Hatteras Blue Marlin
Clint Peters, Capt. Michael Mattson, mate Jordan Parker, angler Mullins McLeod and the “My Three Sons” fishing team earned first place at the Hatteras Marlin Club Blue Marlin Release Tournament by releasing two blue marlin and a white marlin to put 925 points on the board. Their fish fell for ballyhoo and spanish mackerel in a Gulf Stream eddy 30 miles off Hatteras Inlet.
Releasing a marlin on each of their three fishing days in the event, Clint Peters, of Richmond, VA, and Charleston, SC’s “My Three Sons” crew earned 825 points to take home victory at the Hatteras Marlin Club Blue Marlin Release Tournament, held June 15-21 out of the Hatteras Marlin Club.
Peters, his wife Danielle, boat owner Hunter Edwards, Capt. Michael Mattson, mate Jordan Parker, Mullins McLeod, and a group of other friends fished the event on the 63’ Garlington, and the anglers set out on Monday, June 16, the event’s first fishing day, for a piece of water Mattson found on a satellite sea surface temperature shot.
“There was an eddy off the Gulf Stream about 30 miles off Hatteras and we headed for that,” Strickland explained. “There were about 10 other boats fishing it with us.”
Trolling dredge and daisy chain teasers along with circle hook-rigged ballyhoo and spanish mackerel, the anglers’ intuition proved right as they encountered several billfish on their initial angling day.
They hooked a 200 lb. class blue marlin around 10:30 that morning, which McLeod battled to the boat in around 20 minutes for the team’s first release of the tournament and 400 points for the leaderboard. They also hooked some gaffer dolphin, but the blue proved their only points fish for the day.
Fellow competitor “Annie C” also released a blue marlin and a spearfish on Day 1 to take the lead, pushing “My Three Sons” into a six-way tie for second place.
Fishing the same eddy the following day, the crew released a white marlin that struck a ballyhoo to add 125 point to their total, but they fell a bit further in the standings as several of their competitors released blue marlin and multiple whites to add points to their totals.
Along with the majority of the other boats in the event, “My Three Sons” opted to take Wednesday as a lay day before electing to finish out the three-out-of-five fishing day competition on Thursday.
“Only 10 boats fished Thursday,” Peters explained. “Our captain felt like that eddy where everybody had been catching fish looked like it was going away and we wanted to get out there before it was gone. It was a good call on his part.”
The crew’s efforts were rewarded with another blue marlin hookup just after noon on Thursday, and McLeod again took the chair and began battling the fish. This marlin was larger, and like all their other billfish hookups, it did not jump, saving its energy to fight it out in the depths.
With captain and anglers working together, the crew made steady progress and secured their release of an estimated 350-400 lb. blue marlin around 40 minutes after the hookup.
The 400 points they received for the release catapulted “My Three Sons” back to the top spot on the event’s leaderboard, and the anglers hoped the lead would hold out over the final day of fishing.
“The B.B. boat had two blue marlin, too,” Peters said. “So if they released a white they’d have tied us but we’d still have won on time. But if they had a blue or two whites, they’d have taken it.”
As it turned out, Mattson’s instincts about the eddy proved correct, and none of the boats fishing Friday were able to add points to their billfish release totals, crowning “My Three Sons” the tournament champions.
The aforementioned “B.B.” remained in second place with 800 release points, and “Desperado” rounded out the top three with a blue and three white marlin releases good for 775 points.
More information on the tournament and a full leaderboard can be found at www.hatterasmarlinclub.com.
