Big Rock nears the end, with lots of prize money on the line
It’s just about the fourth quarter for teams competing in the 67th annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament out of Morehead City.
The event’s 272 teams are competing for a total purse of a little more than $6.3 million and today mark’s the fifth in six days of angling.
Teams are permitted to fish in four of the six days.
There are 269 boats churning Carolina coastal waters today in an effort to get their names put on checks.
In Thursday’s Day 4, the fleet caught and released 112 billfish - 68 blue marlin, 34 sailfish and 20 white marlin. So far teams have registered 256 total billfish, just shy of last year’s total output of 268 when a tournament record 300-plus teams competed.
Sitting atop the namesake leaderboard is a 449.7-pound blue marlin brought to the scales by 23-year-old Lizzie Montaque. She’s fishing with Bryant Montaque, her father and captain of the Pine Knoll Shores boat Bankwalker.
Her fish, brought in just before 9 Wednesday night, wasn’t heavy enough to earn the team $807,500 in the Fabulous Fisherman’s division for the first blue weighing more than 500 pounds.
Still, the team stands to bank $2.4 million and change if her fish remains the event’s overall leader.
In other divisions, Wave Paver out of Fort Canaveral, Fla., jumped into the release lead with 1,800 points. On Thursday, the team scored a double grand slam with two blues, two whites and three sails.
Midlothian, Va.-registered Ann Warrick entered Day 5 with 1,725 points. Hatteras vessel Sea Creature is third with 1,600 points. Three other teams have 1,600, but Sea Creature has the last payout spot based on time of catch.
East Coast first-timer Sea Wish out of Puerto Rico leads the dolphin division with a 47.2-pounder. Charleston, S.C.-based Bull Pen took the lead in the wahoo division with a 60.7-pounder. And Oregon Inlet’s Smoker maintained the tuna lead with a 117.4-pounder.
With the exception of daily winners and sure-thing prizes in other divisions, there still is a lot on the line heading into Saturday’s final round of competition.
So stay tuned …
