Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament 2007
Capt. Doug Grant and the “Agitator” crew came through with a hometown win in the 34th Annual Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament, held July 5-8, 2007, out of Wrightsville Beach Marina. The “Agitator,” based in Wrightsville Beach Marina, released a blue marlin on Friday, July 6, and a white marlin on Saturday, July 7, to earn 525 release points and win $77,760 in the Tournament’s Billfish Total Points Category.
Along with Grant, mates Bobby Clarkson and Brent Johnson, Mel Miller, and Jeremy Padgett fished aboard the “Agitator” on Friday. They found their blue marlin around at the 39/250 in 125 fathoms of water.
“He came up eating the teaser,” Grant explained. “We tried to get a pitch bait to him, but he didn’t want a thing to do with it. He came back on the short rigger and ate that one.”
A bonito-colored chugger fooled the marlin into striking, and Padgett took the rod after the blue finally ate. “He was a small fish and he never jumped,” said Grant. “We fought him for 20-25 minutes.”
The crew was able to release the fish after the quick fight, and Grant estimated the blue’s weight at around 125 lbs.
The 125 lb. blue earned the “Agitator” crew 400 release points, and it set them up near the top of the leader board going into Saturday’s fishing.
On Saturday, Christine Grant and Bob Jolson joined the five who fished the “Agitator” on Friday, and Capt. Doug Grant headed to the same area looking for more billfish. Their white marlin fell for a red/black chugger, and Mel Miller fought the fish.
“He made a few jumps right at the beginning, but we didn’t see him again until we released him,” Grant revealed. It took Miller around 10 minutes to get the fish close enough for the team to release it. Grant estimated that the white marlin was at least 60 lbs.
The white release added 125 points to the team’s total. Their 525 points put them in a tie with second place boat “Bluewater.” The “Agitator” crew, however, released their white before the “Bluewater’s” last release, securing their first place finish.
A blue marlin and a sailfish release made up the “Bluewater” crew’s 525 points. Angler Gene Hodges fished the event with Capt. Harvey Shiflet aboard the 64’ Viking on Friday and Saturday. The “Bluewater” crew earned $38,800 for taking second in the Billfish Total Points Category.
The “Barbara B,” a 61’ Sportsman captained by Gray Blount, took third in the billfish points competition with 500 points. Two white marlin and two sailfish made up the Greenville, NC-based boat’s total, and the crew pocketed $12,960.
The Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament features an optional Meat Fish Category that pays two places to the heaviest yellowfin tuna, dolphin, and wahoo. Like the last three years, boats in the tournament caught no yellowfins, so that portion of the prize money was added to the dolphin and wahoo categories.
The Wrightsville Beach-based “Stream Weaver,” captained by Jon Huff, weighed in the tournament’s largest wahoo at 57.35 lbs. Walker Hobson was the angler, and the first place wahoo finish was worth $6,750.
Angler Will Reeves on the “Ragin’ Regan,” from Murphy, NC, caught the second place wahoo, a 38.4 lb. fish that earned the crew $4,500.
First place in the dolphin category went to the “Chain Link,” a 54’ Jarrett Bay captained by Ralph Griffin. Angler Jill Frye caught the huge 58.95 lb. dolphin that won the “Chain Link” crew $6,750.
Mike Rivenbark caught the 53.00 lb. dolphin that earned the “Reel Love” crew second place. The Clinton, NC-based 28’ Privateer run by Jeff Vreugdenhill took home $4,500.
In addition to the prize money, the boats winning each category were presented with a copper fish sculpture from Blue Water Copper Works.
Each year in addition to the main prizes, the tournament presents the Capt. Eddy Haneman Sportsmanship Award. This year’s recipient was Bob Bleecker, of the “J and B.” Bleecker received a Blue Water Copper Works blue marlin sculpture.
The Cape Fear Blue Marlin Tournament has a different beneficiary each year. For 2007 the tournament presented the Wrightsville Beach Fire Department with a check for $2,500 to thank them for their continuing assistance with the event.
The tournament attracted 48 boats this year, up from 37 last year and 44 the year before. Tournament organizer Bobby Brown attributed the high participation to the excellent weather over the tournament weekend.
“The forecast was great. It’s the best weather we’ve had in a long time,” he said. Brown wished to thank all the tournament’s sponsors, participants, and the crew at Wrightsville Beach Marina.
