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.
Farris was an angler aboard the Delaware-based “No Problem”. For his efforts, the big blue brought home a check for $454,999. Impressive, but this was a white marlin tournament and the largest white, weighing a mere 93 1/2 pounds, earned $903,442. The blue was landed using 80-pound class tackle.
The blue marlin record was not the only one during the tournament; the state record for scalloped hammerhead shark was also set with a 254 pounder taken by Jamie Gill aboard the “Lisa”. It beat the old record by 60 lbs. and earned the crew $4,500.
Other tournament winners were Doug Slater aboard the “Shadowfax” with a 249 lbs. tuna for $179,581; Ronald Bennett aboard the “Crush-Em” with a 37 1/2 lbs. dolphin for $16,572; a 47 lbs. wahoo on the “Wave Dancer” earned $2,000.
Top angler for the tournament was John Dougherty aboard the “Outrage” with three white marlin releases and one blue marlin release. Top boat was “Viking 68″ with ten white marlin releases. Click here to learn more about the world’s largest billfish tournament.
Thanks to Hal Hunnicutt and Beach Billy!
