Carolina Boat Builders Tournament
Capt. Ronnie Fields and the crew of the "Big Oh," out of Jupiter, FL, won the Carolina Boat Builders tournament by releasing five white marlin, a bluefish and a sailfish that they hooked on naked ballyhoo near the 000's.
Releasing five white marlin, a sailfish, and a blue marlin to earn 700 points over the course of two days’ trolling, Capt. Ronnie Fields and Jupiter, FL’s “Big Oh” crew narrowly took home the first place honors and check in the 8th Annual Carolina Boat Builders Tournament, held July 21-24 out of Manteo’s Pirate’s Cove Marina.
Tied for first on points, but behind by nearly two hours on their last release, the “Tarheel” crew earned second by tallying five white marlin and two blue marlin releases during the event.
“It was pretty close there at the end,” Fields said. “Tarheel had 700, and Pelican and Bi Op Sea each had 600, so a couple releases would have put them on top. When we come up here we’re fishing with the best fishermen in the world, so it feels really good to win against them.”
Fields, fishing with “Big Oh” owner Gray Ingram, his son Rodney, grandson Bo, and mates Ben Horning and Eric Martinez on the 63’ Scarborough, found what he was looking for while pre-fishing a few days before the tournament.
“We had some good fishing and knew there had been a lot of fish in the area, so we went back there,” Fields continued.
“There” was around the 000’s off Oregon Inlet, and the crew found fish in 50-60 fathoms on the morning of Friday, their first fishing day.
Trolling dredge and squid chain teasers along with dink ballyhoo for hook baits, the “Big Oh” anglers released a white marlin and a blue marlin during the morning.
“The blue one bit a circle-hooked ballyhoo on 25 lb. gear,” Fields recalled. “Luckily he stayed on top jumping and didn’t go down and we were able to get the release in under 10 minutes.”
After releasing the 125 lb. class blue and a white marlin, the anglers found a triplet of more whites in the afternoon.
“We found some bait in the afternoon, and that’s where we caught the three whites,” Fields said.
Also releasing 7 billfish (five whites and two blue marlin), the "Tarheel" team took second place in the tournament based on their final release time, just under two hours behind the "Big Oh."
Dink ballyhoo fooled the white marlin as well, and tallying five releases on Wednesday had the crew tied for first with the “Tarheel,” who also had four whites and a blue.
Both boats took a lay day on Saturday, enabling the “Bi Op Sea” crew, who released a quartet of whites Friday, to slip into the lead with two more white marlin releases for 600 total points.
Sunday, both “Big Oh” and “Tarheel” were back at it, and both released two billfish: a white and a sail for the winners, and a white and a blue for the “Tarheel” crew.
Fishing the same area where they’d had success Friday, “Big Oh” put their final release on the board just after noon. The “Tarheel” crew got the leader on their last fish just after 2:00, earning them second based on time.
Third place also required a tiebreaker. The “Bi Op Sea” team’s total was in a dead heat with the “Pelican” at 600 points each, but fishing Saturday turned out to be a good decision for “Bi Op Sea,” as they took third on time.
The Carolina Boat Builders Tournament is a fundraiser for the Dare County Boat Builder Foundation, and the proceeds go to benefit the College of the Albemarle’s boat building trade program. More information and a full rundown of the leader board are available at www.dcbbf.org.
