At first, Sensation’s large sailfish appeared to be the winning prey of the tournament. But after the fish was put on the scale, Big Rock broadcaster Tommy Bennett said: “It looks like this fish was bitten by a shark.”
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Of the 271 boats that participated in the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament, Sensation brought home the largest blue marlin and the only one weighing more than 500 pounds. But instead of snagging a $3.5 million hit in the North Carolina coast fishing tournament, the boat’s catch was disqualified because it was mutilated – bitten by a shark or other animal.
The initial appearance of the large sailfish, later unofficially weighing 619.4 pounds, late Saturday night sent cheers from spectators at the docks in Morehead City. It appeared to be the winning catch of the tournament, coming from the last boat returning from an hour-long battle — a dramatic end to the famous contest in its 65th year.
Captain Greg McCoy and the Sensation team soar as their boat returns to the docks, carrying the promise of a godsend and the story of the day they won it all. Their apparent victory was instead postponed, when officials examined the marlin’s bite near the tail.
“I was never really a money freak, but that pay would be great. But you just, you know, we’re not going to get our plaque on the Big Rock fountain there,” McCoy said. “. local TV station WNCT. “It’s a hard pill to swallow.”
“We didn’t see a thing” swimming near the fish, Sensation owner Ashley Bleau said on Tuesday. Pirate TV station. He added that the damage to the marlin was “superficial”.
Bleau has filed an objection to the disqualification.
If only it were that simple
McCoy told WNCT the people on the Sensation knew the fish was big enough to win as soon as they saw it.
“Guys, it’s really simple,” Big Rock announcer Tommy Bennett told thousands of people waiting with anticipation at Big Rock Landing, when McCoy’s boat was about to slip. “If it’s more than 500 pounds, Sensation is the winner.”
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However, Bennett said after the marlin was placed on the scale, “It looks like this fish was bitten by a shark.”
As screams broke out from the crowd, he added, “We’ll get this over with in a second.”
Until Sunday morning, The organizers of Big Rock announced Sensation’s fish “did not qualify due to mutilation of a shark or other marine animal. It is assumed that the fish was mutilated before it was brought ashore or on board and was therefore disqualified.”
Excluding the big fish, first place went to Sushi, a boat that brought home a 484.5-pound blue marlin. It won more than $2.7 million, less than the $739,500 prize money for the first boat to catch a more than 500-pound marlin.
Discussing the objection he filed Sunday morning, Bleau said he was confident the organizers would carry out their due diligence.
“They have five days to basically come to some sort of resolution,” he said, adding that the next step in the process would call for an arbitrator.
The organizers cite rules and precedents
Organizers said the Sensation’s dismissal of the catch was “consistent with previous decisions made by the tournament in similar cases over the past 65 years.”
“IGFA rules apply to mutilated fish,” rules of state leagueRefers to the International Game Fish Association.
That sentence appeared in part of the rules dealing with “weight variation,” which involved the ability to use weight, ice, and water. But the IGFA gives another reason behind not allowing mutilated fish.
“If a fish gets a piece taken away, whether by a boat or another fish or a shark or whatever, it won’t be able to fight to the best of its ability. So that’s why. the basis behind it,” IGFA’s Jack Vitek speak in 2019.
Critics say the other fishes won
“In short, I think the rule needs to be scrapped,” Bleau said. He noted that, while the Big Rock tournament follows IGFA rules regarding fish mutilation, it does not adhere to other rules, such as limits on converting anglers in combat. with a fish.
“It’s as clear as mud,” he said of the mutilation rule.
Bleau and other critics of the tournament’s Sensation decision to remove the fishing capacity cited the 2019 competition, when a boat called the Top Dog carried a 914-pound, medium-sized blue marlin. both bad. Unable to get the fish fully on board through the fish hatch at the stern, the crew brought the marlin to the weighing station with the back half of the fish dangling above the water, its tail tied up by a rope.
Video and photos from the scene show the 15-foot sailfish severely damaged by “emissions” along one side, caused by the boat’s engine running underneath as its bottom half protrudes from the stern. One Top Dog member Talk about it later that his biggest fear when the fish is raised above the scale is that the sailfish might tear the carcass. However, the fish was declared the winner that year and remains the tournament’s record holder.
