Hatteras Village Offshore Open
J.D. Payne and Morgan Morgan prepare to release a blue marlin and add some points to the “Coverage” crew’s score in the Hatteras Village Offshore Open. Boat owner Jim Holmes battled this fish and two others in one day on the team’s way to victory in the event. Photo courtesy of Jon D. Morgan.
It only took Capt. Hunter Blount and the “Coverage” crew one of their three fishing days in the Hatteras Village Offshore Open to release three blue marlin and a white, earning 1400 release points to easily top the event’s main leaderboard and Additional Billfish Division.
Blount, his father Bill, boat owner Jim Holmes, mate J.D. Payne, Morgan Morgan, and J.D. Morgan had fished the day before aboard the Omie Tillet custom 61’ Sportsman, but had an uneventful day.
“A couple boats had hooked blues and had some long fights the day before,” Hunter Blount explained, “but the satellite shot showed that water where they hooked up had blended out some.”
Heading to a spot a bit up the break from the previous day’s action, Blount and the crew began trolling inshore of the majority of the fleet.
“Bull on the ‘Sea Toy’ hooked a white early on offshore of us in 150 fathoms,” Blount reported, “but the water was clear in there where we were and we stuck it out. We caught all our fish in 60-80 fathoms.”
Trolling a spread of dredge and daisy chain teasers, dink ballyhoo, and large marlin lures, the crew didn’t have to wait long for their first billfish encounter.
At 8:45 the anglers hooked up a blue marlin on a black/purple trolling plug and got another bite on their shotgun line while clearing baits.
“That second fish came off when we started to back up,” Blount said, “but the leader was all scratched up—it was definitely a billfish. I can’t say for sure it was a blue one, but it was ripping off 15 lbs. of drag pretty hard.”
With Holmes fighting their original hookup, the team battled the 300 lb. class fish for 35 minutes before Payne was able to get a hand on the leader and put 400 release points on the board for “Coverage.”
With a double billfish strike, the anglers stuck it out in the same area and found another willing billfish just after 11:00 that morning.
This time a white marlin came in to check out the teasers in the Sportsman’s wake, and the anglers hooked it on a naked “dink” ballyhoo. M. Morgan took the rod for a quick battle, and the crew added a white marlin release to their tally at 11:09.
Less than an hour later, another blue marlin piled on one of their large trolling plugs, and Holmes was back in the chair battling an even larger blue marlin. This one cooperated with the crew, and they got the official release at 12:17, just 10 minutes after the hookup.
“That one was real close to being a kill fish,” Blount continued, “but we figured it was better to get the points than to take the penalty for bringing in an undersized one. I’d call it 375.”
The 1000 release points the crew now had put them on top of the leaderboard, but their day wasn’t done yet.
With under 15 minutes left in the fishing day, they connected with another sizeable blue marlin, and Holmes again took the rod to battle his third blue of the day.
The crew got the third fish to the boat and leader in hand in short order as well, but it straightened the hook while they were holding it boatside to determine whether it, too, might meet the 400 lb. or 110” minimum to bring a marlin to the dock. With another 400 points added to their total, the “Coverage” anglers were untouchable for the rest of the event and brought home the win.
Capt. Kenny Midgett and the “Marlin Gull” scored the event’s first blue marlin release and added another to earn 800 points and second place in the event, and Capt. Bull Tolson on the “Sea Toy” captured third with 600 points for a pair of white marlin and a spearfish release.
More information on the Hatteras Village Offshore Open and a full leaderboard are available at www.hvoo.org.
