits in around 100 fathoms, it was nearly lunchtime before the anglers saw their second billfish of the event.
“About 11:30, we saw a white back there,” Bryant continued. “He was just sort of tailing behind the short rigger, so we fed him and caught him.”
After Bryant fought the team’s second points fish to a clean release, the anglers had a break in the action long enough to eat lunch, but it wasn’t long before their combination of a natural and a Blue Water Candy dredge attracted some more billfish attention.
“After lunch we had a double header go off and a third fish back there that wouldn’t eat, so we got another two of three there,” Bryant reported. “That was all we saw yesterday.”
It may have been all they saw, but no one else in the 26 boat field tallied more than a single release on day one, so “Maggie” was sitting pretty going into the tournament’s second and final day.
Leaving out of Morehead again, the winning team tried to get back to the spot where they’d caught most of their billfish the day before, but rougher sea conditions made it difficult.
“We were trying to get back to where we fished on Friday,” said Bryant, “but we were going into the waves, and we started putting the lines in short of where we wanted to. All our bites yesterday seemed to come when we were trolling down sea, but we had to go south and up sea.”
Not only was the water rough, the crew was facing what Bryant referred to as the “Horrible 5”: wind, waves, pesky dolphin, scattered grass, and eye-searing glare.
The “Russelhatt” crew, from Little River, SC, released one blue marlin Saturday to earn 400 points and second place in the Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament.
Even facing all those adverse factors, the anglers released a white marlin on their way to the previous day’s honey hole.
“We got down there about 11:00 or 11:15,” Bryant explained, “and the water was hotter. Half a mile inshore of there it dropped down half a degree, and that’s where we caught the second fish today.”
Bryant and Phillips each reeled in one of the team’s Saturday marlin.
“Whatever side of the boat they come up on, that’s who’s reeling in the fish,” Bryant said. “It’s very much a team effort.”
Several of the other boats on Saturday earned their second releases of the tournament, but no one was able to even challenge the “Maggie” crew’s commanding lead.
Releasing a blue marlin late in the game on Saturday, the “Russellhatt” crew, out of Little River, SC, earned 400 points to take home second place in the Cape Fear Blue Marlin. Capt. Robert Mintz, mates Eric Beltz and Brian O’Quinn, and angler Kirkley Russell were aboard the 48’ Hatteras for the event, and they won over $20,000.
After fishing to the north with only a dolphin to show for it on Friday, the SC anglers targeted one of their favorite spots for Saturday’s fishing.
“We were at the Steeples today,” Russell explained. “That’s a place we’ve always liked to go.”
After a slow start to the day, things broke wide open when the marlin struck at 2:00 Saturday afternoon with just an hour of fishing time left in the event.
“I saw him hit, and I knew it was a blue,” Russell said. “I told them he was about 150.”
A Black Bart Prowler in a dolphin color scheme had fooled the team’s fish, and it was on 130 lb. gear, allowing the team to put some heavy drag on the fish.
“We had him on 130, so once we saw he was hooked good, we just took our time,” Russell, the angler, continued. “It was just pump and grind and take our time. He jumped a little at the beginning, but he was pretty cooperative after that.”
The heavy gear didn’t take too long to break the marlin’s resolve, and Russell had the fish boatside in around 30 minutes, getting the official release at 2:30 to earn second.
Another boat hooked and released a blue marlin in the tournament’s eleventh hour, but they released it shortly after the “Russellhatt” fish. Wrightsville Beach’s “Pole Position” team also earned 400 points in the event, but was bumped to third place based on the time of their release.
In the meatfish division, a 24.30 lb. dolphin topped that category for Wrightsville Beach’s “Eye Catcher.” The “Reel Love” crew followed it up with a 22.75 lb. ‘phin.
A 40.55 lb. wahoo earned the “Game On” team that prize, and “Reel Love” again followed up with a 27.10 lb. fish.
