Reelin’ For Research Blue Water Tournament 2009
Capt. Stephen Draughon (left) and the crew aboard the "Bill Collector" took first place in the Reelin' For Research tournament, adding mid-twenties dolphin and wahoo to a blue marlin release to tally 149 total points. Photo courtesy of Jennings Cornwell.
With a 100 point bounty placed on any billfish release in the first annual Reelin’ for Research Bluewater Tournament, not one but two boats scored, each releasing a blue marlin to add to their respective meatfish points in the event. Morehead City’s “Bill Collector,” with Capt. Stephen Draughon, added the marlin release to a 24 lb. dolphin and a 25 lb. wahoo to score 149 points and edge out the marlin and pair of dolphin tallying 140 points that earned “O Lucky Me” second place.
“Stephen and Wade, the mate, talked it over and we decided to head far offshore for a marlin since we knew the chances were decent,” Allen Cooke reported.
Cooke, Nathan Isner, David Stout, Tom Hall, Quincy King, and Walker Holt made up the six man crew aboard “Bill Collector” for the event, held Saturday, May 2, out of the Morehead City waterfront.
They made the call to head offshore with marlin in their sights, reasoning that picking up 100 points early and then heading inshore to hunt meatfish was a sound strategy.
And the strategy looked pretty sound around 10:30 Saturday morning when a blue rushed into the spread.
“He came up on the left rigger,” Cooke said, “then got off. Stephen slowed us down a little bit, and he came back and crushed a bait on the right side.”
Holt was up for the rod, and he settled in to battle the blue after it inhaled a ballyhoo under a pink/white skirt. After a tense fight, he had the fish boatside, where the crew estimated it between 250-300 lbs.
“Honestly, I though it took a lot longer,” Cooke explained, “but the fish only made one or two hard runs, and I think we got it in around 25 minutes.”
After calling in the release and collecting 100 points, the team decided to fulfill the second part of their game plan.
The 16 boats competing in the first annual Reelin' for Research event raised over $26,000 to help fund cancer research at the NC Children's Hospital. Photo courtesy of Jennings Cornwell.
“After the marlin, we figured our chances were high and decided to go back in and hunt for the meatfish,” Cooke said. “Some of the guys with us were on their first trip offshore, and Wade actually had to sit them down and tell them that there are a lot of people who spend thousands of dollars and countless days offshore without ever seeing what they’d just seen with the marlin. They started to get pretty excited after that.”
That part of the plan worked out as well, as their next bite turned out to be the big dolphin that Stout battled to the boat. After they put the gaffer in the box, it wasn’t long before Cooke hooked and fought the wahoo that sealed their victory.
“It was pretty funny,” Cooke recalled. “The three fish that won us the tournament were actually the first three bites we had.”
The crew caught plenty more dolphin over the early afternoon, but none that would top Stout’s fish.
First place plaques, a dolphin sculpture, and a table full of assorted donated prizes made up the first place spoils.
“We gave Walker the sculpture, since he caught the marlin,” explained Cooke, “and then we divvied up the stuff from the table.”
Included in the winnings were charter fishing trips, restaurant gift certificates, and a variety of other prizes.
Fellow Morehead City charter boat “O Lucky Me,” with Capt. Rocky Hardison, followed a similar strategy to the winners and had similar success, missing out on first place by just a few pounds.
Ben Lovelace, Kevin Jones, Sterling Kelly, Jeff Davis, Scott Hauser, and Bailey King made up the “O Lucky Me” crew for the tournament, and they were the first to see a blue marlin in the tournament.
“We missed one in the morning,” Lovelace explained, “and we were talking about the one ‘Bill Collector’ had hooked. I thought it was going to be one of those lunchtime bites, and, sure enough, that fish bit right before lunch.”
The fish took the shotgun bait, a ballyhoo under a blue/white skirt, and at first the anglers weren’t sure what they had.
“We were screaming, ‘It’s a billfish,’ but we couldn’t see it very well and Rocky wasn’t sure,” Lovelace continued. “The line was screaming and then we saw it in the crest of a wave and knew.”
With King in the chair for the marlin, the “O Lucky Me” backed down hard on the fish in 6-7′ seas.
“Bailey did an excellent job bearing down and beating up that fish,” Lovelace said. “I’ve never backed down on a fish quite that hard before. We had water at least up to our ankles in the cockpit.”
After a 20 minute battle and releasing the marlin, estimated at 200-225 lbs., the crew headed inshore and found the dolphin quite willing to cooperate. At the scales, a pair of dolphin totaling 40 pounds were added to their marlin release points, and second place was theirs.
Another Morehead City boat, “Chain Link,” with Capt. Ralph Griffin, took home third place in the tournament.
This was the first year for the Reelin’ for Research Bluewater Tournament, an event that a group of friends from Greensboro started four years ago to raise money for cancer research. The event is dedicated to Tony Montana, tournament organizer Richard Montana’s father, who fell victim to cancer three years ago. They asked the question, “What would Tony have wanted?” And generating money for children’s cancer research was the unanimous answer.
In its first year, the tournament managed to raise nearly $30,000 for the NC Children’s Hospital from the 16 competing boats, a ratio few, if any, tournaments are able to match. Plans are already on the books for next year’s “Reelin’ for Research Event,” so the event is just getting started on its mission to help find a cure for childhood cancer.
Richard Montana wished to express his gratitude to host restaurant Chefs 105 along with all of the tournament’s sponsors and participants for their roles in making the event possible and a success.
