Tournament Report – Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament
The “Ashley Lauren” fishing team completed an improbable double victory Saturday, winning the 58th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament just eight days after capturing the 19th annual Keli Wagner Lady Angler (KWLA) tournament, a single-day event that kicked off the larger six-day competition.
Just as no golfer has ever won the Masters and the pre-tournament Par-3 contest in the same year, no KWLA winner had boated a blue marlin during the Big Rock that followed their victory. “Ashley Lauren” put an end to this 18-year jinx Tuesday when angler Doug Phillips, from Garner, reeled in a 621.4-pounder to take the Big Rock lead for good.
“Ashley Lauren” captain Mark Annis, from Clayton, was at the helm for all winning catches. Angler Jackie Miller, also from Clayton, got the “Ashley Lauren” team on the KWLA leader board with a release of a blue marlin. Mark’s wife, Kim, locked up the KWLA victory with a second blue marlin release.
The “Ashley Lauren” topped a record field of 125 boats in the KWLA and then came out on top of the 174 boats in the 58th Big Rock to score the double victory.
The “Ashley Lauren” won $662,995 from the Big Rock’s record $1,914,100 purse for winning the 58th Big Rock. The “Ashley Lauren” also won $13,281 for winning the KWLA.
“Marlin Gull,” captained by Kenny Midgett, from Wanchese, finished second in the 58th Big Rock with a 564.8-pound blue marlin caught by angler William McSpadden, from Coinjock. “Marlin Gull” led the tournament after the first day and captured the $433,500 Fabulous Fisherman prize for landing the first 500-pound blue marlin during this year’s Big Rock. The “Marlin Gull” team also won $238,480 for finishing second.
The “Viking 72” fishing team finished third in the 58th Big Rock with a 564.1-pound blue marlin reeled in Friday by angler Drew McDowell, from Jupiter, FL. The “Viking 72” – teammates of “Viking 62” which won the 57th Big Rock in 2015 – edged the catch reeled in by “Piracy” angler C.J. Struyk, from Morehead City, who landed a 558.8-pound blue marlin Tuesday. All that separated second place from third place was 7/10’s of a pound—about two sticks of butter. The “Piracy” catch finished out of the money by 5.4 pounds, roughly the weight of a small bag of sugar.
It was the narrowest margin of victory by one team over another since the Big Rock changed from recognizing five place winners more than 20 years ago.
There were actually two improbable double victories during the past eight days. “Inspiration” captain Casey Wagner, from Morehead City, captured the KWLA Winner-Take-All (WTA) dolphin prize of $49,725 with a 31.2-pounder reeled in by Morehead City angler Jeannie Fischler. Wagner then won the Big Rock WTA dolphin prize worth $130,050 with a 49.3-pounder caught by Trent Ragland, also from Morehead City.
The tournament featured an excellent billfish bite Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday that was interrupted Wednesday by a system of thunderstorms that ran through the fishing zone. The adverse weather forced competitors to dodge waterspouts and lightning and many fished more than 100 miles offshore.
The bite did turn back on late Wednesday, but just seconds too late for “Viking 72.” The New Gretna, NJ, based boat, that just rolled off the production line, hooked a huge blue marlin 20 seconds too late to count in the tournament. The “Viking 72” team locked down the reel drag to snap the line and watched as a blue marlin “much bigger” than the one they took to the scales swam away.
Anglers released 106 billfish (45 blue marlins, 34 white marlins, and 27 sailfish) and boated nine blue marlins. The tournament had a 92% release rate and 7-of-9 landed blue marlins spent time on the Big Rock leaderboard.
Winners of the 58th Big Rock and the 19th KWLA received their checks and trophies Saturday evening at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City. Competitors are already making plans for the 59th Big Rock set June 9-17, 2017.
