Added on Thursday, June 30, 2011  Fish Post

Blue Marlin Release Tournament

Putting a blue marlin, two sailfish, and three white marlin releases on the board, Figure Eight Island’s “Retriever” crew handily took first place in the Hatteras Marlin Club Blue Marlin Release Tournament. Their billfish releases put a total of 900 points in the “Retriever” anglers’ corner, 300 more than the second place crew mustered.

Brent Wright, his brother Rob, father Bob, and Capt. John Burnette were aboard the 41’ Ricky Scarborough sportfisherman for the event, held June 19-25, and they chose Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the weeklong event for their three fishing days.

“Overall I guess it was pretty slow for the fleet,” Brent Wright explained. “We just had one of those days on Thursday.”

Without pre-fishing or checking a satellite temperature shot before the tournament, the anglers headed out Tuesday morning with a simple game plan.

“We started out Tuesday in shallow looking for sailfish,” Wright said.

Fishing in 14-20 fathoms, the crew never found a sail and ended up working their way offshore as the day wore on.

“We got down to the 970, 980, 000’s area,” Wright continued. “We never got a fish, but the charter boat ‘Hattitude’ had four whites there right after we left.”

Figuring that same water would have some billfish the next morning, the “Retriever” anglers returned to the area.

Pulling one dredge and a pair of squid daisy chains for teasers, the crew hooked a white marlin on their long dink ballyhoo just before 11:00 on Wednesday morning. Brent Wright took the rod while the white ran and jumped, and the anglers were able to secure a quick release to get on the board.

After releasing their white, less than an hour went by before a blue marlin attacked a lure in the spread.

“He ate a single hook-rigged Super Chugger in purple/silver/black,” Wright explained, “a lure we always pull. We’ve caught a lot of fish on it.”

Brent again was on the rod, and he held on to the 80 Wide outfit while the fish put on a show.

“He stayed right up on top,” the angler said, “just shampooing, moving a whole lot of white water.”

The rest of the crew quickly cleared the teasers and other rods, bringing in the long riggers while Burnette backed down on the fish hard.

“It was a pretty sweet and simple deal,” Wright reported. “We backed down, and my brother got the leader really quickly.”

With Rob Wright on the wire, the anglers quickly released the estimated 175 lb. marlin and added a handy 400 points to their score.

The blue was their last billfish of the day, but the anglers now had a pretty solid idea where they’d be fishing their final day of the tournament.

“Thursday was rough,” Wright said. “We were only able to make 15 knots. All the big boats passed us, but we knew where we wanted to go and just eased on out there.”

Many of the other boats began in the same area, but their trolling strategies differed from the “Retriever” crew’s.

“Everybody else trolled south,” the winning angler said. “We trolled north, trying to follow that water and the fish. ‘Eye Catcher,’ who was second, was with us, so we had a good feeling.”

Their good feeling was well founded, as a pack of sailfish rose in the wake of the “Retriever” almost exactly 24 hours after they hooked their white marlin.

The crew hooked and released two of the sails on dink baits, with Rob and Brent each angling a fish, then got back on the troll.

“We got our last two whites not long after that,” Wright said. Again, he and his brother shared the angling duties. The pair of marlin were the last billfish the crew saw, but they’d have finished on top of the leader board even without them.

Releasing a blue marlin and a pair of whites, Capt. Randy Hoft and the “Catbaby” took second place in the event with 600 points. Ray Hales and the “Eye Catcher” captured third place with three white marlin and two sailfish releases worth 500 points.

More information and the event’s full leader board are available at www.hatterasmarlinclub.com.