Cape Fear Blue Marlin 2008
“We were fishing hard, and we were sweating,” Capt. Jon Huff said of the final hours of the 2008 Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament. “Ralph on the ‘Chain Link’ had three sails for 375 points, and ‘Peggy’ and ‘Gypsy Angler’ each had a blue for 400, so we knew if they caught something and we didn’t, that was it.”
Despite a nail-biting finish, Huff and the Wrightsville Beach-based “Stream Weaver” held on to the lead they established by being the first boat to release a blue marlin, and they took home the $48,600 winner’s check in the tournament, held June 26-29 out of Wrightsville Beach Marina.
With mate Stewart Merritt, Bobby Carroll, Emmet Stokill, Wes Carter, Scott Carter, John Pollard, and Richard Evans aboard the single screw 56′ Taylor Made sportfisherman, the “Stream Weaver” crew caught the near-$50,000 fish shortly after beginning to troll on Friday, June 27, the event’s first day of fishing.
“We were a little bit to the north but pretty much straight out front,” the captain recalled. Pulling back the throttle on a weedline in 100 fathoms near the 550 Line Friday morning, it was immediately apparent that the spot had some life.
“Another boat caught a sail and saw a white in there,” Huff explained, “so I knew something was going on. I actually decided after a little while to move offshore and see if there was anything else. We barely got a few hundred yards offshore before we saw the blue behind the left rigger.”
The blue bit a green/yellow Black Bart lure just after 9:00am, and angler John Pollard took the rod.
“It was a fun one,” Huff said. “She was a fired up fish, and she jumped a lot.”
Although the slightly rough ocean made the fight a little trickier, the team had the leader in hand on the fish in just 17 minutes.
“It wasn’t a big one, maybe 225-250 lbs.,” Huff estimated, “but it was a blue.”
With the blue marlin release called in at 9:24, the “Stream Weaver” team earned the 400 points that won them the event less than an hour after lines-in on the first day.
With plenty of fishing time left in the tournament, the crew returned to the weedline area and began searching for another billfish to add to their point total. Finding only a few gaffer dolphin over the rest of the day, they were the only boat to catch a blue on day one, and the tournament’s format gives a tie to the boat with the earliest release time.
On day two the “Stream Weaver” headed south, beginning their billfish search offshore of the Same Ol’ Hole. Eventually moving inshore to 80-90 fathoms, they got a shotgun bite, and saw a large blue marlin following a bait. Merritt teased the fish until it eventually bit, but after tearing a few yards of line off the reel, it was gone.
“We had it for maybe 20 seconds,” Huff explained. “It pulled a little drag, and we never saw it again. That’s what they do. They’re good at getting away. Still, I don’t think I’ve ever been out of Wrightsville and seen a blue marlin on two consecutive days before.”
After losing the fish, the crew learned of the other blue marlin releases, and knew that one billfish would be all it took to win the tournament for “Chain Link,” “Peggy,” or “Gypsy Angler.”
“Ralph saw two more sails,” said Huff, “but didn’t get good bites out of either one. He told us we must be living right. We were glad it came out the way it did, but we were fishing hard; we wanted to catch something.”
The “Gypsy Angler” blue marlin release at 12:51 on Saturday afternoon turned out to be the last billfish of the tournament.
After weighing in 37 and 34 lb. yellowfin tuna on day one, taking first and second place in the tuna category, Capt. Mike Guthrie and the “Peggy,” of Raleigh, headed south on Saturday, releasing the blue that earned them second place in billfish competition. The billfish and tuna prizes totaled over $28,000 for the “Peggy” crew, fishing aboard a 60′ Briglia.
The “Peggy” blue marlin fell for a green Black Bart lure while the anglers were trolling around the 120 line in 200 fathoms of water. Boat owner Doug Abrams took the rod after the bite and settled in for the fight.
“It’s interesting,” Abrams said. “The smaller fish tend to be greener because they don’t take as many runs. The big boys have the power and burn themselves out.”
This blue fought down deep, and the anglers thought it might be larger than it turned out.
“It took me 41 minutes,’ Abrams explained. “We try to get the marlin in in an hour or less, and they were yelling from the bridge for me to quit playing around and get the marlin to the boat.”
When the leader was at hand at 12:41, the “Peggy” anglers locked up second place.
A blue marlin release just 10 minutes later earned the 58′ Jarrett Bay “Gypsy Angler,” from Morehead City, third place and $8100.
After getting a marlin bite Friday in the 400’s, Capt. Guy “Porky” Herring pulled back the throttles far to the north on Saturday, as the southwest wind and swell made it difficult to continue to the south.
At 12:15, while trolling in 200 fathoms of water near the 500 line, the “Gypsy Angler” got a strike on a green/black Moldcraft Wide Range, and J. Braxton took the rod.
The fish never jumped, staying deep and leading the anglers to believe it was larger than it turned out to be. After Braxton fought it for 40 minutes, mate Josh Easterwood was able to grab the leader.
“It was tail-wrapped,” Easterwood explained, “and we never saw it till we got it to the boat.”
After he billed and released the estimated 125 lb. fish, Herring called it in.
The tournament’s largest dolphin was a 33.0 lb. fish weighed in by “Big Hunter” to earn $2900. The “Reel One” took second and $1933 with a 31.5 lb. dolphin.
A 16.50 lb. wahoo won the $2900 wahoo prize for the “Agitator,” and “Horse” took second and $1933 with a 15.0 lb. ‘hoo.
The 2008 Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament attracted 30 boats, releasing three blue marlin, one white marlin, and nine sailfish over 2 days fishing.
