The purse is 1.2 million this year and the bite has been pretty good the last two weeks off of the Crystal Coast.There are 120 participants this year. Game On from Columbia, SC is fishing the tournament as well as several other boats based out of Charleston, SC… Check out the website for live streaming of the VHF transmissions from the participants, live web cam at the weigh-in, and lots of cool merchandise to purchase… There is always plenty of drama with the Big Rock tournament.
Its a fabulous tournament with lots of great history for sure. I’m familiar with lots of the boats that compete since I fished out of Morehead City a lot when I lived in NC… I see “Game On” is off to a good start. They released a Blue at 10 am today. I was in a tarpon tournament with Lacy Henry several years ago and his boat “Miss Judy” released a Blue at 1:38 today. Unoffically there have been 16 Blue Marlin released already today…They have to be at least 400 lbs to bring to the scales and the first Blue over 500 lbs could be worth more than $300,000 if the boat is entered in the Fabulous Fisherman level. It cost $18,000 to enter in all levels this year.
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
“Flybouy” boated a marlin and is expected at the scales around 5:30 PM. You can go to the Big Rock website to see them hoist that fish up on the scales on the live webcam. They are also giving away a Big Rock t-shirt for the closest guess as to what it will weigh…The tournament record is about 830 lbs so a good guess would be somewhere between 400 and 830 pounds.
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
Fishing offshore out of Pirates Cove for a couple days next week if all goes well - cant wait! Looking for billfish of our own…would love to see another blue. The Big Rock is an exciting tournament and very fun to follow. I’ve fished the Pirates Cove Billfish tournament in Manteo several times and have caught a few whites and a sail during those tournaments. Awesome fishing on the NC coast no doubt. Gotta love Big Rock week! I look forward to it every year. I expect we’ll see more brought to the scales before its all over.
I agree with Fogman…You have been very quiet on the board lately…good to hear you back on the board!
“My biggest worry is that my wife (when I’m dead) will sell my fishing gear for what I said I paid for it.”
Just trying to behave:stuck_out_tongue: Seriously, there hasn’t been a whole lot of other posts to respond to, and to stay in the good graces of my team, I can’t spill the beans on my fishing with the big tournament lurking. Rest assured, even if I’m not posting l, I tune in to the board at least twice aday.
The Big Rock Tournament President Casey Wagner got on the board today with a 437 lb Blue. Also worth noting, there were no tuna weighed in the Big Rock tourney last year so the the prize money has rolled over into this years tournament. There were a couple of Bluefin Tuna caught late yesterday but Bluefin are excluded from the tuna category. With the Federal quotas the way they are for Bluefin, I can understand why that would be the case but if someone will show me where it says that in the tournament rules, I will buy them a glass of water at the meeting tonite… I guess thats why they have a Captains meeting before the tournament.
I’ve spent about 85% of my life’s wages on fishing, the rest I just wasted…
I’ve been out of town and away from the computer but wanted to give a final wrap on the Big Rock Blue Marlin tournament…On the final day of competition, two boats brought Blues to the scales but neither of the fish met the 400 lb tournament minimum. Charleston,SC based "Flybuoy"s Marlin at 499.3 held on to win the tournament. The conditions got rough the last 3 days of the tournament…Though, Flybouy missed out on the Fabulous Fisherman bonus by .7 lbs , they still got $494,710 for the win. Second place went to the boat “Inspiration” captained by Big Rock president Casey Wagner. They won $212,640. It was the ninth time Wagner has brought a Blue Marlin to the Big Rock scales but the first time that he has received a check for one. The Lady Angler Blue Marlin tournament held annually on the Saturday before the Big Rock starts, raises money for breast cancer awareness. The tournament is named after Keli Wagner, Casey Wagner’s wife, who lost her battle with breast cancer in Oct. 2008.
Since no fish were weighed over 500 lbs to win the Fabulous Fisherman bonus, 100% of the entry fees for that level will be returned to the competitors.
There were some nice payouts in the gamefish categories as well. In the Tuna category, “Sensation” owned by Walt Hooks of Wilson, NC landed the only tuna in the last two years. With the carry over from last years tourney, they collected $34,000. In the Dolphin category,
Can Do Too caught the largest dolphin of the tournament at 41.3 lbs but they weren’t entered in the “Winner Take All” level. They received $5,454 for the overall division win and daily prize but the boat “Accordingly III” from Morehead City, NC had a 32.9 lb Dolphin to win a total of $80,466 with the biggest dolphin in the “Winner Take All” level and 2nd overall… The largest wahoo of the tournament weighed 53.1 lbs to win $5,743 for the boat “Impulse”, a former Big Rock winner in 2004.
In the release division, Rom Whittaker’s boat “Release” from Hatteras, NC released two Blues on Saturday to come from be