What happens when a Tarheel enters a white marlin tournament? Broken records, that’s what. Robert Farris of Charlotte, North Carolina took three hours to land this 1,062 pound blue marlin during last week’s White Marlin Tournament in Ocean City, Maryland, breaking the state record set in 1989 by 120 pounds.
With a weeklong stretch of 80-degree weather, folks around these parts are talking bluewater fishing and that means billfish in the Gulf Stream. The month of May serves as a warmup for the summer fishing tournaments with the biggest of them all kicking off in June right up the road in Morehead City, North Carolina: The Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. Read more…
Check out the blue marlin released by the crew of the Qualifier back in July. Operating out of Oregon Inlet, the hookup was in the Gulf Stream that runs south-to-north just offshore of the Outer Banks. The captain estimated the fish would have weighed in at around 900 pounds and along with it, they released seven white marlin and a sailfish that day. Read more…
The 34-year old state record for blue marlin fell over the weekend as this giant was hauled in during Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament in Manteo. Weighing in at a whopping 1,228.5 pounds, this big blue beat the previous record of 1,142 and was just 173 pounds shy of the 1,402.2 world record caught in 1992 off Brazil. The angler was Trey Irvine of West, Florida and the boat was the “Mimi” out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, captained by Mike King of Carolina Beach, North Carolina. Read more…
The fishing off Wrightsville Beach doesn’t wait until summer to heat up! During the April blue marlin tournament the fish were biting and the scales were tipping: the tournament fleet boated or tagged 8 of 16 hookups with Pole Position landing one estimated to be over 600 pounds. Buck Wild was not in the tournament and landed one also over 600 and this photo shows the boys aboard Double Shot bringing a nice one to the boat. Thanks to Beach Billy for this report!
